On June 19, 2009 the Church
begins the jubilee Year of the Priest, as solemnly declared
by Pope Benedict XVI. Envisioned as an opportunity to
encourage spiritual perfection in priests, this jubilee year
starts on the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and the
day for the sanctification of all priests.
St. John Vianney, the Cure of
Ars, will be declared the patron saint of all priests
worldwide – he is currently the patron saint for parish
priests. This year marks the 150th anniversary of
the saint's death. His relics will be present at the opening
of the Year of the Priest in Rome.
The Holy Father emphasized
that priestly formation must maintain “communion with
unbroken ecclesial Tradition, without pausing or being
tempted by discontinuity,” and said that “a correct reading
of the text of Vatican Council II interpreted in the light
of the church's doctrinal heritage” must be passed down. He
pointed out that the mission of a priest is ecclesial,
communal, hierarchical, and doctrinal.
Pope Benedict also said that
priests must be "present, identifiable, and recognizable –
for their judgment of faith, their personal virtues, and
their attire – in the fields of culture and charity which
have always been at the heart of the church's mission."
In declaring this jubilee
year, Pope Benedict explained the importance of priests –
without which there would be no Eucharist, no mission, and
no Church. “It is necessary, then, to ensure that 'new
structures' or pastoral organizations are not planned for a
time in which it will be possible to 'do without' ordained
ministry, on the basis of an erroneous interpretation of the
promotion of the laity, because this would lay the
foundations for a further dilution in priestly ministry, and
any supposed 'solutions' would, in fact, dramatically
coincide with the real causes of the problems currently
affecting the ministry.”
The Year of the Priest will
end on June 19, 2010, during a “World Meeting of Priests” in
St. Peter's Square.
