POPE: PRIESTS FOR CLASSY JOB OR COMMITMENT?
J. Grant Swank, Jr.
That’s what Pope Benedict XVI is concerned about. He wonders about the increase of priests in Asia and Africa.
That increase in numbers should be cause for jubilation within Roman Catholicism since there is a marked decline of priests in Europe especially. However, the Pope cautions those who would rejoice naively.
There are those who come into the vocation for other than commendable motives. These are the ones who will trip up sooner or later, all to the embarrassment of the Church and Christ’s mission worldwide.
The Pope stated: "Becoming a priest, they become almost like a head of a tribe, they are naturally privileged and have another type of life," he said. "So the wheat and the chaff go together in this beautiful growth of vocations.
"Bishops have to be very attentive to discern (among the candidates) and not just be happy to have many future priests, but to see which ones really are the true vocations — discern between the wheat and the chaff," he said, as reported by AP’s Nichole Winfield.
True, in areas like Africa and Asia a priest can hold a socially prominent standing as well as easily develop churchly and political connections in other countries because of his station. That can entice men to enter the Catholic priesthood in order to up the social scale of one’s future.
Of course, the real reason a person should enter the priesthood is because of a divine call. The Lord should be singling out those who are meant to minister to others in the name of Christ. All others should never think of becoming a priest.
It is the same in Protestantism. There are many now going into the Protestant ministry without a divine call. Scores are females who are out to further feminist agendas. They know nothing of Christ nor could they care less. They are focused on infiltrating the pulpits and denominations with liberalism, indeed apostasy.
One woman pastor in the United Church of Canada said to me, “I should attend the local Bible study in one of my parishioners’ homes for I really don’t know the Bible.” When I asked her why she was studying for ministry while pastoring a three-charge church, she said she was tired of her prior school teaching profession and so thought the local pastorate would be a happy change. “After all, I like working with people.”
There was no evidence at all of a divine call. She in fact never heard of the term “divine call.”
There are others such as practicing homosexuals who enter the Protestant ministry in order to turn denominations around for evil’s sake. And that is not only to turn around a local church but work within the entire denomination to bring about a satanic hold.
Note that happening in the United Church of Canada, Anglican Communion, Episcopal Church of America, United Church of Christ (Congregational), Unitarian-Universalist Society, and Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. (The term “Evangelical” in that title is a misnomer for that denomination is no longer denomination-wide “evangelical” as the term is used today). Homosexuals are now making headway in various sections of the United Methodist Church and certain Presbyterian churches.
Therefore, both compartments of Christendom — Protestantism and Catholicism — are in need of true spiritual leadership to ascertain the guidance of the Holy Spirit when ordaining persons for Christian ministry.
Wheat and tares are lodged side by side in both camps. The wheat have much to endure. The tares are willing to sacrifice all in order to see through their antiChrist position.
That’s what Pope Benedict XVI is concerned about. He wonders about the increase of priests in Asia and Africa.
That increase in numbers should be cause for jubilation within Roman Catholicism since there is a marked decline of priests in Europe especially. However, the Pope cautions those who would rejoice naively.
There are those who come into the vocation for other than commendable motives. These are the ones who will trip up sooner or later, all to the embarrassment of the Church and Christ’s mission worldwide.
The Pope stated: "Becoming a priest, they become almost like a head of a tribe, they are naturally privileged and have another type of life," he said. "So the wheat and the chaff go together in this beautiful growth of vocations.
"Bishops have to be very attentive to discern (among the candidates) and not just be happy to have many future priests, but to see which ones really are the true vocations — discern between the wheat and the chaff," he said, as reported by AP’s Nichole Winfield.
True, in areas like Africa and Asia a priest can hold a socially prominent standing as well as easily develop churchly and political connections in other countries because of his station. That can entice men to enter the Catholic priesthood in order to up the social scale of one’s future.
Of course, the real reason a person should enter the priesthood is because of a divine call. The Lord should be singling out those who are meant to minister to others in the name of Christ. All others should never think of becoming a priest.
It is the same in Protestantism. There are many now going into the Protestant ministry without a divine call. Scores are females who are out to further feminist agendas. They know nothing of Christ nor could they care less. They are focused on infiltrating the pulpits and denominations with liberalism, indeed apostasy.
One woman pastor in the United Church of Canada said to me, “I should attend the local Bible study in one of my parishioners’ homes for I really don’t know the Bible.” When I asked her why she was studying for ministry while pastoring a three-charge church, she said she was tired of her prior school teaching profession and so thought the local pastorate would be a happy change. “After all, I like working with people.”
There was no evidence at all of a divine call. She in fact never heard of the term “divine call.”
There are others such as practicing homosexuals who enter the Protestant ministry in order to turn denominations around for evil’s sake. And that is not only to turn around a local church but work within the entire denomination to bring about a satanic hold.
Note that happening in the United Church of Canada, Anglican Communion, Episcopal Church of America, United Church of Christ (Congregational), Unitarian-Universalist Society, and Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. (The term “Evangelical” in that title is a misnomer for that denomination is no longer denomination-wide “evangelical” as the term is used today). Homosexuals are now making headway in various sections of the United Methodist Church and certain Presbyterian churches.
Therefore, both compartments of Christendom — Protestantism and Catholicism — are in need of true spiritual leadership to ascertain the guidance of the Holy Spirit when ordaining persons for Christian ministry.
Wheat and tares are lodged side by side in both camps. The wheat have much to endure. The tares are willing to sacrifice all in order to see through their antiChrist position.
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