Seven 'round the fire place

Every year my ordination class mates get together for dinner a few weeks before Christmas. Tonight was the night! There were 21 of us ordained on May 19, 1973: four have died; several are no longer active in ministry; of the remaining twelve, seven were gathered for dinner and one, a Navy chaplain in Okinawa, joined us for a while by speaker phone.

Although some of our classmates joined us "along the way," the 7 gathered tonight were part of the original group who entered the seminary together in September 1965. That means we've known each other for 42 years, having spent 8 years together in school. We are all now 60 years old.

We gathered in the rectory of one our brothers and after too many hors d'oeuvres, we had a wonderful dinner prepared by some very fine cooks. After dinner we sat in the living room in front of the fire place. As we've done several times before, we went around the circle giving each man an opportunity to share how things are going. While I won't report everything that was said, I'm happy to share with you the gist of what was shared.

Overall, we reported in as a group of men both wearied by the struggles of the last five years and at the same time unanimously positive in our assessment of the life that has been ours as priests over the past nearly 35 years. Although we were ordained into the post-Vatican II church and even then accustomed to much change, we all agreed that things certainly haven't turned out the way we might have dreamed "back in the day." We were open in sharing some of the burdens we carry personally but a surprisingly high degree of healthy satisfaction was evident as we went around the circle.

I wouldn't reveal the particular comments of others but I'll share my own. I told my classmates that I'm better today than I have been in the past five years. I spoke about living and ministering through the abuse scandal and reconfiguration and finally coming to understand which needs in the parish I'm able to meet and which ones are beyond my reach. I said that I was glad to be doing what I'm doing (serving as a pastor), in the place where I'm doing it (Holy Family Parish). I spoke about how helpful this blog has been for me: a creative outlet and opportunity for writing which I thoroughly enjoy working on and something that also offers a ministry to those who choose to frequent this little corner of cyber space. I told my classmates that while driving to the dinner I was thinking, "Well, we've done what we wanted to do: we've spent our lives in this work for God and God's people - and there's plenty more to do."

I also spoke about looking ahead 10 years to retirement and one classmate noted, for the record, that mine was the first mention of retirement in all the years we've been getting together! There was general agreement that what we'd like to retire from is not our ministry, but all the managerial and administrative responsibilities that come with it. In the same vein, we spoke about the future of the Church of Boston and the changes that are just ahead for Catholics in our archdiocese as the number of priests continues to decline.

Seven men who have pastored and ministered God's people in the Church of Boston for close to 35 years... It hasn't been what we have thought: there have been tragedies we never would have dreamed of and joys deeper than we could have imagined.

Please pray for me and my classmates; please pray for all priests; and please pray for any who are discerning a call to this ministry.