When life in real time competes with the virtual life of the blogosphere, real time has to win! As a result, I've not been posting as much as usual. I have some free time ahead, however, and if nothing else I'll soon be posting the promised piece on the ministry of a priest.
Today I attended a session sponsored by the archdiocese for priests. It was one afternoon in an occasional series which I've found worthwhile and helpful. Today's gathering drew about 40 priests - not a bad number for a blazing hot day. The topic was "dealing with stress" and the presenter was Fr. James Burns of the Danielson Institute at Boston University. Both his presentation and a couple of small-group discussions were instructive and supportive.
How much did I need a day like this? At one point I found myself wondering, in the back of my mind, if spending the better part of an afternoon like this was a legitimate use of my pastoral time! One of the stress factors that plagues priests is the sense of never doing enough, never getting enough done, never meeting the mark, always needing to try harder... Yup! I needed an afternoon on stress management and it was a good use of my time!
I've been critical in the past of archdiocesan efforts to reach out to priests, especially over the years spanning the abuse crisis and the closing of parishes. This series (including two large convocations of the whole presbyterate), however, have been steps in the right direction: may there be many more.
-ConcordPastor
I'm sure some of the stress is caused by the people you are trying to minister to. You can please some of the people some of the time....There are times when it gets out of hand.
ReplyDeleteAnne
Am so glad that the archdiocese is offering this series to its priests. If anyone has the potential to be stressed out, it is a priest whose responsibilities continue to grow and grow and grow. I would hope that each priest in the RCAB would take advantage of this series, as well as take the needed time each week to refresh and renew. The never ending work will always be there, but if a priest doesn't take care of himself, he risks not being able to do the work at all or not being able to do it well.
ReplyDeleteI suppose the question "What are a priest's responsibilities?" would be a sub-heading under "What is a priest?"
ReplyDeleteMaybe we wouldn't want to know!
The Danielsen Institute is a good bunch. I had some testing done there a few years ago.
ReplyDeleteI'm really glad that the Archdiocese is finally doing something helpful!