Roman Catholics: More Power for Priests

ROMAN CATHOLICS More Power for Priests The trend toward democratization in the Catholic Church was demonstrated anew last week, when 300 priests from 114 U.S. dioceses (out of 141) met in Chicago to form a nationwide organization to speak out on clerical affairs. A few years ago, such an organization would have been unthinkable. The new assembly, which calls itself the Federation of Priests’ Councils, aims to mobilize local priests’ groups in efforts to improve the quality of the clergy and speed the pace of reform in the church —and society. To show their ecumenical spirit, the priests closed their two-day meeting by singing Martin Luther’s A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.

The new federation is, in effect, an outgrowth of a larger movement within the church to give priests a more meaningful voice in the ecclesiastical structure. One conspicuous sign of this has been the creation in the past two years of priests’ senates. In 1965, the Second Vatican Council decreed that each diocese should establish “a group or senate of priests to give effective assistance to the bishop in his government of the diocese.” This was a rather radi cal advance, and there was some doubt that the senates would have any effective voice. But already senates have been set up in 127 dioceses. And most have met with a fair degree of success.

Raises & Retirement. Undeniably, there have been a few disappointments. The Vatican Council left it up to bishops to determine the selection of the senates, and though some prelates have given their priests a free hand in elections, others have insisted on naming a significant number of the senators. Los Angeles’ James Francis Cardinal McIntyre has yet to make a move toward creating a council. In Washington, D.C., the priest-senators are reluctant to speak up before conservative Patrick Cardinal O’Boyle, who sits in on the bimonthly meetings. Detroit’s senate, though it enjoys the encouragement of Archbishop John Dearden, is troubled by dissension between old and young clerics, with the former accusing Dearden of favoring the latter.

But those have been the exceptions. In most dioceses, priests have turned the senates into effective forums. Among other things, they have helped to improve personnel and pay policies. The senate in Providence, R.I. won a 100% increase in pastors’ salaries—from $150 to $300 a month—plus a $50-a-month car allowance. Senates have also helped establish mandatory retirement ages, “personnel boards” to hear the complaints of dissatisfied priests, and programs allowing priests to continue their education.

Nowhere are the senates more energetic than in the neighboring dioceses of San Francisco and Oakland. The San Francisco senate operates its own office independent of the chancery, has even set up a “reserved affairs” committee to handle the delicate problems of priests who get into legal or other trouble or who want to quit the ministry. In Oakland, Bishop Floyd Begin has approved ten of his senate’s twelve recommendations to date, including one suggesting authorization of Masses in private homes.

Broader Horizons. So far, none of the senates has the right to do more than recommend measures. But priests welcome the forums as an important new way to communicate their views to the bishops—even though not all would agree with Msgr. Francis Maurovich, an adviser to Oakland’s Bishop Begin, who describes the senates as “the salvation of the priesthood.”

Once they resolve working conditions, which many members consider the immediate problem of priests, the senates are likely to move into broader areas. Boston’s senate, for instance, has a subcommittee studying how priests can make themselves more effective on the parish level. A major future role of the priests’ senates, in the view of many leading Catholics, is to link with laymen’s associations. The Rev. Raymond Goedert, chairman of the Association of Chicago Priests, echoes the common hope that eventually priests, laity and bishops will join in a national pastoral council, “so that when the Catholic Church speaks in the U.S., it won’t be just the hierarchy or clergy speaking but the whole church.”