Mons. Lazo Far casa ai sacerrdoti

So that priests can “feel at home”: the task of the bishop and the diocesan community”.

There is a saying “a house is not a home when no one is there”. It seems that there is a nuance between a house and a home. A house refers to a structure, a building while a home refers to people in the house. The relationship of the people in the house makes it a home. There are many beautiful, big houses but no one is there but the care taker. Thre are also houses which are good enough for 5 kids and the house becomes a home. It’s in the home that the seed of vocation to the priesthood is sown, nurtured and accompanied. It’s in the home that values like honesty, generosity, kindness and goodness, love and service are honed. It is in the home with healthy relationships that laughter, joy and gratitude abound, respect and gentleness grow.

1.   PRESENCE -  The bishop’s house is usually a place where priests gather for meetings or for a casual chat. What makes it a home is the presence of the bishop.

2.   ACCEPTANCE – A priest will feel a home when his bishop accepts him as he is. A non-judgmental, and a welcoming attitude, a listening ear are important factors to be at home.

Priests come from different families. Some might have a difficult growing up years. An absent father, an abusive father, non-affective father – these might leave a scar to the person who later on becomes a priest.  The bishop has to have a heart to understand these priests who might be vulnerable. A priest might see in  his bishop his father. It is not easy to make him feel at home in his presence.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) through the Episcopal Commission On Clergy started a program in 1998 called “Assist Ministry” a ministry to assist priests in need or in difficulty. Priests were trained how to tend their brother priests who are in pain, lost, lonely, depressed, confused, tired, burned out. We found out that the thread that weaves through all these is the loss or the neglect of prayer life. The disconnection from the source or from their bishop play a big part.  Many priests were assisted through the years. The program is still going on for 25 years. The program expanded, because of the other needs of priests, to the ongoing formation of priests.

The Episcopal Commission on Clergy divides the clergy into different brackets: the young clergy (1-5 years in the ministry); the junior clergy (6-10 years); the lower middle clergy (11-17 years); the upper middle clergy (18-24 years); the lower senior (25-35); upper senior (36 up). Each bracket has a program of their own for the ongoing formation. Some dioceses give opportunities for the groups to have their own retreats or recreation for bonding. This is the role of the community of priests – to enhance or cultivate the bonding to become a support group for brother priests. There was once a priest who went to me to share his story and I asked him if he as a priest friend to share what is going through in his life and he answered me NO, I don’t know of any priest in the diocese whom I can turn to. It is sad if you cannot go to a brother priest when you are in need. A bishop once said to me. I don’t mind if a priest goes to his brother priest for support, he doesn’t have to go to me. Do we feel at home with our brother priests? Do we have a support group that will be there to respond to our needs? A shoulder to lean on? Is someone in the Diocese entrusted to accompany brother priests in need?

We are grateful to the Dicastery for this International Conference for the Ongoing Formation of Priests  with the theme” Rekindle the gift of God that is within you” (2Tm.1,6). A priest’s life is a journey and he needs “upgrading” in the different aspects of his life and ministry as priest. We keep on discovering the gifts the spirit gives. It never stops.

Last November 8-11, 2024, a group of Western Visayas bishops in the Philippines met for a meeting with the theme: “Rekindling the Shepherd’s Heart”. It was a very meaningful, enriching experience of bonding, renewal and transformative encounter. We saw the need of knowing more the PERSON of the bishop, the ROLE of the bishop as Father, Brother and Friend to his priests; the WAY of the Shepherd: attitudes, skills, lifestyle, pastoral leadership in relation to his priests. With that experience I can say that not only the priests who need the ongoing formation but also the bishops. The bishop will be able to understand better his priests when he knows his own self better. This is the “desiderata” of priests who took the Assist Ministry Program, now called AIR program for Assisted Intensive Renewal that their bishops will be able to understand them better especially in their situation when they go back to their diocese. A gentle reminder to my brother bishops, we are as human as our priests.

At the end we can say HOME IS WHERE YOUR HEART IS ! When your heart is with the priests then you are at home with them. When your heart is with your bishop then you are at home with him. Let us feel at home with one another. Our presence is our reality, our human reality is the LOCUS of God’s revelation.