The Identity and Calling to the Catholic Priesthood.
In our Catholic Tradition there is a very special calling to Ministerial Priesthood. This is distinctive from the priesthood of all baptised people.

The following bullet points will briefly outline this distinctive call to Ministerial Priesthood from the Scriptures and the teaching of the Catholic Church.

Ministerial Priesthood in Old Testament.

• Priesthood of the Most High God {Gen. 14:18}.
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• A sacrificial Priesthood making atonement {Lev.4: 20, 26; 5:6; 19:22}.
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• The call to faithfulness in Priesthood {1 Samuel 2:35}.
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• Special Priestly Consecration {Exodus 40:14-15}.
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• Sacrificial Priesthood – its permanence {Numbers 25:10-13}.

Ministerial Priesthood in New Testament.

• The starting point in Catholic tradition is Jesus’ appointment of the Twelve, e.g. these had a special place in witnessing to the Resurrection {1Cor. 15}.
• Authority is given to the Twelve in three ways:
  • The Worship of the New Covenant – They receive the command to disciple, baptise {Mt. 28:16-20} and to Celebrate the Eucharist {Lk.22:14-20}.
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  • The Twelve are given a Teaching Role- They are the accredited recipients of the Kerygma and therefore have the duty to insist upon the truth of the gospel. {Jn. 20:19-23; 1Timothy.3: 14-16}.
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  • The Power of Government is upon the Twelve- They are invested with the full powers of Christ who will rule the new Israel, the Community of the Kingdom. {Mt 28:16-20}.
  
  
• In John’s Gospel we find Jesus praying that the Twelve may be consecrated as he is consecrated. {Jn 17}. In this chapter Jesus is presented as a Priestly figure. This chapter can also be paralleled with Is.53 {The Suffering Servant}-Jesus prays that as He is the Lamb of Sacrifice, then the Twelve may be used also as a Sacrificial Priesthood. Jesus therefore, in John 17 consecrates the twelve in a new way. The Twelve’s consecration is completed in the bestowal of the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of sins {Jn. 20:19-23}.

The Twelve were “Apostles” or Go Missioners”.

• It is clear that the job was going to be too much for just the Twelve of them. So they commissioned others by the “Laying on of Hands”. {Acts 6:1-6; 2 Tm.1:6; 1Tm.4:14.}. This “Ordination” needed to be derived from the Apostles themselves who had already been commissioned. Hence, to this day we have the “Rite of Ordination” and the handing on of Apostolic truths. {2 Tm. 4:1-5}.
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• In the Apostles Jesus left behind a special Ministry of “Presbyter” for the purpose of sanctifying, teaching and governing the Christian Community.
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• In the early Church there were basically two types of Presbyter:
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  • Full time “Itinerant Missioners”.
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  • Men who worked full time to built up the local Christian Community.
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• However Evangelisation was never to be neglected by the Presbyters.

Ministerial Priesthood in the teaching of the Catholic Church.

There has always been from the earliest tradition Priesthood in the Catholic Church. The Church has always viewed Priesthood as a special calling {vocation}. This has not changed down through the centuries. The teaching of the Second Vatican Council makes clear this special calling and it could be summarised in some of the following points.

• Priests share in mission by sharing in Christ’s Ministry.
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• The “Decree on Priestly Ministry” Vat.11 stresses that “all the faithful are made a holy and royal priesthood…yet God has appointed certain men as Ministers…. to hold in the Community the sacred power of Orders.” {#2}.
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• A Priest is equal to all but yet, set apart by virtue of the Sacrament of Orders. {#3}.
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• The Priest has as “his primary duty the proclamation of the gospel of God” {#4} and is empowered to act in “the person of Christ”. {#2}
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• The Priest represents Christ pre-eminently “in the mystery of the Eucharistic Sacrifice”. {#13}.

Ministerial Priesthood and Ceili Community.
We can see from the above that Catholic Priesthood has its roots in the Scriptures and goes right back to the Apostles. These Apostles were commissioned to go out and evangelise. Proclamation is the first task of our call as Catholic Priests. Evangelisation, and in particular proclamation, is the charism of Ceili Community

This means that the call to be a Priest and the call to evangelise are not mutually exclusive. In the case of Ceili Community they are complimentary.

Being a Priest in Ceili Community - Fr. James Kinane.
I was born and reared in Tipperary Town and ordained in 1984. Since then, I have had the opportunity to exercise my Priesthood, in a variety of ways. I have worked in the U.S.A. England and now back at home in Ireland. I joined Ceili Community in 2006 and I must say that it is tremendous.

I am equally enriched and challenged by life in Ceili Community. I especially enjoy our prayer life, the togetherness, the sharing of our faith often at a deep level, the on-going formation and the companionship. All the above make for a fulfilling lifestyle.

I have plenty of scope for Priestly ministry. I am a member of the Parish Mission team and I lead the door-to-door home-visitation team. I also help out in other branches of the Community. I have done Missions in a number of Parishes throughout Ireland and abroad. I bring to this work a wide range of experience in preaching, my love of the Eucharist, my availability for Reconciliation and door-to-door outreach. It is so stimulating to be able to bring the message of the Gospel directly to peoples homes.

If you are a Priest reading this, why not consider giving some of the years of your Priesthood to Ceili Community. If you are thinking of being a Priest why not get in touch with me for more information.


Contact:

Rev. Dr. James Kinane
Ceili Community,
Harbour Road,
Kilbeggan,
Co. Westmeath.
Ireland.

Tel: 057 9333 222
Mobile: 087 786 8072

THE CALL OF THE LAITY AND EVANGELISATION.

The call of the Christian is one of service, to build up the Body of Christ. It is based on a Servant Centred Spirituality which has at its core a call to holiness through a life of prayer and Eucharistic involvement. This is achieved by participation in the life of the Christian Community and expressed at the Liturgy. {“Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity” No 1 # 4} The role model for the Christian as disciple, one who enters into a Servant Centred Spirituality, is Christ Himself.

Ministry and Mission are central to the life of the Christian because Jesus commissioned a ministry to his followers. At the commissioning of his disciples Jesus says: “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you” {Jn.20:21}. This is understood as a Servant Spirituality with Jesus as the model.

This ministry passes to the New People of God, those who are disciples. It can be described as a royal priesthood and the vocational call of all the baptised. The importance of the Vatican Two documents, “The Church Today” and the “Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity” is to stress that there is a ministry which the Church must give to the world {if it is to be faithful to its mission}. This exhortation is to the lay man and lay woman to play their part in building up the Body of Christ.

“It is clear that from the very origins of Christianity, the laity-as individuals, families and entire communities-shared in spreading the faith”. {“Redemptoris Missio” John Paul 11 1990}.

Céilí Community offers this opportunity for lay men and women to exercise this Ministry within the Church.

CEILI COMMUNITY.

While each person is called from their own Parish or Diocese, the invitation in Servant Centred Spirituality is to a wider church community. “The widening of horizons is all the more necessary in the present situation in which its increasing frequency of population shifts the development of active solidarity and the ease of communication no longer allow any one part of society to live in isolation” {Decree on the Laity No.3 # 10}. This calling is to have concern for the people of God scattered so widely in today’s society.

The call of Vatican Two and the recent Papal Documents on Evangelisation is for greater training for this task of proclaiming the Gospel. Céilí Community provides ongoing training and formation, to enable people engage with their Catholic faith and to help them communicate this faith effectively to others. This helps to foster and develop a practical spirituality that enables the laity to participate in the Mission of Evangelisation. Céilí tries to develop the gifts and talents of each individual within the context of a Servant Centred Spirituality.

Céilí calls each person to proclaim and announce the Good News of the Kingdom. The method of doing so depends on the role that each person has within the Community.

This Servant Centred Spirituality calls for us to share in the announcing of the Good News. Its centre is a life of prayer enabling Christ to proclaim the Good News in and through our ministry. To be in Ministry and sent on Mission within this context is to actively engage with one’s faith in prayer and proclamation.

“In addition to re-evangelising, the Church must continue its mission of bringing Christ’s Gospel to the millions who do not know it. Lay missionary work is conspicuous today when it is ever more necessary. Many lay missionaries including married couples are ready……to work ….in mission” }Christifideles Laici John Paul 11 # 35}.

The particular Charism and Apostolate of Céilí Community gives our laity their distinctive mandate and authority to proclaim the Gospel.

BEING A LAY PERSON IN CEILI COMMUNITY.

By Angela and Paul Rock.

We are both Primary School Teachers and as such we were very happy and contented in our jobs. We had stability and all the trappings of financial security. However, there was always that longing within us to join a community and work full time in evangelisation. From the very first moment we met and worked with Céilí Community we loved it.

Being part of Céilí Community has given us a great sense of working for Jesus. We are aware of the focus it has brought to our lives and the privilege of sharing the Good News with people throughout Ireland. It has given us a great freedom and opportunity to share our faith.

Being part of a praying community has added a real dimension to our spiritual journey. It is so good being able to share in a daily routine of Mass and prayer. This structured Eucharistic prayer life has added to our motivation and provides a real basis for our ministry.

There has been a lot of emphasis recently on various types of ministry, particularly that of collaboration. There is a great need for a physical expression of this collaboration, namely that of priest, religious and lay people co-operating together for the building up of the Kingdom. Céilí community affords us that expression and helps us to be part of this prophetic lifestyle.

Céilí Community has equipped us for the task of evangelisation. It has also challenged us to utilize talents and gifts that we never thought we had.

We have no regrets about joining Céilí Community. We think that being a member of Céilí Community is the most exciting and challenging thing you can do.

Angela and Paul.

RELIGIOUS AND EVANGELISATION

A charism ideal shapes the life of all religious. ‘Religious Life’, now referred to as ‘Consecrated Life’, has been lived by so many dedicated men and women and testifies to an impressive heritage to-day. This life has been moulded by the past but is kept in constant movement by the challenge of the Gospel Ideal still to be achieved. Religious live at the heart of the Church and bring with them elements that continually renew and challenge her. Let us look briefly at some of these characteristics.

Characteristics that constitute the Essence of the Consecrated Life

Consecration: A Unique Way of Loving and Witnessing to Christ in the World

The Consecrated life is based upon the example of Christ, the poor, chaste and obedient One. The church treasures this gift which serves as a visible sign in this world of the Reign of God.
The Churches’ mission of Evangelisation is a participation in God’s Mission and is rooted on the revelation that God is Love (1 Jn.4:16). Consecrated life has promoted this mission in many different ways down through the centuries from apostolic times.

On His return to the Father, Jesus sent His Spirit to live in our hearts, enabling us to be his witnesses in the world (Jn.15:22). All Christians are called to continue Jesus’ witness through the indwelling Gift of the Spirit. But those who are called to a life of Consecration are invited to participate in the mission of Jesus in a unique way through the vowed Profession of the Evangelical Counsels of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience.
Thus with undivided hearts, they may grow in all-embracing love, as
They turn without ceasing towards God and their neighbour.”


The Vows: Deepening our Understanding

The essence of consecrated life is centred on the three Evangelical Vows. Through the vowed profession of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience individuals dedicate themselves to God in their inmost heart by a special consecration, in a diversity of forms and charisms in the ecclesial community. The challenges facing our rapidly changing world have opened up new insights with regard to the vows. However their essence and origin are firmly established in the Word of God, and go right back into the Old Testament, and are exemplified perfectly in the life of Jesus in the New Testament.

“This is what Yahweh asks of you, only this

To act justly… (Poverty)
To love tenderly… (Chastity) and
To walk humbly with your God” ….. (Obedience) (Micah Ch.6:8)

Through vowed consecration a person makes a radical commitment of ‘undivided love’ to God (1Cor.7:35), after the example of Jesus, who lived justly, loved tenderly and walked humbly with the constant desire to do the Will of His Father. These words help to deepen the fundamental understanding of the vowed life which challenges consecrated persons in particular, to labour earnestly and confidently for the full realisation of the ‘Reign of God’ which Jesus came to establish. (Jn. Ch.10:10; 2 Cor.5:17)

Evangelical Poverty –Acting Justly
Radical discipleship, finds expression through the vow of poverty, in the handing over of all appropriation of money and property, in an endeavour to live in right relationship with God, oneself, other people and all of God’s Creation while being responsible in the use of material goods. “No one” said Jesus, “Can be my disciples unless they give up all their possessions.” (Luke Ch. 14:33)

Evangelical Chastity- Loving Tenderly
By embracing chastity ‘for the sake of the Reign of God’ (Mt.19:22) consecrated persons centre their whole being on Christ with the preferential love of an undivided heart. (1 Cor. Ch. 7:35). “Yes, in Christ it is possible to love God with all one’s heart, putting Him above every other love, and thus to love every other creature with the freedom of God”
. St. Francis exhorted his companions in these words, “Hold back nothing of yourselves for yourselves so that He who gave Himself totally to you, may receive you totally”.


Evangelical Obedience- Walking Humbly with God
In the vow of obedience the individual vows to live in openness to the Spirit, seeking to surrender totally to God’s Will through prayer and discernment, according to a particular Rule or Form of Consecrated Life. Obedience is essentially about listening to and doing God’s Will after the example of Jesus whose food was: “To do the will of the Father who sent Him and to complete His work” (Jn.Ch.4:34) “It is necessary that listening to the Word of God should become a life-giving encounter which draws from the biblical text the living word which questions, directs and shapes our lives”.
“The vows mean nothing” writes a contemporary, Timothy Radcliffe O P, “unless they form us into a people who can offer a taste of joy that transcends every delight on the WWW.



The Consecrated Life and Ceili Community

‘The Eucharist is the source and summit of all Divine Life in the church.’
Hence at the centre of all forms of Consecrated Life is the invitation to ‘full, active, conscious participation’
with Christ in the Eucharist, which is also at the heart of Ceili Community and Mission. This relationship with Christ is enhanced and deepened, through communal and or personal prayer, accompanied by a simple Gospel lifestyle based on the Beatitudes.

The nature of the Consecrated Life is both contemplative and prophetic. It has the challenging task of responding to the “Signs of the Times”. There are profound changes taking place at present in our world and in the Church. This shift is very evident in Consecrated Life today, as the members endeavour to take on board the Teaching of Vatican II and subsequent relevant Church Documents, especially those on Evangelisation. The Church to which the Religious and Ceili belong is charged with the task of spreading the Gospel. But there is another truth that lies at the heart of the Church’s Mission- a Gospel preached is inadequate without a Gospel radically lived. With this in mind the Consecrated Life lends a prophetic cutting edge to the task of proclamation which is at the core of Ceili’s charism. In this way Religious can radiate vibrancy within Ceili. In turn, Ceili offers Religious a different avenue in which to explore new forms of Community living and apostolic endeavour.

Religious who make a commitment to join Ceili are merely saying ‘yes’ to the Church’s exhortation: “From the inexhaustible and manifold richness of the Spirit come the vocations of the Institutes of Consecrated Life, whose members because of the dedication to the service of the Church deriving from their consecration, have an obligation to play a special part in missionary activity…No one witnesses more effectively…than those who profess the consecrated life in chastity, poverty and obedience, in a total gift of self to God and in complete readiness to serve humanity and society after the example of Christ”
Sr. Kathleen Lynch F.M.D.M.


BEING A RELIGIOUS IN CEILI COMMUNITY:

Hello I’m Sr. Kathleen- I belong to a Congregation called The Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood. My community base within the Order is in Ballinasloe, Co. Galway. I worked for a number of years in Education and Pastoral work at home and abroad, but in recent years experienced a strong call to the ministry of direct Evangelisation. Therefore I welcomed the invitation from Ceili to join their Community and I am enjoying the challenge.

The Parish Mission endeavours to reach all the parishioners through door-to-door visitation as well as giving the Preached Mission in the Church. I am part of the Parish Team and work on the Liturgy with the priest and parishioners. I am delighted and privileged to offer catecheses, to the Eucharistic Ministers, Choirs, Readers and Altar Servers prior to and during the Mission, as well as facilitating sessions on ‘Lectio Divina’ and Guided Prayer. This gives me the opportunity to encourage and be encouraged in the Faith.

Being a Religious in this collaborative Community brings its own challenges. However it is refreshing and life-giving to be part of something so alive and so open to the Holy Spirit in ‘new methods’ of proclaiming the Gospel. My wish is that more sisters who feel called to evangelise, could share this experience.

Sr Kathleen Lynch.

i Vita Consecrata No1
ii T.O.R. St. Francis No.8
iii Vita Consecrata No. 88
iv Letter to the entire Order No. 39
v Novo Millennia Ingénue No.39
vi COR. Lecture to Swiss 2003
vii S C No. 10.
viii S C No.14.
ix Redemptoris Missio No. 69