POST-SYNODAL
APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION
PASTORES DABO VOBIS
TO THE BISHOPS,
CLERGY AND FAITHFUL
ON THE FORMATION OF PRIESTS
IN THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE PRESENT DAY
INTRODUCTION
1. "I will give you shepherds after my own heart"
(Jer. 3:15 ).
In these words from the prophet Jeremiah, God promises his
people that he will never leave them without shepherds to gather them together
and guide them: "I will set shepherds over them [my sheep] who will care
for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed (Jer. 23.4).
The Church, the People of God, constantly experiences the
reality of this prophetic message and continues joyfully to thank God for it.
She knows that Jesus Christ himself is the living, supreme and definitive
fulfillment of God's promise: "I am the good shepherd" (Jn. 10:11 ). He, "the great shepherd of the
sheep" (Heb. 13:20 ), entrusted
to the apostles and their successors the ministry of shepherding God's flock
(cf. Jn. 21:15ff.; 1 Pt. 5:2).
Without priests the Church would not be able to live that
fundamental obedience which is at the very heart of her existence and her
mission in history, an obedience in response to the command of Christ: "Go
therefore and make disciples of all nations" (Mt. 28:19) and "Do this
in remembrance of me" (Lk. 22:19; cf. 1 Cor. 11.24), i.e:, an
obedience to the command to announce the Gospel and to renew daily the
sacrifice of the giving of his body and the shedding of his blood for the life
of the world.
By faith we know that the Lord's promise cannot fail. This
very promise is the reason and force underlying the Church's rejoicing at the
growth and increase of priestly vocations now taking place in some parts of the
world. It is also the foundation and impulse for a renewed act of faith and
fervent hope in the face of the grave shortage of priests which is being felt
in other parts of the world. Everyone is called upon to share complete trust in
the unbroken fulfillment of God's promise, which the synod fathers expressed in
clear and forceful terms: "The synod, with complete trust in the promise
of Christ who has said: 'Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age' (Mt.
28:20), and aware of the constant activity of the Holy Spirit in the Church,
firmly believes that there will never be a complete lack of sacred ministers in
the Church.... Even though in a number of regions there is a scarcity of
clergy, the action of the Father, who raises up vocations, will nonetheless
always be at work in the Church."(1)
At the conclusion of the synod, I said that in the face of a
crisis of priestly vocations "the first answer which the Church gives lies
in a total act of faith in the Holy Spirit. We are deeply convinced that this
trusting abandonment will not disappoint if we remain faithful to the graces we
have received."(2)
2. To remain faithful to the grace received! This gift of
God does not cancel human freedom; instead it gives rise to freedom, develops
freedom and demands freedom.
For this reason, the total trust in God's unconditional
faithfulness to his promise is accompanied in the Church by the grave
responsibility to cooperate in the action of God who calls, and to contribute
toward creating and preserving the conditions in which the good seed, sown by
God, can take root and bring forth abundant fruit. The Church must never cease
to pray to the Lord of the harvest that he send laborers into his harvest, (cf. Mt.
9:38 ). She must propose clearly and
courageously to each new generation the vocational call, help people to discern
the authenticity of their call from God and to respond to it generously, and
give particular care to the formation of candidates for the priesthood.
The formation of future priests, both diocesan and
religious, and lifelong assiduous care for their personal sanctification in the
ministry and for the constant updating of their pastoral commitment is
considered by the Church one of the most demanding and important tasks for the
future of the evangelization of humanity.
The Church's work of formation is a continuation in time of
Christ's own work, which the evangelist Mark illustrates in these words:
"And he went up on the mountain, and called to him those whom he desired;
and they came to him. And he appointed twelve, to be with him, and to be sent
out to preach and have authority to cast out demons" (Mk. 3:13 -15).
It can be said that through her work of forming candidates
to the priesthood and priests themselves, the Church throughout her history has
continued to live this passage of the Gospel in various ways and with varying
intensity. Today, however, the Church feels called to relive with a renewed
commitment all that the Master did with his apostles - urged on as she is by
the deep and rapid transformations in the societies and culture of our age; by
the multiplicity and diversity of contexts in which she announces the Gospel
and witnesses to it; by the promising number of priestly vocations being seen
in some dioceses around the world; by the urgency of a new look at the contents
and methods of priestly formation; by the concern of bishops and their
communities about a persisting scarcity of clergy; and by the absolute
necessity that the "new evangelization" have priests as its initial
"new evangelizers."
It is precisely in this cultural and historical context that
the last ordinary general assembly of the Synod of Bishops took place.
Dedicated to "the formation of priests in circumstances of the present
day," its purpose was to put into practice the Council's teaching on this
matter, making it more up - to - date and incisive in present circumstances,
twenty - five years after the Council itself.(3)
To be continued...
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