Thoughts on the Charism of the Worker Priest

To the list of opportunities that worker priests have, I'd like to add one more—the opportunity through example to encourage and inspire Christian discipleship and model the integration of secular and religious life to the people that come their way.

Our parish, like most OC/IC parishes is small and so the members share each other's lives and know each other well. When I first realized that OC/IC priests weren't paid to be priests (I'm unordained) and spent their days much like I did and yet serve, preach, counsel, pray, and administer sacraments on top of daily secular life and in the midst of job loss, illness, bad days, and personal struggle—that had a profound effect on how I thought about living Christian faith.

One of the challenges in any Christian community is how to inspire Sunday church-goers to Christian discipleship lived in the everyday. Most people don't know how paid clergy spend their day and the underlying assumption is that because they are paid to be clergy they have the time for a spiritual life and they are the ones who are called to daily spiritual living—and the rest of us who have secular jobs only have time for God on Sundays because we're busy making a living on other days.

Worker priests challenge this model for the people they serve and exemplify how living breathing daily Christian life happens in the midst of a secular work life. By the example of their lives, worker priests have a unique opportunity to inspire, challenge, and encourage discipleship in a way that paid clergy can not. It is a vocation to be proud of, to embrace, and to rejoice in.

— By Sister Lyngine Calizo, AIHM