One may wonder what are the trials and tribulations of a parish priest; the answer is this past week when Fr. Michael Ashworth and I spent the working week in northern France at a meeting with Archbishop Kevin McDonald and around 70 other priests and deacons of Southwark Diocese at the former seminary for the Lille Diocese, La Maison Diocèsaine d’Acceuil in the town of Merville. In fact, it was far from a trial or tribulation, but in typical Catholic guilt one must downplay an enjoyable and worthwhile endeavour lest one feel too grand.

Archbishop Kevin has planned this year to have meetings with all of the priests and deacons of Southwark in three different instalments at Merville. The first meeting took place in February and the final one will take place in October. The main purpose is to gather the clergy so as too spend time with each other as well as with the Archbishop. Monday evening the Archbishop discussed philosophically how the church engages with our secular culture. On Tuesday we had the pleasure to have three talks from Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, OP, concerning various roles priests engage in the modern world. What he was asked to do was daunting and he accomplished it with great self-effacing humour. Being until recently the Master of the Dominican order through the world, his humble and selfless ministry to us was very much appreciated, especially considering this is coming from a Jesuit. The relations between the Dominicans and Jesuits over the years has been volatile, to say the least.

We then had two days of talks from Fr. Paddy Sweeney of the Dublin Diocese concerning how we can continue to live healthy lives in service. Many of the things he discussed are not exclusively issues for clergy but more the raw realities of being human. He described the ‘stones in the shoes’ that over a period of time can cause stress and despair. He then discussed various techniques of the imagination where one can look at one’s situation in a new light so as to alter ever so slightly the unhealthy behaviours we all can fall into.

In addition there was an interesting talk from Bishop Paul Hendricks where he reflected upon the input within the context of our secular world. The Archbishop then summed things up on Friday and took some general questions from us.

However, in the midst of all of this we had beautiful times of prayer and joyful masses. We had hours of recreation and periods of sharing a pint or two. The vast diversity of clergy in the diocese was demonstrated in a social where people sang, told stories and put on skits. I found it so nourishing for me to be among my fellow priests. That may sound strange but I have not had much experience among diocesan clergy. Most of my experiences of clergy are within the Society of Jesus and naturally there are subtle cultural differences which distinguish between the different forms of serving the church as priests. I came away refreshed and more settled within the diverse and invigorating church which is Southwark. So you can see what trials and tribulations I was forced to endure!!

We now are in a period of ordinary time which is full of great celebrations:
Trinity Sunday today,
the Feast of Corpus Christi next Sunday,
on the following Friday the Feast of the Sacred Heart,
and finally on the next day the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

If you will, these feasts are bunched together as a natural celebration of how God’s redeeming grace fills our ordinary life. Over the centuries we have found various means to focus on the myriad of ways the Lord draws us to his ever gratuitous gifts. We place them as soon as we can after the joyful season of Easter which ended last Sunday on Pentecost. The calendar is a physical manifestation of the joy we all feel.