Every year when new priests are ordained for our Archdiocese of Washington, I find myself reflecting on both the past and the future. I am reminded how blessed I have been in my 53 years of priesthood, and I pray that our new priests will feel equally fulfilled and blessed in their priesthoods.
It all started in seminary at Mount St. Mary’s in Emmitsburg. Those four years were filled with great joy as 120 other men and I discerned the priesthood together. I finished in four years, which is not possible today. It now takes at least seven years to be ordained, which I think is good. Seminarians get a fuller and more complete experience.
Mount St. Mary’s prepared me to be a parish priest, which I felt was my calling. That was the seminary’s emphasis – forming great parish priests.
Even though several of my assignments involved full-time work for the archdiocese, I have always considered myself a parish priest. I was director of CYO and youth ministry for 11 years after my first assignment at the Church of the Little Flower in Bethesda. I later served as pastor of Mount Calvary in Forestville, Our Lady of Mercy in Potomac, and Blessed Sacrament in Washington before being asked to take over the leadership of Catholic Charities in 2011.
No matter the assignment, I always lived in a parish. I celebrated Mass on weekends, helped out where I could, and supported the priests with whom I lived and served. Most importantly, I always felt part of a family – the parish family.
If I were to share advice with our new priests, I would encourage them to embrace their parish families. I have received many blessings as a priest, and very high on that list are the people who have become part of my extended family.
I have been welcomed, supported, challenged, and assisted by them in every way at every parish. I have worked side by side with great people – leaders, parishioners, and supporters of ministry. Their help was invaluable on boards, parish councils, finance councils, and other parish organizations.
I learned early on to listen to the people of the parish. This was especially true when it came to finances. I watched and listened closely to finance councils, which consisted of smart people with backgrounds in accounting, banking, investing, and other financial fields. I realized I did not have the skills or experience to make certain decisions, but I could be a good listener and collaborator.
That lesson applies far beyond finances. Priests bring certain gifts and strengths, but we also have limitations. The parish – and the Church – are always stronger when we listen to those whose expertise complements our own. We simply make better decisions together.
I am thrilled that one of our new priests will be coming to St. Bart’s, where I have lived for the past 15 years. Our pastor, Father Mark Smith, and I look forward to helping him in his first years of ministry, just as we were so graciously helped in our first assignments.
I pray that our new priests will find the same joy, happiness, and fulfillment that I have found over the last half century. Priesthood is a rich and wonderful life. We share God’s grace through the sacraments. We accompany people on their spiritual journeys. We become servant leaders as we try to imitate Jesus. And we ourselves draw closer to God through our “yes” and the people we encounter.
You may have heard it said that if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life. I have spent the last 53 years “not working.” I am grateful to be joined by our five new priests, and I pray they, too, will have long and fulfilling lives “not working,” but filled with the joy of giving and receiving God’s love.
(Msgr. John Enzler serves as the mission advocate of Catholic Charities of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington and is a chaplain at his alma mater, St. John’s College High School in Washington. He writes the Faith in Action column for the archdiocese’s Catholic Standard and Spanish-language El Pregonero newspapers and websites.)
