John Michael Hanvey is a Franciscan Priest.
He shares his thoughts with us.

This is the title of a collection of poems written by the Welsh poet and priest R.S. Thomas. He is a rare example of a priest who has faced the reality of the contemporary world with its challenge to faith and morality, and has been able to translate it into believable spiritual terms.

He speaks of God as the Bleak North, with long silences and brief understandings. He describes his faith as being like a lover looking up at his beloved's window not knowing if anyone is at home or not and not having any lattice work to climb up and check it out. He then goes on to say that he would have given it all up long ago, except that once through clasped fingers he thought he saw movement behind the curtain.

I believe in these words, we have a clue to understanding contemporary priesthood. Many priests buckle under the strain of not being a Master in Israel when dealing with their own spirituality in a world that challenges almost everything that priesthood stands for. Often there is a feeling of inadequacy and loneliness as the priest goes about his ministry. Friendship is an area that might need developing a lot more than we might imagine for the celibate priest. Sexual problems are not surprising at all if there is loneliness, inadequacy and the lack of a deep soul-friend.

I believe that the experience of not being a spiritual giant is the first real step to a better ministry and priesthood. The priest Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote about his experience of Christ as "I greet him on the days I meet him and bless him when I understand". There are many days when God seems silent and distant, but this is not a negative thing in itself, even though it can be very mysterious at the time. This experience I believe helps priesthood into a real and often challenging ministry. So many people today experience a God who seems absent, and many experience life without any reference to God at all. This nothingness experience often leads to addiction, violence and general isolation from family, society and self.

It is not easy to be a priest for this group. One has to wrestle with many things including God himself, like Jacob did. It leads one to a different understanding of priesthood. Standing at the altar and breaking the bread of life leads one to break the bread of ones own life for these people, and at the end of a week it often feels that one's own blood has been shed as well.

The reward for entering this inner city priesthood is mixed. It can produce a profound love and deep faith and an energy, the source of which amazes and surprises. It can also bring about a feeling of helplessness. But this again leads to a leaning on God for all things. Another word for leaning on God is prayer. The movement behind the curtain through clasped fingers which R.S. Thomas writes about. Prayer reveals God to me and me to myself and then leads on to a challenging and brave priesthood.

Being there for the broken and the little ones of this world is so much part of being a priest, along with compassion and a profound trust that in Christ all things will be well because grace is everywhere.

In the Creed we say Christ descended into Hell. Into the hells of our human nature and into the Hell that never ends. I believe that part of what this means, is that even if I want to go to Hell there is a Saviour who will be even there for me, and lead me out of it.

Ministry to the poor as a priest is about entering other people's hells and offering a way out, a way through, with a love and a compassion which demonstrates the extravagant love of Christ.