Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Lahore (Agenzia Fides) - At the conclusion of the Year of Faith, the Church of Pakistan reflects on the role and charisma of priesthood. After several ecumenical initiatives dedicated to the theme of peace and unity, the Catholic community in Pakistan wanted to conclude the Year of Faith focusing on all the young people who are preparing for priesthood, by organizing a seminar held in recent days at the St. Francis Xavier philosophical pontifical Institute in Lahore. The seminar, which focused on "The challenges of priesthood in the modern world", was attended by some seminarians from the Dioceses of Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad-Rawalpindi, Faisalabad and Multan.
"Every man needs a spiritual guide in order to carry out a spiritual journey in faith and to get closer to God", said Fr. Nadeem John Shakir, Secretary of the Commission for Social Communications in the Episcopal Conference of Pakistan and director of the "Rabita Manzil" multimedia Center. Fr. Shakir, main speaker of the seminar, stressed the key challenges that every priest faces today in the modern world, especially referring to the Pakistani context: fundamentalism, individualism, nepotism, sectarianism Community.
By exercising his priestly ministry in a world traversed by such phenomena, what could happen is that a priest "goes through a crisis of faith and identity". To meet these challenges, the priest must start again from three pillars: "Sacred Scripture; Sacred Tradition; authentic teaching of the Church". If a priest "does not abide in Christ and Christ abides in him, he cannot give Christ to others", said the speaker. This is why "a priest never ends learning to know, to be, to do, to live together". Fr. Shakir quoted John Paul II, remembering that every priest is called to be "rooted in Christ the Lord, is a gift of God to his Church through the Holy Spirit". (PA) (Agenzia Fides 18/11/2013)
