INTERVIEW OF THE DAY
 

The freedom to be a priest Almost 10,000 priests from over 90 countries worldwide have answered Pope Benedict XVI’s call to come celebrate with him here in St Peter’s Square the close of the Year for Priests. Mgr. Paul Tighe, is secretary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. A native of Dublin Ireland, we asked him the question that many in an increasingly sceptical world are asking: In this day and age why become a priest?

“In one sense my idea was to become a priest in order to help people know God, know his closeness, and that I suppose is what brought me to the seminary. I went into the seminary at age 17, which at the time, even for then, was considered quite young. I know it was a bit of a shock for my parents. The first time I had really seriously articulated this choice to explore becoming a priest, would have been in a conversation with them when I was about 16, when they were asking what I was going to do with my life. They had always insisted that I should have the freedom to do anything I wanted. They were and are people of faith but not overly pious. I think they were a bit surprised that having being offered this freedom, I would take what was seen as a more conservative or conventional choice to enter a seminary. I don’t think they were convinced that it would work out. I remember the day that I was leaving the seminary they gave me the keys to the house, saying you are always welcome back. The early years in the seminary where years of discernment, to go and see if this was for me. I also had a certain freedom, in so far as I studied civil law at the state university in Ireland. My parents were happy with that because it meant I had a bankable skill, should I leave the seminary. I was in class with other boys and girls of my own age, with all the standard growing up together happening. I supposed it raised the issue of celibacy for me quite early on”.

Q: Was that something you had some doubts about I mean was that one of the most difficult issues for you?

“That was obviously one of the things that you had to really come to terms with. I, for myself had formulated it in two ways. One was, could I live this healthily? Would it be possible to live a healthy life as a celibate? Then the second one that followed from that was if I believe that I could live it in a healthy manner, do I want to? And over the course of the years, I came to know myself and grow in an awareness of myself, that this could be a very healthy choice if it is something that is chosen freely and lived with generosity, attention, care, prayer and support. I became aware that it was something that I wanted to choose because the Lord was asking me to become a priest. I had a number of times when I had doubted that and had wanted to leave the seminar. But I had never found peace in that decision. So I remember particularly the time of my diaconate, when I made my commitment to celibacy definitively to be a priest, the was a huge sense of peace”.

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