Catholic priests have suffered a collective identity...

Catholic priests have suffered a collective identity crisis, according to a recently published book.

In “Priesthood Today: An Appraisal,” Loyola Marymount University theology professor Father Thomas Rausch examines the rapidly evolving theological and personal status of priests over the last three decades.

He writes that the understanding that priests have of their ministry and the expectations that their congregations have from them have changed dramatically.

Historically, priests were seen as sacred people having sacred power. “Ultimately, this sacral model doesn’t work,” Rausch said in an interview this week.

After the Second Vatican Council in the mid-1960s, priests were called to lead their congregations in a more personal manner, offering ministry and service, not power and authority. “But the tendency to reduce priesthood to ministry has left a certain confusion,” said Rausch, who is the rector of Loyola Marymount’s Jesuit community.

“All Christians are called to minister,” he said. “And with the contemporary emphasis on lay people in teaching, working with the poor, preparing people for sacraments and taking roles in the liturgy--even running parishes--we must reject a purely ministerial model and ask what specifically constitutes the meaning of priesthood.”

To answer his own question, Rausch poses a third, representational model, which, he says, preserves the best elements of the other two. Adapting the work of fellow Jesuit Avery Dulles, whom he calls “the premier Catholic ecclesiologist in the United States,” Rausch posits that, although a priest is not a sacred person, “in sacramental moments--while presiding over the Eucharist, celebrating the sacrament of baptism or pronouncing absolution in the sacrament of reconciliation, he represents Christ because he is authorized to act in the name of the church. But when he is counseling a parishioner or giving alms to the poor, he is acting as any other Christian minister, ordained or unordained, acts.”

In appraising the psychological lives of priests, Rausch devotes a chapter to the emotional void many feel because they lack intimate emotional (which he carefully distinguishes from sexual) relationships with men and women.

“Some priests’ private lives are so closed that they don’t have any real friends of either sex with whom they can share themselves,” Rausch said. “To be that closed off . . . is to be crippled--and therefore not a good priest. How can you represent the loving Jesus to others,” he asks, “if you can’t relate to other human beings in a loving way?

“In the past, those in charge of the religious training of priests were so frightened of the power of sexuality,” he said, “that . . . they didn’t teach how to be appropriately emotional with others,” he said. “Priests must be able to express their love and appreciation of human beings in a non-romantic and non-erotic way.

“This is a time when we need to rethink what priesthood means,” he concluded.

Rausch, a priest since 1972, is the author of three other books. “Priesthood Today: An Appraisal,” published by Paulist Press in New York, is available in Catholic bookstores.

SPEAKERS

The Interreligious Council of Southern California--which has called upon the U.S. government to organize an international relief effort in Bosnia-Herzegovina--has scheduled a teach-in on the plight of the region at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 31, at the Good Shepherd Church, 505 N. Bedford Drive, Beverly Hills. For information, call the council at (213) 388-2401.

Edward Hoffman, Jewish scholar, psychologist and mystic, will speak at “A Day of Spiritual Renewal,” sponsored by Beit T’Shuvah, a Jewish recovery home in Los Angeles, and Temple Ner Tamid in Downey from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. He will teach meditative practices from the cabala that he says can increase productivity and joyfulness.

A $35 ticket includes brunch. Proceeds go to the home for recovering alcohol, drug and gambling addicts. The address is Temple Ner Tamid, 10629 Lakewood Blvd., Downey. For information, call (213) 413-3321.

DATES

A “Raise the Roof Festival” will be held 5 to 10 p.m. Friday, and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. next Saturday in the parking lot of the Kirk O’ the Valley Presbyterian Church in Reseda. There will be a ‘40s-’50s dance Saturday evening. Proceeds from a raffle, food, games, baked goods and crafts will buy a new roof for the church and its school. The address is 19620 Vanowen St. (818) 345-2535.

A synagogue for Jewish meditation, mysticism and spirituality, Makom Ohr Shalom, meets for Sabbath services on the first and third Fridays of each month at 8 p.m. at 20400 Ventura Blvd., Woodland Hills. (818) 713-1900.

The United Methodist Church of Sepulveda holds a reunion this Sunday, beginning with a 10 a.m. worship service. A luncheon and entertainment follow. The address is 15435 Rayen Street. (818) 892-1164.

The New Covenant Singers, a contemporary choir at Bel Air Presbyterian Church presents their annual “Summer Son-Light” concert at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, in the church’s new sanctuary. The program is a mix of sacred and secular music. Refreshments follow. The address is 16221 Mulholland Drive, one mile west of the 405 Freeway. For information, phone (818) 788-4200.

EDUCATION

Two courses exploring various dimensions of women’s spiritual experience from a feminist perspective will be offered this fall in the graduate program in feminist spirituality of the Immaculate Heart College Center. “Introduction to Feminist Spirituality” is an overview of contemporary Western Christian, Jewish and other approaches to feminist spirituality. It meets three successive Friday evenings and Saturdays, beginning Sept. 10.

“Toward a New Theological Anthropology” will seek a “holistic redefinition of personhood” by examining orthodox Christian teachings and their feminist critique, as well as alternate Eastern and Western views. Hours are 7 to 10 p.m. Thursday evenings between Sept. 10 and Nov. 12.

Classes meet at 425 Shatto Place, Los Angeles. They may be audited or taken for credit. For tuition and other information, contact Pat Reif or Sarah Forth at (213) 386-3116.