Bishop Joseph L. Bernardin said the role of the priest is to help people to reestablish themselves as a community, as a people who are responsive to God and each other.

The bishop spoke Saturday at the ordination of Fathers Raymond Horan, Jacob A. Bollmer, Jr., and David L. Patterson. He also raised James Sextone and John Lawrence to the diaconate.

“It is important to remember,” the bishop said, “that the ministry of the priest must be exercised for people. The ultimate goal of the priestly ministry is the glory of God, a glory that consists of men knowingly, freely and gratefully accepting what God has achieved through Christ.” Bishop Bernardin said it is the priest who must serve as the leader and builder of the Christian community. “We are not merely individuals, each going our own way. We are a community joined together by God’s love for us and our love for one another.”

“The problem is that because of our human condition, we do not love each other as much as we should. Our love is often sidetracked by pride, selfishness, prejudice. It is the priest’s role to lead people out of the exiles they have imposed on themselves by their selfishness, their hatreds and their mistrusts.” “It is the priest’s role to help them back into the mainstream of life; to help them reestablish themselves as a community, as a people who are responsive to God and each other.”

“This means that a priest, while set apart in one sense, is in the very best sense of the word a man of the world, a man in touch with life as it really is...” “He is a man who has the good sense to listen because he doesn’t have all the answers and doesn’t try to judge everyone by his own mentality. He is a man willing to break away from the patterns of the past and try new things to see if they will work and help people. He is a man who will go after people, no matter who they are or where they are.” Bishop Bernardin said a priest must be fully human with human hopes and aspirations. “He must remember that, along with his strengths, he has human weaknesses.” “The priest must plunge into the swirling waters of our contemporary society -- waters which are often muddied by hatred, prejudices and a failure to appreciate the supernatural dimension of our human existence.”