By Fr. John Adamski

Even though men’s hats aren’t current in fashion, most days I feel like I’m wearing three different ones. Right now, priesthood means three definite responsibilities for me. First, being an assistant pastor in a suburban parish, secondly, associate director of vocations for our archdiocese and thirdly, chairman of the Justice and Peace Committee of the local priests’ senate.

Obviously, my foremost responsibility is to the people of the parish I serve: St. John the Evangelist. Parish ministry means primarily availability. People need to feel that the priests of their parish are ready to be with them and serve them. This willingness to serve will be recognized in the priest’s attention and promptness to parish functions whether liturgical, educational or social. The theory of service is fleshed out in the daily parish routine of rather normal activities that give the people some measure of confidence that their priests are both available and eager to be with them.

Secondly, a major part of the responsibility for vocation work here in Atlanta is mine. I need to keep in contact with the seminarians who are currently studying for this archdiocese as well as foster an awareness of this vocation to serve the church among others. Vocations work today is a slow business and not easily measured by numbers of interested people. Once again, it’s often a question of being available and interested in the problems or needs of those who would like to serve the church with their entire lives.

Finally, I serve as chairman for the Justice & Peace Committee of our Atlanta priests’ senate. All of us share a Christian responsibility to work for justice in our world. This committee work is a positive way for me to exercise that responsibility. Most often this entails applying the principles of the gospel to urgent human needs into a neatly ordered schedule and sequence. Working for justice may involve methods and efforts that frequently don’t seem to have much obvious connection with church and religion.

My point in mentioning these activities is not to impress anyone with the kinds of things I’m trying to do. I’m sure that most parents are just as busy in their daily lives as I am. Nor am I the only priest in Atlanta who tries to fulfill several different responsibilities. In an archdiocese as small as ours, most of our priests have to help out in several areas. The outline of my efforts in ministry is merely an example of what this whole business of priesthood really comes down to in actual fact. We can sketch the theory and ideal of ministry in many appropriate ways. That theory will remain useless unless it provides the background for the daily life and activity of one who would serve God’s people in this full-time way.

For those who might have some thought of looking further into the idea of priesthood, I hope that this outline serves some function of helping to get a slightly broader idea of the kinds of things that a priest in Atlanta might be asked to do. Perhaps the clearest characteristic of Atlanta priesthood is that virtually all of us have to spend the majority of our time in parish ministry. The number of our priests is still quite small when compared with the size of our Catholic population and the needs of our people. All of our priests realize that they must spend the major part of their ministry serving these needs through the parish setting. Other ministries do exist, such as teaching, but the parish ministry is and will be our major effort.

Nevertheless, most of our priests are able to peruse special interests in ministry. My second and third hats are examples of that in my own life. The needs of the church and people of north Georgia may necessitate these efforts to bring the gospel message into several different aspects of contemporary society. Priests share the Christian responsibility to see that this gospel message is heard, preached and lived out as clearly as possible.

One final point is crucial: all these efforts in ministry will never amount to much without the personal holiness and prayer life of the minister himself. The priest must be a man of prayer before he can hope to be anything else. This doesn’t mean that priests are any better Christians than anyone else is, but it does mean that the priest takes seriously his obligation to grow as a friend of Jesus Christ.

A person thinking about priesthood shouldn’t worry about whether he’s holy enough or good enough. No man would even win in that sort of contest. But each must be listening for the impulse of God’s Spirit calling him to follow the Lord a little more closely.