REVIEW OF THE PRIESTHOOD OF THE FAITHFUL
FROM WORSHIP vol. 80: No. 4 (JULY, 2006), 368-9
(Used here with permission)
The Priesthood of the Faithful: Key to a Living
Church:
By Paul J. Philibert, O.P.,
Collegeville, MN:
Liturgical Press 2005. Pages, 173 Paper
$15.95 ISBN:
0-8146-3023-5
Paul Philibert offers here a beautiful theological
meditation on the priesthood of the faithful. If this doctrine has been
relegated to the margins by Catholics since the Reformation, Philibert wants to
pull it into the center of ecclesial consciousness. He tries to do so through a
sustained and substantive argument that is, at the same time, a kind of
spirituality of the stuff of life.
Noting that the church in North America faces a
kairos moment, a series of challenges that are also opportunities for a new
vision, Philibert calls all of the baptized to reclaim their priesthood by
recognizing their ordinary, daily existence as an offering to God. The first
half of the book (Chapters 1 through 4) lays out the liturgical/sacramental
foundations of this "ordinary" idea. Baptism is foundational and ongoing -- for
serious Christians never completely "dry off" from this rite (22). Following his
reflections on baptismal rebirth in Chapter 2, Philibert turns to the sacraments
in general in Chapter 3. Here he employs creatively the scholastic distinction
between sacramentum tantum, res et sacramentum, and res tantum,
which he calls "symbolic matter," "graced sign," and "realized mystery." Just as
in the Eucharist, bread and wine (symbolic matter) become Christ's body and
blood (graced sign) in order that we might become Christ's body (realized
mystery), so too in our daily lives, the stuff of our struggles in marriage or
our toil at work are the "symbolic matter" that become "graced signs" whenever
we call the Holy Spirit into these situations. Infused by the Spirit, this
uneventful, unremarkable life of ours actually leads us to the "realized
mystery" of holiness and harmony in the Body of Christ (53). Philibert names
this realized mystery the priesthood of the faithful, a life lived in union with
the one high priest, Jesus Christ. Chapter 4 shows how Christ's priesthood puts
an end to the age-old system of ritual blood sacrifice. The baptismal priesthood
is not about destruction and loss, but about love and life.
The second half of the book (Chapters 5 through 8)
explores what kind of pastoral response the priesthood of the faithful demands.
Following the three-fold work of Christ as prophet, king, and priest, Philibert
underlines the essential link between faith formation and the ability of
believers to offer a prophetic voice (Chapter 5); he identifies the family as
one arena for exercising the reign of God (Chapter 6); and he reflects on
intentionality as the key to transforming every activity into prayer (Chapter
7). The final chapter calls for a "symbolic imagination" which throws together
(the root meaning of "symbol") the experience of day-to-day reality and the
experience of faith. Within the context of baptismal commonality, Philibert
addresses lay Catholics, lay ecclesial ministers, priests, and bishops. By
raising up the baptismal priesthood, Philibert does not dismiss the priesthood
of the ordained. But he does place it in its proper context: it is the "graced
sign" meant to serve the "realized mystery" of the priesthood of all the
faithful.
A final word about the book's title: Too often we
use the phrase "the faithful" to refer to those in the church who are not
ordained, the laity as distinct from the clergy. (Philibert himself seems to
slip into this usage at points.) But what this book describes is not some
"priesthood of the laity" that stands alongside that of the ordained. It
presents a priesthood of the whole body of Christ -- a call to discipleship in
the midst of the every day, which is a challenge for both the ordained and the
non-ordained alike.
Xavier University - Edward P.
Hahnenberg
Cincinnati, Ohio
Book Review
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