I would be happy to reply on what I see are the greatest Needs, Challenges and rewards of priesthood....

The greatest need of priesthood is to connect it, and all Christian life to how the Gospel of Jesus actually can have an effect on our lives and our world and make it (and us) the best possible place.

I think for some the priesthood or even the Christian life is not seen as attractive because people have difficulty connecting how this "religion" thing can have an effect on our daily lives and make a difference. So, I personally think that we need to take the example of Jesus from the Gospel last weekend. (Luke 16:1-13, especially where Jesus observes that the people of this world are often more clever and energetic in the things of this world than are his own followers... and I reckon Jesus wanted his followers to get smart and get creative! Jesus elsewhere in the Bible said that as followers of him we need to be as clever as foxes and yet as gentle as doves!) .... This gospel basically said that Christians need to be as cunning and resourceful and "scheming" (in a good way and an honest way) to find new and effective ways of getting across to people that this Jesus person is worth following and can make a difference in their lives.

I think, then, that we Christians should put a lot more time and effort and creativity and planning into the values and vision of Jesus. ...... We too can lie awake at night scheming.... but not to make a pile of money on the stock-market, like people who place all their value in material things, but on how to better get across the word of God and how better to live it. .....

So, for me as a Christian, the greatest need I see is to get people to see and understand that following Jesus is a worthy and life-giving thing. Being a priest doesn't make any sense unless one is passionate about the person Jesus was and how he lived and what his vision is and how he wants us to live....

There is a story about a man who saw a pack of five dogs chasing after a rabbit.......... a few hours later the man saw the rabbit still running, but now there were only two dogs chasing it....... The man asked a friend who was with him, "what happened to the other three dogs..... why did they give up... and these two dogs are still going....". And his wise friend said, "I reckon these two dogs kept going, because they were the ones that saw the rabbit... (the others were probably just following the pack of dogs)." The meaning of this being.... if we want to be passionate followers of Jesus, we have to nurture a vision of who Jesus was.... We need to be able to like the person we read about in the Gospels and, as far as anyone can ever know, get an idea of the kinds of things Jesus would have liked and disliked..... Then we will know Jesus and be passionate about the things Jesus was passionate about... we will be angry about the things that he got steamed-up about, and we will cry over the things Jesus got upset about too!

The immediate need we have in relation to priesthood is that we need more people to consider that priesthood is a valuable thing. We need to get across that the image and stereotype of a priest (that one gets from t.v) is not at all accurate. Priests have a lot of fun, it’s a rewarding life and full of variety.... We also need people to move away from an individualist attitude that says that all that matters is what is good for me... I don't need others. We need to realise that "no person is an island, complete of itself:" that we all belong to a community and we have a responsibility for the welfare of others ........ So, being a Christian means not just praying alone... but gathering in community and sharing Eucharist......... Once people see a value in coming to Mass to gather in community, worship God, hear about Jesus in the Gospels, listen to some practical suggestions for applying this message to their everyday life, and being nourished by God's word.... then we should also get people who are happy to want to serve people by being priests (the ones who minister to people's spiritual and community needs).

The challenges to all this are many. Firstly, I think people have an attitude that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. They don't know much about their own faith and religion and so they go to other religions and like what they find. The catholic church has great respect for other religions but it also challenges its members to delve deeply into the many riches that their own church has that many simple do not know about..... The more I have studied into my own catholic faith the more I have found myself saying..."wow, why didn't they teach me this in school...... the catholic religion has also faced and dealt with all the big issues and questions of life.... and the reason many people think the church is out of touch is because they are actually out of touch or ignorant of the things the church is doing and has taught on these issues." There is a saying, "a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing." People need to do a lot of study and reflection before they write off their own faith.... and yet sadly people are not putting this time and effort into this exploring.

Other challenges include the fact that we live in a society that values money and position and body image and so many other things........ the Christian faith has a lot to offer about the true worth of people and yet there are so many louder and more attractive voices competing with its message.

Also, the church sometimes isn't seen to be living out the gospel message as clearly as it might like. People see the sinfulness that is part of any group of humans and people are tempted to write off the message as not real. But there is another saying, a joke, that has a bit of truth. "It is not that Christianity doesn't work, it's just that no one has really tried it yet!"

The rewards of priesthood are many. You get to meet and relate to people and share precious moments at really important and key moments of their lives....... holy moments... sacred moments... like births, marriages, celebrations, anniversaries, weekly Mass to give them spiritual nourishment, when people are sick or dying and with families when someone has died..... Priests are with people at incredibly important times of their lives and this is an incredible honour.......

We get to talk to people about the vision and person of Jesus and hope that they get as fired up and passionate about him too......

Th variety and the scope of our ministry is what is so rewarding...