“Clericalism” is bandied about a lot, from papal speeches to the blogosphere and Catholic media. It means a range of things to different people, fairly or unfairly, and is perhaps too frequently associated with liturgical taste, whether the vestments be lace or burlap. But it would be foolish to reduce it to liturgical vesture. But just what is it?

I propose that, at its core, clericalism is priesthood without discipleship. The priest who loses touch with the fact that he, too — like the people entrusted to his care — remains a disciple, is the man who falls into the trap of “clericalism.” Being a disciple is an identity received at baptism, one which never disappears, and certainly not something surpassed or removed at ordination, whether diaconate, priesthood or consecration to the episcopate. When unmoored from discipleship, clerical life becomes nothing more than semi-pious bachelorhood or, worse, the priest becomes an ecclesiastical apparatchik, a sacramental technocrat whose life and ministry are reduced to a handful of administrative or ritual functions that have little relation to his interior life. When, however, the priest cultivates a rich interior life of prayer, ever seeking to deepen his own discipleship with Jesus, his distinctly priestly activities are richer, emerging from a deep personal communion with the Lord Jesus, in whose person as head of the body he ministers and serves fellow members of that same body. In much the same way that the ecclesial body cannot be severed from its head — Jesus risen and glorified — and still remain vital, so, too, the priest’s properly ministerial activity cannot be severed from its foundation in a life of ongoing conversion and discipleship and expect to remain fruitful.

St. Augustine once preached to his people of his joy and delight in being “what I am with you” — a fellow disciple — and of his being daunted at “what I am for you” — their pastor. The serious nature of his obligation to them was for him what he called a sarcina, a burden, but one which his fellowship with them as disciples made bearable and even joyful. We have all, no doubt, felt the grind of pastoral and administrative obligations as, at times, overwhelming; alternately, the difficult decisions we have to make that affect souls can also daunt us as they worried the North African bishop. In both cases, a very important source of strength and joy should be in our fellowship as disciples with the people we serve. Recalling that we are always viatores — in company not only with brother priests, but also with the people entrusted to our care — can be consoling, especially amid the burdens of shepherding.

Our priesthood is by definition a position of governance; one of the munera in which we participate as priests is that of shepherding. But the newness introduced by Christ is radical. The Church is indeed hierarchical; governance needs to be exercised. But the hierarchy of Christ’s Body is one of service (diakonia). The world, precisely as fallen, cannot conceive of hierarchy in terms other than power. In a popular culture unwittingly enamored of Marxism, all hierarchy is bad, because all hierarchy is about abuse of power. We must resist this narrative and embrace our responsibilities as shepherds with a Christic understanding of our governance as service in pastoral charity. We do not have to abandon our role in governance, but we should not look to political, economic or corporate structures as our model: “But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant” (cf. Mk 10:42-45; Mt 20:25-28). It is never about power, “lording it over others,” but of being models of humble service to the entire community (cf. 1 Pt 5:3).

The teaching of Lumen Gentium is clear: The work of the proclamation of the Gospel to the world is not simply the prerogative of clerics. It is the proper work of all the baptized (and confirmed, as integral to full participation in the life of the Church), each in their own way, to proclaim the Gospel in word and by their manner of life. The baptismal vocation is ordered to the sanctification of the world. Our priestly vocation is ordered to the sanctification of the faithful by sacramental care, preaching and pastoral counsel. Our priestly work is exercised precisely in service to their work of sanctifying the world. It is not clericalism to live the priesthood robustly, with energy and with zeal; but it is perilous to forget that we, too, are disciples.

MSGR. MICHAEL HEINTZ is pastor of St. Pius X parish in Granger, Indiana, and the visiting director of the Marten Program in Homiletics and Liturgics at the University of Notre Dame.