The Ordained Ministry
vis-à-vis BECs
Fr. Amado L. Picardal, CSsR, STD
Is the formation of BECs really a
constitutive dimension of ministry of the
ordained?
 How can the priestly ministry be understood
and exercised in relation to the BECs?
 What is the role of the ordained priest vis-àvis the BECs?
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Vision
A renewed community of believers
fully knowing, loving and serving Christ,
proclaiming the good news
and actively participating in the building
of a society of justice, peace and love
Mission
“We, the servant-leaders of the Archdiocese
of Cagayan de Oro, in collaboration with
and in participation of the fullness of the
Bishop's priesthood, and making our own
the call of the Plenary Council of the
Philippines II for renewal and
transformation, commit ourselves:
to live a life that is rooted in Christ;
to live the life of evangelical poverty, celibacy
and apostolic obedience;
to serve as pastoral leaders with the
compassion and humility of the Good
Shepherd;
to celebrate the Eucharist as authentic presiders
and to proclaim the Word credibly;
to live as brothers respecting each one's
freedom and fostering a sense of belonging;
to be in the midst of our people, to know their
plights, anguishes, hopes and aspirations;
to be imbued with deep love of preference for
the poor, defending and vindicating their rights;
to nurture a filial devotion of Mary, the Mother
of Jesus and our Mother
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If our understanding of the priesthood is exclusively
“cultic,” forming BECs is not part of our ministry.
Our only duty is to say mass and administer the
sacraments and respond to the spiritual needs of the
faithful.
If our understanding of our ministry has no
communitarian dimension, then forming BECs is
not part of our responsibility.
Our role is purely administrative
Our concern will primarily be the maintenance and
management of the parish, building beautiful
churches, rectories and parish centers,
raising parish income.
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But the understanding of ministry since Vatican II
and PCP II is broader than that.
The vision of a renewed Church in Vatican II and
PCP II has broadened the understanding of the
life and ministry of the ordained:
Church as communion and
as people of God participating in Christ’s mission
as a priestly, prophetic and kingly people
as a Church of the Poor
The Vatican II & PCP II theology of ministry is
based on this ecclesiological framework.
Vatican II: Lumen Gentium 28
“By virtue of the sacrament of Orders,
they are consecrated in the image of Christ,
supreme and eternal priest
to preach the Gospel
and shepherd the faithful
as well as to celebrate the divine worship
as true priest of the New Testament.”
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The three-fold office (Triplex Munus) of Christ
is used as a framework for the ordained ministry
This provides a holistic framework for ministry:
prophetic ministry
pastoral ministry
liturgical/sacramental ministry
The ministry of the ordained is always at the
service of the people of God and is to be lived
in a communitarian context.
“The priesthood is instituted within the People
of God for the sake of the People of God…
Priests and their ministry cannot therefore, be
understood apart from this community setting.
The ordained priest does not stand outside the
Christian community. He remains in the
community. He is ordained for the community.”
(PCP II 510)
PCP II (no. 511-531, 558)
Priests are ordained to “preach, sanctify and
shepherd God’s people”
As representatives of Christ the Head they are
servant-leaders of the
 Priestly/worshipping community
 Prophetic/evangelizing community
 Servant/ministering community
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Constitutive Dimensions of the
Ordained Ministry
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Pastoral Ministry - Ministry of Communion &
Pastoral Leadership. Forming and Leading a genuine
Christian Community (network of SCCs/BECs)
Prophetic Ministry – Ministry of the Word. Forming
and leading the prophetic, evangelizing and
witnessing community.
Liturgical/Sacramental Ministry - presiding over &
actualizing the priestly/worshipping community.
Social Action/Service Ministry – organizing and
mobilizing the servant community
Ministry of Communion
& Pastoral Leadership
“to
serve as pastoral leaders
with the compassion and
humility of the Good
Shepherd”
“Fulfilling the role of Christ the
head and shepherd they gather and
lead the family of God or local
community into one fellowship.”
(Presbyterorum Ordinis 6)
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Shepherding requires gathering and forming the
sheep into one flock, making each sheep feel
and behave as a member of the flock.
Pastoral Leadership involves not just leading the
Christian Community but also forming the
community. Without genuine a Christian
community what is there to lead?
The building up and strengthening of the
Christian Community is a constitutive dimension
of the ordained/pastoral ministry.
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“We priests have been consecrated in the
Church for this specific ministry. We are
called in various ways to contribute, wherever
Providence puts us, to the formation of the
community of God’s people. Our task is to
tend the flock God entrusted to us”
(John Paul II, quoted in The Priest, Pastor and Leader of
the Parish Community 4. Congregation for Clergy)
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PCP II: Forming & Leading the
Christian Community
“Hence, we can appropriately call ordained
ministers as servant-leaders of the community.
They are in charge of the community.
They are to build up the Christian community.
Their task extends by right also to the formation
of a genuine Christian community.”
(PCP II, 518)
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Ecclesiology of Communion &
Ordained Ministry
The ecclesiology of
communion becomes
decisive for
understanding the
identity of the priest, his
essential dignity, and his
vocation among the
people of God (PDV 12)
John Paul II
Pastores Dabo Vobis
The Servant of Communion (PDV) 16)
“The priest is “a servant of the Church as
communion – because in union with the bishop
and closely related to the presbyterium – he builds
up the unity of the Church community in the
harmony of diverse vocations, charisms and
services.”
Ministry of Pastoral Leadership:
Promoting Communion
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The ordained ministry is at the service of the
Christian community
It is a ministry of pastoral leadership over the
Christian community – the parish community &
the network of BECs within the parish.
It is a ministry of building up the unity and
communion of the Christian community.
The priest is a builder not only of the church made
of marble, but of the living church, the Christian
community.
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The priest builds the unity of the Church
community and promotes communion (unity &
solidarity) in the Christian community.
The priest is called to be a Good Shepherd, who
knows his sheep & who gathers them together as
one flock.
He not only builds the community, he also presides
over the community & leads it. Thus, he has to be
close to his flock.
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The priest has a responsibility to help develop the sense
of community & communion in the parish level
However, the large size of the parish makes it difficult to
develop communion among the members
There is therefore a need to break up the parish into
smaller Christian communities. Thus, the need to build
Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs)
The BEC is the locus of communion where the
members become one heart and mind (unity &
friendship) and share their resources (community of
goods).
The concept stewardship and practice of modified
tithing is a concrete expression of communion of goods.
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The role of the priest is to promote this
communion within BECs and between BECs
Thus, the parish will be developed as the network
of BECs under the leadership of the priest.
Communion requires that the BECs are united to
their priest (vice-versa) and the priest develop
closer relationship with the members of the BECs.
The priest must also promote communion among
the members of LOMAS (lay organizations,
movements and associations) and the BECs, and
encourage their members to actively participate in
their respective BECs.
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The Church according to Vatican II & PCP II is called
to be a participatory church. The BECs are an
expression of this participative nature of the Church.
The priest must enable the lay faithful in the parish &
the BECs to actively participate in the life & mission of
the church.
He has to listen to them and encourage them to
participate in the process of decision-making, planning
& implementation (pastoral councils, parish
assemblies).
He should avoid an authoritarian and dictatorial style
of leadership. The priest should see himself not as king
but the servant leader of the community and the BECs.
This requires a more participative and collaborative
style of leadership
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What is the nature of the community that the
priest seeks to form and lead?
PCP II gives us an answer.
 a Prophetic/Evangelizing community
 a Worshipping/Eucharistic community
 a ministering Servant community
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The Prophetic Ministry
“To proclaim the Word credibly”
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The ordained ministry is a ministry of the Word
The priest preaches and teaches the Word of God and
gives witness to it with his life
The mission of renewed evangelization and catechesis is
a primary task of the ordained minister.
Thus, a priest must see to it that a systematic program
of evangelization & catechesis is in place.
The ministry of the Word is geared towards the
formation of a genuine Christian community/BECs
(PCP II 519)
It should lead to the growth of a truly prophetic and
evangelizing community (and BECs) where the lay
faithful actively participate in Christ’s prophetic mission.
Prophetic Community (PCP II 525)
“The community over which the priest presides is also a
prophetic community.
The Word is announced by the priest to the people not
only so that they may themselves have life or may be built
into a community of believers,
but in order that they may in turn become witnesses to
the Word that they have believed.
People shall have truly grown in their faith when they
emerge as announcers of the Word.
Through the servant-leadership of the priest, the people
of God are inspired and formed into an evangelizing and
prophetic community.”
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The prophetic ministry requires that the priest
becomes a conscience of society who can denounce
all forms of evil in society (injustice, oppression,
violation of human rights, ecological destruction,
etc.
The prophetic ministry is also geared towards the
formation of conscience of the people - the
members of the parish/BECs
They will then become truly prophetic communities
that denounce evil in all its manifestation and
announces the Good New of salvation, liberation,
justice and peace.
Liturgical/Sacramental
Ministry
“to celebrate the Eucharist
as authentic presiders”
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Celebrating the Eucharist and administering th
sacraments remain an essential dimension of the
ordained ministry
But this is to be understood in a communitarian context.
According to Vatican II & PCP II, the priest presides
over a priestly community.
The ministerial priesthood enables the people of God to
actualize its common priesthood.
The task of the priest as leader of the priestly
community is to foster full & active participation in the
liturgical celebration.
He forms the community into a truly worshipping &
celebrating community.
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Priestly Community (PCP II, 511, 522)
“The Christian community is a priestly community
where all the faithful share in the priesthood of
Christ. Both the priesthood of the faithful and the
priesthood of the ordained ministers are a
participation in the one priesthood of Christ…
The priest is the servant-leader of the Eucharistic
community. The Word that the ordained minister
speaks achieves its greatest intensity in the Eucharist.
Every Christian community must be Eucharistic
because the Eucharist is the source and apex of the
whole Christian life.”
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In exercising his sacramental/liturgical ministry, it
is not enough that the priest administer the
sacraments at the parish church.
He has to go out more often to the barrios &
neighborhood communities to celebrate the
Eucharist with the BECs more frequently
(monthly, bi-monthly).
He also has to make sure that even in his absence
the communities/BECs can continue to come
together to pray and celebrate (bible-service,
Kasaulogan sa Pulong, etc).
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Social Service/Action
Ministry
“to be in the midst of our people
to know their plights, anguishes,
hopes and aspirations;
to be imbued with deep love of
preference for the poor, defending
and vindicating their rights”
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The ordained ministry cannot be limited to leading the
Christian community, preaching the Word, or
administering the sacraments.
The people that we are called to serve are not only
hungry for the Word, or want to receive the grace that
the sacraments confer
There are many people who are poor, hungry, sick,
broken-hearted and oppressed – whose rights are
violated and who are victims of violence, calamity, etc.
They face so many problems – poverty, corruption,
injustice, armed conflict, environmental degradation.
What can the priest do? Is responding to these concerns
still part of his ministry?
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The Synod of Bishops in 1971 in their document
on the ministerial priesthood affirms that the
ministry of priests include the task of promoting
justice, peace and development and the defense of
human rights.
The code of canon law enshrines the idea that
priests have a duty to work for peace and harmony
based on justice (Canon 287).
PCP II affirms that the priest must be at the service
of total human development and must have an
“attentive, compassionate, generous and responsive
heart which impels him to be in solidarity especially
with those who are in need. (538)
“Like the compassionate Good Shepherd, the
priest reaches out to the sick and disabled in the
community, the poor and victimized in society.
Recognizing the plight of the poor and deprived
who are so often neglected by the rich and the
mighty, the servant-leader encourages the
Christian community to reach out with
compassion for the weak.
He makes real to the Christian community Christ’s
love of preference for the poor.”
(PCP II 526-27)
“The community over which the priest presides is a
ministerial (servant) community…
The priest is a servant and leader when he reaches
out to all classes of people in the community with
great kindness after the manner of the Lord.
He inspires, leads, and coordinates the members of
the community so that they will become what they
are supposed to be as Christians.
Very special among his concerns are once again the
poor, the young people, and parents who are special
evangelizers to their children.” (PCP II 528)
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Thus, the priest has to address the problems that
his people face – not just the spiritual but also the
temporal – the social, economic, political.
But he cannot solve this alone – he is not the
Messiah or superman.
The ministry of social service/action must be
understood and lived in relation to the Christian
community that he leads and serves.
According to PCP II, the community over which
the priest presides is a ministering servant
community
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The task of the priest is to animate the community to
exercise its role as a caring, servant community.
His pastoral ministry involves animating his parish
community & the BECs to address the problems that
they face – especially poverty, injustice, armed conflict &
the destruction of the environment.
He should encourage and support the BECs to work for
justice, peace, development, and integrity of creation and
thus help transform society.
This means helping set up in the parish and BECs
structures of care, or programs that that respond their
concrete needs: disaster relief, IGP, coops, health
programs, NFP, sustainable agriculture, ecology, etc.
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In order to be credible servant-leader, the priest is
called to live a simple lifestyle and make a
preferential option for the poor.
Like Christ, he must bring the good news to the
poor and help empower them so that the Church
can truly become the Church of the poor.
By his words and example, the priest must also
encourage those who are not poor to make the
option for the poor, to be in solidarity with the
poor and to help the poor.
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In exercising his ministry of social concern, the
priest should avoid becoming subservient to
ideologies and political parties.
He should maintain autonomy and independence
from these while at the same time engaging in
dialogue with them when necessary.
The motivation and dynamism in the social
apostolate springs from our faith and mission, not
from ideologies.
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The Episcopal Ministry
viv-a-vis BECs
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The understanding of the ministry of the bishop
has the same framework for the priestly ministry:
 Ministry of Pastoral Leadership & Communion
(Pastoral Ministry)
 Ministry of the Word (Prophetic Ministry)
 Liturgical/Sacramental Ministry (Sacerdotal
Ministry)
 Social Action/Service Ministry
 According to PCP II:
“When we speak of priests we refer at the first
instance to bishops. They are the high priests and
servant-leaders of the Christian community…”
(PCP II 559)
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“They bishop is the visible foundation of unity in the
diocese…
The Bishop is responsible before the Lord and his
people for the realization of the priestly ideal both in
himself and in those who share the apostolic ministry
with him.
He is to consider priests as his helpers, sons and
friends.
He must affirm and encourage them, inspire them to
make the best use of their gifts.
When needed be, he should correct them, but always
as a father lovingly correcting a son.” (PCP II 560)
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BECs cannot flourish without the support and
encouragement of the bishop
As head shepherd of the local/particular Church,
it is the primary responsibility of the bishop to see
to it that the vision of a renewed Church
promoted by Vatican II and PCP II be received,
owned and implemented in his diocese
What matters most is the building up of a network
of genuine Christian communities in the parishes
within the diocese which are signs of the vitality
of the local Church
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It is the bishop who inspires and challenges his
priests to truly live out their role as good shepherds
who build up and lead genuine Christian
communities in their respective parishes.
The bishop makes the priests accountable regarding
the vitality of the BECs in their parish (progress
reports and pastoral visits)
He ensures that there is coordination among the
various diocesan commissions in contributing to the
growth of BECs.
The bishop has to lead & guide the whole flock in
the journey. He must make sure that everyone –
clergy, religious & lay faithful – will journey
together to make their dream and vision a reality.
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Concluding Remarks
The building up of BECs requires active
participation of the laity.
 It also requires the initiative and support of
the clergy – the priests and bishops
 This requires a new way of understanding
and exercising priestly ministry.
 The renewal of the Church through the
BECs requires the renewal of the clergy.
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