Using Authority
Using Authority
The last course of action a priest should resort to is the use of priestly authority, such as the phrase “no absolution and no permission…”
Other methods of pastoral care should come before it: the method of love, the method of understanding and persuasion, and also the method of patience and endurance… But authority is a decisive method that ends all dialogue.
If the priest uses it continually, he drives people away from him, and they see him as acting like a master, not like a father.
People love the humble father who lives among them as one of them—who deals with their minds and hearts calmly, who does not force them by command but persuades them with wisdom and knowledge, so they carry out what he wants willingly, not under compulsion…
Firmness is sometimes necessary. But continuous pressure is neither acceptable nor loved.
Firmness does not come through excommunication, but through a serious and wise stance that earns people’s respect and appreciation.
And the wise priest uses the authority of mind and spirit, not the authority of excommunication.
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