I don't want my priest smelling like a sheep!

The Holy Father has addressed the clergy, calling on them to have something of the smell of sheep about them - Ewe de Cologne, if you like (ouch!).

Pope Francis wants the priesthood to be less concerned with self absorption and more hands on with the flock.

Here are his words on the subject:

“This is precisely the reason why some priests grow dissatisfied, lose heart and become in a sense collectors of antiquities or novelties — instead of being shepherds living with ‘the smell of the sheep,’” he said.

“This is what I am asking you,” he said with emphasis, looking up from his prepared text, “be shepherds with the smell of sheep,” so that people can sense the priest is not just concerned with his own congregation, but is also a fisher of men.

I understand his meaning and without question he is right.
But our priests, surely, should not be tainted with the smell of the flock?

They should be of the flock but not in it, if you get my meaning.

He then proceeds to talk about priests being "fishers of men".

That statement, too is, needless to say, completely appropriate being, Our Lord's own words.

So what's it to be?

The smell of sheep or the smell of fish?

The answer is, both. We need, first of all, fishermen to catch the souls and then good shepherds to care and nurture them.

But the fishermen need to be discerning; those that wish to wriggle their way into the Church without any intention of abiding by the teachings of Christ and the guidance of the Holy Father are best, how shall I phrase this charitably?

Chucked back, that's it....sling 'em back in the pond from whence they came!



Prompted by Petrus at Men are Like Wine

Ches roll

Ches of The Sensible Bond is on a roll right now with a series of charitable but frank and perceptive posts regarding the state of the Papacy.

One of his recent posts on the topic reflects on the dangers of mistranslations, how easily Pope Francis's homilies can mean something else when translated from Italian to Spanish and then into English, for example.

It  brought to my mind the case of the General Secretary of a trades union who was due to visit Japan.

He commissioned a straight translation of his designation on to a business card, so essential for doing business in Japan.

The translation described him, in Japanese as 'Head Typist' - not what he had in mind, I'm sure.

And then the tale of the Professor who was booked to speak at a symposium in Greece.

He thought it would be a good idea to begin his talk by addressing the audience in Greek but, arriving at Athens Airport, he realise that he had left the piece of paper with the Greek for 'Ladies and Gentlemen' behind.

Being a leading academic he employed some lateral thought processes and made a note of the nominations above the public conveniences in the airport.

Arriving on stage he then addressed his audience using the words copied from the lavatory signs at the airport.

He felt that the talk fell rather flat and afterwards asked his hosts what was wrong.

The presentation of the learned paper was fine, they said, but why had he addressed the conference members as 'pedestals and urinals?'

These anecdotes have little to do with the Catholic Faith except that, I do hope that most of the HF's pronouncements have suffered from similar poor translation.