5 - 7 minutes readTHE PRIEST’S CALLING: A MINISTER OF HOPE IN HOPELESS SITUATIONS

Written by Rev. Fr. Hilary R. Munyaneza, (PhD)

Rev. Fr. Munyaneza is a Censor– Kampala Archdiocese and a lecturer at St. Mbaaga’s Major Seminary Ggaba

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Romans 5:3-5).

In these verses, St. Paul uses the rhetorical technique of progression and shows that hope is the result of suffering, perseverance, and character.  The life of a priest as a minister of hope is marked by various experiences.  Some of these are summarized in the above verse. 

Pilgrims of Hope

As the Catholic Church in Kampala Archdiocese, we thank God for the gift of our deacons and priests.  Our dear Priests, you have been blessed in a very special way to be called in this Jubilee Year 2025 that Mother Church celebrates with the theme Pilgrims of Hope.  This theme was given to us by Pope Francis, now of happy and glorious memory. Being Pilgrims of Hope comes in the context of synodality in which we are invited to journey together as Church, to listen to each other more with the heart than with the ears.  A priest is a pilgrim with others and not over and above others. The Sacrament of Holy Orders gives him responsibilities in the Christian community but these should be carried out with the awareness that he is Alter Christus (Another Christ) and he serves the People of God in persona Christi (in the Person of Christ). This consciousness strengthens in him and the people that he serves that great Christian virtue of hope. 

Dear Rev. Fathers ordained on 9^th August 2025 for Kampala Archdiocese, you are not only Jubilee 2025 Priests but also Centenary Priests.  “Why?” You have been ordained in this Sacred Heart Cathedral Lubaga that was consecrated on 31^st October 1925. 

Promise of Obedience

Pilgrims of Hope!!! The priest as a minister of hope is called upon to foster and strengthen this virtue not only in his own life but also in the lives of the people that he leads, sanctifies and teaches.  Our Christian hope is different from optimism. A Christian, as a human being can be optimistic but as a Christian, he or she, is called upon to go beyond optimism to hope. Optimism is waiting for something good to happen in the future, waiting and moving towards the best.  This is not the same as Christian hope.  Strictly interpreted, any human being can be optimistic but not every human being can have Christian hope. “What then is Christian hope?” I have stated elsewhere that, “Christian hope is the confident trust in God that our lives are in the hands of God. This means that even when we may not be certain of the future, we are confident that God will bring his work in us to perfect completion” (Pilgrims of Hope: Embrace the Jubilee, pg. 52). This is very similar to the response that the Bishop makes to the deacon being ordained a priest after the later has made the Promise of Obedience. The ordaining Bishop says, “May God who has begun the good work in you bring it to fulfillment.”  It is therefore evident that the center of Christian hope is God Himself and not the strength of one’s optimism.

Christian hope is the confident trust in God that our lives are in the hands of God. This means that even when we may not be certain of the future, we are confident that God will bring his work in us to perfect completion.

Pilgrims of Hope: Embrace the Jubilee, pg. 52

A priest is a minister of hope in the lived context of space and time.  “What is the present context globally and nationally?”  Globally, the world has been recovering from the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and then wars in the Middle East broke out again.  Mention need not be made of the already existing conflicts in the Greater Lakes’ Region.  In Kampala Archdiocese, we have a clear manifestation of this in the increasing number of refugees. At the national level, we are moving towards the political elections 2026.  A priest as a minister of hope is called upon to guide the people to fulfill their civil duties responsibly. He is to unite the people of God. The aspect of uniting people is well stressed by the very last sentence in the Consecratory Prayer of Ordination to Priesthood. 

It reads that,: “May he be faithful in working with the order of bishops, so that the Gospel may reach the ends of the earth, and the family of nations, made one in Christ, may become God’s one, holy people.”,

Every priest as a minister of hope lives the two-fold identity of fisherman and shepherd.

Every priest as a minister of hope lives the two-fold identity of fisherman and shepherd.  This clearly signified the life and ministry of St. Peter, the first Pope.

While calling Simon (who later received the name Peter) and his fellow fishermen, Jesus Christ said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). Jesus did not need to make them fishermen because they were already that but He promised to make them fishers of men. The life of the fisherman is largely on the lake, the sea.  The lake can be calm but also sometimes the waves hit the boat. It is therefore uncertain, hit here and there.  Dear Ordinands, by choosing to become priests, you have chosen in a way the life of uncertainty. You will be appointed to a given place X and you do not know how long you will be there. There will be moments of being understood and not being understood, being received and not being received.  All these and several other experiences are the life of a fisherman. 

St. Peter after being called from the lake was made a shepherd. Jesus Christ says to him, “Feed my lambs” (John 21:15), “Feed my sheep” (John 21:16, 17). St. Simon Peter himself later on encouraged other Christian leaders using the same imagery of shepherding that, “And now, a word to you who are elders in the Churches. I, too, am an elder and a witness to the sufferings of Christ. And I, too, will share in His glory when He is revealed to the whole world. As a fellow elder, I appeal to you:

• Be shepherds of God’s flock. Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve” (1 Peter 5:1-2). The shepherd lives on land. The land unlike the lake is certain, firm.  The priesthood has also moments of certainty as the shepherd on firm land.  Dear Ordinands, be always certain that you are a priest. God has chosen you.  To you, these words make a special meaning on this special day of your ordination to priesthood, namely, “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek” (Psalm 110:4b).