AMERICA/ARGENTINA - Bishops invite priests to renew their joy in the faith, steadfast hope, and joy for the ministry received in the Year of the Priest.

Buenos Aires (Agenzia Fides) – With the motive of the Year of the Priest declared by Pope Benedict XVI, beginning this June, the Argentinean Bishops' Conference sent a letter tot he priests in which they thank them for their “ministerial fidelity,” and encourage them to “renew their joy in the faith, steadfast hope, and joy for the ministry,” and they call them to be “pastors and fathers for the community.”
The Bishops share their “difficulties and demands of the time in which we live” and “the sense of impotence before the situations that surround us.” They also mention the profound crisis that is occurring, “the moral dilemmas” and “we regret to see the incoherence that we often witness.”
However, in the letter the Bishops give thanks to God “for the immense gift of the priestly ministry that we have received from Jesus Christ” and they thank the priests, with whom they share this “beautiful mission of preaching the Gospel in the midst of so many difficulties and challenges.” “We acknowledge and admire the faithful dedication and generosity of the immense majority of our priests,” they say. We feel especially close to those who are experiencing moments of tribulation or who live their ministry in situations with difficult demands: in urban and rural slums, in solitude, in sickness, when discouragement comes and it seems that the pastoral activity is pointless.”
Continuing their letter, the Bishops remind all the priests that “the priesthood is the Mystery of Love received and given, renewed every day in the Mass and in the generous gift of one's own life to the extreme,” a reality that should be lived with radicality. Thus, the Church “has from the beginning always seen the harmony between the priesthood and the celibacy...” This truth can only be understood and lived “at the light of the faith, inspired by the fervor of charity, in the joyful hope of the fullness of heaven.”
In order to take on the sentiments and heart of the Good Shepherd, the Bishops ask the priests to practice “prayerful reading and preaching of the Word of God; the joyful celebration of the Eucharist and the entire Liturgy; faithful, patient, and generous service to the faithful, especially the poor and the sick.”
“May our humble fidelity be a cause of joy and peace for our brothers,” the Bishops concluded, entrusting their life and ministry of each one of the priests to the maternal love of Our Lady of Lujan. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 22/5/2009)