Masculinity and the priesthood

Fr. Stephen J. Rosetti discusses the recent Vatican document on priestly formation. In the course of the interview, he noted:

In my book, there’s a chapter titled, The Priest as a Male: In an Era of the Ascending Feminine, where I talk about how there is an underlying, subtle, and sometimes not-so-subtle negativism toward maleness today, and that it is likely a backlash from centuries of male dominance and discrimination toward women. Today’s men are suffering from the sins of their fathers.

Within this cultural bias against masculinity and maleness, the priest as a man needs to be courageous enough to welcome his masculinity, embrace it, and express it in a balanced way. Ironically, the priest who’s not able to do this is prone to lapsing into one of two destructive extremes. He may either repress his masculinity and become “wishy-washy” and indecisive, feeling guilty and apologizing for his maleness, or he may fall into the other extreme, becoming aggressive, power-hungry and domineering.

Becoming a mature male means being comfortable with one’s masculinity, not needing to hide it or exaggerate it. We ought not to apologize for being a man. At the same time, we should not use our masculinity as a weapon. But we need to remember, if you have 150 priests in a diocese, you’re going to have guys all over the lot. The strength of the priesthood is in the communion, of all being together.

Read it all here.