Passion for Ministry

People looking at the church from outside see crises to right and left … One of the things which really strikes me as a bishop is the passion – driving urge – for ministry with which I am constantly confronted. As a parish priest, it was largely happening somewhere else. Now I meet it day in and day out in those seeking ordination or lay ministry roles and in the very high quality of applicants for posts which are advertised. It amazes me and impresses me – that there could be so many people who feel this calling, who are prepared to make enormous sacrifices to pursue it – and who believe that this path will be for them not so much a way of comfort as of fulfilment at the deepest level. As always there are questions one could ask about it – but I still wonder at it and what it represents.