The call of the first deacons in the Acts of the Apostles seems like a natural progression in the church. The need for additional leadership was obvious as the number of believers grew. In addition, the arrival of Greek-speakers into the faith made it even more important to have ministers who could speak their language. What seems a little odd is how St. Luke, the author of Acts, frames this development. The apostles are depicted as too busy to “serve at table.” They said they would rather “devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” While these are certainly noble tasks and a vital part of the mission of the church over time, neglecting the nitty-gritty of life like serving at table, can lead to clericalism. The priest worries about spiritual matters and sorry for your troubles. The Church can seem not to care about the realities that occupy the lives of Catholics. To counteract this tendency the worker-pirest movement develooped, especially in France and Belgium after World War II, seeking to reach the working classes, who had become largely alienated from the church. The worker-priests set aside their clerical garb and left their rectories to take jobs in factories and on construction sites, sharing the living conditions and social and economic problems of their coworkers. The movement was given support by Cardinal Emmanuel Suhard of Paris. Their experiences impelled some of the worker-priests to become politically active, joining their fellow workers in various demonstrations regarding such matters as housing, antiracism, and peace. Although the movement did not last, the impulse behind it continues to inspire church leadership today. As Pope Francis put it, priests are supposed to smell like the sheep. So, yes, devotion to prayer and the ministry of the word is paramount. However, one’s prayer should flow from and lead to the very stuff of life and the word can only be understood in the actual situation in which believers are striving to make concrete their love of Christ.
