St. Paul’s letter to Titus is one of the “pastoral” letters since it concerns itself with how to be a pastor in a rapidly developing church. I left you in Crete so that you might set right what remains to be done and appoint presbyters in every town. Instead of the itinerant ministry that St. Paul had practiced, moving from town to town, Titus was instructed to name priests in the various locales to shepherd the particular church in that area. Even this early in the Church’s history there was a need for structure and the development of institutions to sustain the faithful. Today there is a great skepticism about institutions of all sorts and this has impacted how people look at Church. They want to have their own, personal spirituality. Of course the danger in that approach is we quickly form God into our image and likeness instead of being formed into God’s! St. Paul understood that institutions help to preserve the faith.
