My friend and pastoral colleague over the past thirty years has announced his retirement. Monsignor Chris Lathem has faithfully served as pastor of the burgeoning St. John the Beloved Roman Catholic Church in Summerville (SC) for most of his nearly half-century of ministry.
Clergy, in general, and Catholic priests, in particular, have gotten some not undeserved black eyes–certainly in recent years–over the malfeasance of, unfortunately, too many. If for no other reason than the celibacy requirement, the life and work of a Roman Catholic priest is particularly demanding and stressful. Indeed, another of my priest-friends once confided: “There are only two kinds of Catholic priests–alcoholics and workaholics.” Whereas my observation, if less blunt, is likely less scathing as well. I’ve known few mediocre Catholic priests; they tend to be either remarkably healthy, gifted and effective, or more tragically compromised, if not impaired.
Chris Lathem is, of course, among the former: having lived and worked so long and so faithfully, with such integrity, out of a remarkable sense of grace, freedom and joy. To know Monsignor Lathem is, indeed, to be immeasurably blessed.
Upon this occasion of his retirement, the parish newsletter of St. John the Beloved has published an interview with Father Lathem, asking him to reflect upon his emerging and evolving sense of vocation. That is, at least, the tenor of the interview, since Chris’ responses color it with his typical quiet, reflective candor and humility, characterized, as always, with a light touch.
I found one of his responses of particular interest, which I’m, here, passing along. For even if one looks at life from a more secular perspective, than would someone who embraces the deepest of Christian values, such as Monsignor Lathem, his advice to anyone pondering a career direction and the subsequent choices involved is worth considering.
When asked, “What advice would you give a young person discerning a vocation?” Chris replied: “I would caution them about seeing it as one big decision. It isn’t like that. It’s just a path to explore. Go a little way down the path and see what that experience is like.” In Father Lathem’s case, for instance, “[My] becoming a priest,” he says, “[has been] a long process.”
And I would add, I suspect the same is true with respect to many other vocational directions as well. They are more a road to walk than necessarily a place to stand.
Indeed, Chris reports that when he first went to seminary, he didn’t immediately unpack the footlocker he had taken, from home, with him. “I didn’t think I’d be staying long,” he says. And that was more than half-a-century ago. “I found myself, however, unpacking gradually, in steps, along the way.” What a fitting metaphor for a growing sense of vocation–whatever it may be–even that of a Roman Catholic priest.
In this respect, I’m reminded of hearing the legendary Disciples minister, Fred Craddock, once caricaturing his response to an evangelistic appeal when he was a youngster attending church camp. The minister was intoning, naturally, the King James translation of Matthew 26: 27–where Jesus’ “Drink ye all of it” refers to the cup of wine in the eucharist as representing faithful Christian living–and Craddock said he heard such an appeal, at the time, as an “all or nothing” decision.
“But looking back, over the years,” he added, “it’s been anything but that.” Likening his own sense of Christian living and growing awareness of a “calling,” a “vocation” to the spending of a dollar, said Dr. Craddock: “It’s been more like spending a nickel here, a dime there, a quarter somewhere else, until somehow, across the years, the dollar ultimately is spent.”
Indeed, it’s no accident–at least for a Christian–that Jesus’ call to discipleship is a simple, “Follow me.” The operative word, of course, being “follow.”
Or as my buddy, Mitch Carnell, says of “gaining experience”–“There’s a difference,” says Mitch, “between having twenty years of experience, rather than merely one year’s experience twenty different times.” The former is cumulative, while the latter is anything but. And if you don’t believe that is true, ask Chris Lathem–even if you’re not meant to be a Catholic priest.
