During Mass at the Hearts Aflame Eucharistic Congress at Our Lady of Martyrs Shrine in Auriesville on September 22, Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger asked all present to renewal their baptismal promises, asked deacons to renew their ordination promises, and asked the priests of the Diocese of Albany to join him in recommitting themselves to the promises of the priesthood they made at ordination. Below is the Renewal and Rededication, as recited by all priests at the Mass. The congregation erupted in spontaneous applause at the completion of the rededication.
BISHOP:
My dear brother priests,
before God and His holy people assembled here in prayer,
let us now proclaim and renew our resolve
to be more united with our Lord Jesus Christ
and more closely imitate and follow him
by denying ourselves and living the Gospel virtues.
Let us now restate and recommit ourselves to those promises
about our sacred calling and duties towards Christ’s beloved people
which, prompted by love of him and them,
we willingly and joyfully pledged on the day of our ordination.
Let them be for us and for God’s people not just a promise, but also a solemn honor. And so…
BISHOP AND PRIESTS:
By solemn honor I promise:
to exercise the ministry of teaching and preaching worthily and wisely,
always preaching the true Gospel message as it is interpreted by the Church’s Magisterium,
and always teaching true and sound doctrine that is clearly and unambiguously in full conformity with the Catholic faith handed on in the Church.
Furthermore, in my own life, in every word and deed, I will always practice what I teach and preach, not on my own behalf, but on behalf of the Church.
By solemn honor I promise:
to celebrate faithfully and reverently, the mysteries of Christ
always and everywhere in accord with the Church’s tradition and all clear and specific liturgical laws,
so as to be in complete and absolute conformity with all mandated norms as given in the Church’s liturgical books and rites,
for the glory of God and the sanctification
of God’s holy people.
By solemn honor I promise:
always to live my commitment to remain celibate and to live
a chaste life as an enduring sign of my love of Christ the Lord and his holy people.
In particular,
I promise always to have and to seek
only appropriate, wholesome and chaste relationships,
to observe boundaries, most especially with the young and vulnerable
and to avoid and renounce at all costs any attitudes, behavior, strategies or actions that could lead to scandal or the endangering of any of God’s people
I promise each and every day to conform the pattern of my life ever more closely to Christ the High Priest, who offered himself for us to the Father as a pure sacrifice.
By solemn honor I promise:
to dedicate myself absolutely and totally to being a true and
faithful shepherd of God’s holy people
and an honest and true steward of their gifts;
always acting and living in love and service of them.
In particular, I promise to avoid and renounce:
any selfish or materialistic lifestyle,
any sense of entitlement or of privilege,
and any misappropriation of the parish or Church’s
financial and material goods or property.
BISHOP:
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, you have heard
our promises, proclaiming our resolve and commitment
to love and serve you and our Lord.
Accept this our resolve and our solemn honor.
Pray for us that we may always be true,
faithful and loving servants and stewards of all that
has been entrusted to our care. Through Christ our Lord.
ALL: Amen