By Michel Chambon
Among the different roles and functions within the Catholic Church, there is one that tends to overshadow all the others: that of the pastor! It’s so important that it is actually divided into two formal and complementary ministries: bishop and priest who, together and with others, carry out the pastoral responsibility of the Church.
In this third and final reflection on ministry in the Church: sanctifying, teaching, and leading, I want to return to the role of the pastor.
But in our modern, settled society, do we really know what it means to be a pastor in the literal sense? How many of us have ever actually tended real sheep, taking them to pasture?
We must not forget that when Jesus called himself the Good Shepherd, he was referring to a very specific reality of his time, a type of work everyone knew about but that was often looked down upon by wealthier people. In the agrarian world of the Gospels, being a shepherd had a precise meaning. This biblical culture is very important for understanding what Jesus meant and also for reflecting on what our pastors do today.
But here, I want to draw on another source to think about the pastoral ministry. This source comes from my childhood, when during school holidays I would spend entire afternoons herding sheep with my aging neighbor. That joyful experience left a strong impression on me and seems like a valid inspiration for reflecting on what it means to be a pastor.
Let’s be clear: in Christian faith, there is only one true Good Shepherd, it is Christ himself. Our priests and bishops are humble assistants who never truly replace the master, the one who alone knows the direction in which he leads his flock.
So, if Christ is the one and only true shepherd, what do we make of the Catholic priests and bishops who surround and guide us? My experience in the pastures of Auvergne with flocks of sheep taught me that pastoral life depends on another crucial figure, one rarely mentioned in the Bible: the sheepdog.
When I went out to tend the sheep, the essential element was the dog or sometimes several dogs if the flock was large. Good sheepdogs have very special qualities, which can serve as a model for rethinking pastoral ministry in our Catholic communities.
First, a good sheepdog reacts quickly and understands perfectly what the shepherd wants. A snap of the fingers, a whistle, and the dog knows. When you leave the farm to head to a pasture 30 or 40 minutes away on foot, the flock needs to stay together and keep a steady pace. You can’t let the sheep graze on every dandelion they find. You can’t let the lambs slow down the group either. You can’t block the way for too long, you need to keep moving.
That’s where the dogs come in. While the shepherd walks ahead and gives the signal to start, the dogs get into motion to drive the sheep forward. But they don’t just stay behind the flock. Quite the opposite they circle around it to keep it compact and gathered, pushing it in the direction the shepherd wants to go.
The dogs need a lot of energy to keep circling the flock and keeping it united. At the same time, a good sheepdog stays very attentive to the shepherd’s direction. The dog will bark and nip at sheep that lag behind or stray off course. The goal is to keep the entire flock together, all moving in the same direction.
During these movements, the sheepdog is alert, maintaining unity and momentum. If a sheep gets lost, it means the dog isn’t doing its job and deserves a good scolding.
But flocks don’t spend their whole lives on the move, far from it. Once they reach the pasture, the shepherd lets the flock in and leaves them alone to graze peacefully for hours. The shepherd finds a shady spot to sit, keeping an eye on the sheep. As they graze, the sheep slowly spread out across the meadow, but that’s no problem.
If the pasture is too big or poorly fenced, the shepherd might whistle to the dogs occasionally to gather the flock and keep them from wandering too far. But during these long grazing hours, the good sheepdog knows how to stay calm, lying down and almost dozing off while keeping watch. It barks if danger appears, but it’s very important that the dog doesn’t wander around and disturb the sheep. If the dog keeps moving, the sheep get stressed and restless, they won’t eat. In the pasture, the good sheepdog is calm and vigilant, but still.
Sheep are perfectly capable of grazing on their own. They don’t need the dog for that. The dog’s agitation would only be counterproductive.
So, pastoral life has two very different moments: times of movement and times of grazing. These show that a good sheepdog needs almost opposite qualities: very lively and assertive at times, very calm and reserved at others.
Dogs that are too soft and only follow gently are not good sheepdogs. Neither are dogs that bark constantly and run without stopping. A good sheepdog, like a good priest or bishop, knows how to alternate between these extremes according to the situation and orders.
To move forward as a united group behind the shepherd, the sheep need dogs, but not for eating grass! What matters is moving together in unity; the rest of the time, they need to be left alone to live! In other words, the Church needs sheepdogs, not lap dogs or hunting dogs.
There’s a third aspect of managing sheepdogs that could guide our Church practices today. Among shepherds, it’s extremely well known that if a dog attacks and kills a sheep once, it will do it again. There’s no mercy, no second chances. The dog must be put down immediately.
The Church should do the same. If a priest or cardinal sexually abuses a member of the faithful, there can be no remission, no second chance. They must be immediately removed from the clerical state.
Hunting dogs are not good sheepdogs. They attack sheep. It’s important to be clear about the qualities unique to the sheepdog, it is neither a pet nor a guard dog. When the Church refuses to discipline its pastors, it indirectly treats the faithful as prey to be possessed, rather than sheep to be respected, gathered, and led forward.
As Christ is the only true Good Shepherd, he calls his bishops and priests to be good sheepdogs not hunting dogs or lap dogs.
This is the third and final part of a three-part series on Catholic ministers. You can read the first and second parts here.
*The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News.
