Noblesse Obligé

In the series of things one did not thinkt that deeply about before ordination..
The status brought by the priesthood and living in the rectory has certain perks. Even in this fairly small place there are people -both volunteers and religious- doing laundry, cleaning, cooking and in general taking care of things. It is, to start with, a bit hard to get used to and the whole set-up sometimes seems reminiscent of "Upstairs, Downstairs" or "Downton". The comparisons are of course mismatched on many levels; I am never dressed by a butler - though I have had altarservers help me vest for Mass -  nor are there fox hunts or that many big, fancy dinners. Still, it might give a small inkling.. 

The term noblesse obligé might not be that accurate in the literal sense, my background is thorughly bourgeois (though the maternal grandfather's civil service career would likely have earned him at least a knighthood in a less republican time and place). Having said this, the concept still applies. The privilege, prestige and power of the clerical state have obligations attached to them. Some of these are obvious, people have the right to expect and recieve the purely sacramental and sacerdotal services that their priest is there to provide. However, noblesse obligé goes deeper than merely "doing the job". It calls for a certain decorum even in externals; in behaviour, dress, and in generally cultivating a style and manners that can be characterised as priestly. This principle is of course not unique to the clergy. There is for instance a wonderful BBC series that goes through the regimental traditions of the British army. One of the customs related that I remember (around 20 min in) is that of turning up properly dressed - i.e. not in your t-shirt & jeans or BDU - for the weekday evening dinner at the mess hall. The rationale? The staff and people go through a lot of work to prepare the food and setting, the least that can be done to honour them in turn is to go through the trouble of dressing up properly. Arguable the same would apply to the cleric, regardless of whether he uses clericals or civvies for the occasion. 

I emphasise the externals because they tend to be neglected, or even dismissed, these days. While the internals -spiritual life, intelectual ability, know-how etc.- are certainly more important, the externals should never be completely ignored. As we are created as composite beings, i.e. soul and body, both are important if not equal, a clerical noblesse obligé looks to both. It does this not out of vanity but in knowing that there are legitimate expectations laid on someone in a privileged position, that the priest must be what he is, not just do a job. Noblesse obligé requires that he takes himself, or rather his state and faith, seriously. That he takes the faith seriously, certainly because it is, but also because he has an obligation to the girl who has lost dozens of friends for taking her faith seriously, to the man who went through a Vietnamese "re-education camp" for taking his faith seriously, to the family that has relatives in IS controled territory and to many others, including the volunteers and religious that do much of the supporting work.