Saint Peter "The Hireling" Presented At Fordham

Fordham Hosts Catholic Biblical Association Annual Conference
The 71st International Meeting of the Catholic Biblical Association of America (CBA) brought attendees from as far away as Switzerland, Nigeria and Jerusalem to the Rose Hill campus. Over four days, they were treated to nearly 50 research presentations with titles such as "What's Catholic about a Catholic Translation of the Bible?" "The Strange Case of the Missing Adulteress" and "Africa and Africans in the New Testament." In his presentation on "The Portrayal of Peter in the Gospels of Matthew and John,"

Father Richard J. Cassidy of Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit discussed Peter's role as symbolic "hireling" in John’s gospel. "In John 10, it was a case of the hireling abandoning the sheep out of fear. In John 18, it is a case of the hireling abandoning the Good Shepherd out of fear,"

Father Cassidy said, referring to Peter denying Christ three times on the eve of his crucifixion. "In John 21 … what emerges is that the one who was formerly the hireling par excellence, is now the one specifically chosen by the Good Shepherd to be the pastor of the sheep," he explained.
Link to the Catholic Biblical Association of America
Link here to the full Fordham press release (here).