Day in and day out, there are the faithful, quiet priests—who pray their breviary and their Rosary, anoint the dying, celebrate Mass, hear confessions, and bury the dead—whose lives we don’t know.
The distinct nature of the priesthood derived from Holy Orders is baked into the language of the “Orate Fratres.” Flattening the ordained priesthood into “the common priesthood of the faithful,” only distorts both.
Bishop Martin of Charlotte is seeking to impose ‘a year as a layman’ before priestly ordination. This is like an engaged man living an additional year as a bachelor before his wedding day.
The modern priesthood is a lonely place, often little support. Spelling out ways for priests to safely reach out to their bishops early, when they are struggling, may save many from tumbling further.
A type of bishopric anti-fatherhood has led countless priests in America to live out vocations tainted by fear, torment, and silent despair.
Fr. Michael Champagne grew up sweating it out alongside French-speaking tough Cajuns who memorialized their Acadian forebears through the grind of raw Catholic lives.
The priest as clown is worse than a heretic who leads God’s people along the wrong path. The clown priest leads God’s people into not regarding God at all—a spiritual shrug and disinterested blasphemy.
If parishes are giving better catechesis and liturgy, emphasizing Confession, and building devotion to the Eucharist and the Blessed Virgin Mary, shouldn’t they be seeing more fruit?
Knowing he could not simply keep doing what had been done, a young priest tried something different: an imitation of something old.
A perfect metaphor for the classical priest is Hercules. Sadly, the Modern priest happily sees himself as Shirley Temple, steering not the mighty Barque of Peter but the Good Ship Lollipop.
We hear too often about priests who leave ministry. But it’s instructive to learn about a priest who considered leaving but didn’t: Fr. Bud Kieser.
Fathers, please preach boldly about sin and demand excellence in the spiritual life.
Why would a young homosexual man today, in a time of general acceptance of homosexuals in all walks of life, choose the priesthood?
A diocesan priestly promise of poverty could make the priesthood more appealing to the right men and less appealing to the wrong.
There is a major identity crisis today in the priesthood. It is a rupture, or at the very least an attempt to disconnect from the burden of its deep-rooted identity as one who offers sacrifice.
The Holy Eucharist, the ministerial priesthood, and fraternal charity are intimately bound together in the mystery of Holy Thursday.
Priests are, quite literally, the mediators between us and God. What does it mean to be priest? What are the challenge and the joys? We’ll talk to a priest today about the sacred priesthood, and how the laity can help their priests.
The clericalism that was once considered the realm of clergy who treated lay people like children has transferred its loyalty to a new generation of priests, who clothe their power-seeking ways in faux humility and New Yorker lingo.
Good Catholics are rightly shocked and even scandalized by the wickedness of men called to be “other Christs” in the celebration of the sacraments and throughout their lives.
The priesthood of Jesus Christ, in which every Christian priest shares, is the source of holiness in the Church and the impetus for all evangelization. Through the ministry of the priest, Christ’s lay faithful are nourished with the Word of Life and the Bread of Life; their sanctification makes possible the sanctification of the world. … Read more
