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Priestly people In priesthood, God utilizes all a priest’s gifts and struggles, but docility to the Holy Spirit isn’t a given Msgr. Charles Pope Question: When a priest is hearing confessions, does the Holy Spirit always enlighten him so that he gives his penitents accurate and insightful guidance? — Peter Tate, Long Beach, California Answer: The word “always” in your question implies an enlightenment that is too absolute. Certainly, the Holy Spirit assists priests in all their duties, including confession; but priests are not robotically connected such that they are mere oracles. The priest, in the celebration of the...

The Bread of Affliction: A Meditation on What Jesus Endured at the Last Supper By: Msgr. Charles PopeThe Last Supper is, strangely, a sad study in the kind of affliction the Lord had to endure from His own disciples. Of all the meals the Lord must have shared with them, this was the one that should have gone beautifully and perfectly; it did not. From one moment to the next the blows just got worse. There were inept responses, distractions, bullheaded debates, and rebukes directed against Jesus … and then of course betrayal. It was nothing short of a disaster. The...

One of the consistent themes of the Four Gospels is the theme of the “inept response.” Most often it applies to the 12 apostles who, when taught some important point by the Lord, demonstrate, almost right away, that they don’t get it all.No one place in the gospels is more thick with the inept response than at the Last Supper. It was nothing short of a disaster. The ineptitude is almost comical if it weren’t so sad. If ever the Lord needed his disciples attention and understanding, it was now. But to a man, they let him down. There is...

 Women's Ordinationby Sebastian R. FamaWhile there are Catholics who favor ordaining women to the priesthood, it is important to note that the driving force behind this movement comes from the more radical elements in the Church. These individuals usually challenge the Church on a wide range of issues. They reject the authority of the Church and yet they demand that women be allowed to be a part of the authority they reject. If the Church has no divine authority, what purpose would it serve to be a part of it? Such an obvious contradiction discredits their argument. Their real goal...

  Monday, March 2, 2009 "Catholic priests meld sacred duties with personal lives" One of our own from the Diocese of Raleigh! From the Rocky Mount Telegram By Laura McFarlandPhoto by Alan Campbell, Fr. Tim Meares on the left, Fr. Bavinger, S.J. on the right Being a Catholic priest is not a 9-to-5 job. It is a 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week vocation. If somebody calls while a priest is eating dinner and needs to him to come to the hospital, he goes. If a problem arises the day before his vacation starts, he stays. The primary role of a priest is clear...

On the Catholic Priesthood AD CATHOLICI SACERDOTIIENCYCLICAL OF POPE PIUS XI ON THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD DECEMBER 20, 1935To our Venerable Brethren the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, Bishops, and other Ordinaries in Peace and Communion with the Apostolic See. By the inscrutable design of Divine Providence We were raised to this summit of the Catholic priesthood. From that moment Our thoughts were turned to all the innumerable children whom God entrusted to Us. Yet, in a special way, We have felt an affectionate and earnest solicitude towards those who have the commission to be "the salt of the earth and the...

Divine Mercy Diary Exerpts   Jesus's words are in italics.  St. Faustina's words are in regular print.   "Your task is to write down everything that I make known to you about My mercy, for the benefit of those who by reading these things will be comforted in their souls and will have the courage to approach Me." (1693)     "Mankind will not have peace until it turns with trust to My mercy." (300)     

Featured Term (selected at random):MAJOR ORDERS The diaconate, priesthood, and episcopate. Until the Second Vatican Council and the decision of Pope Paul VI in 1973, the subdiaconate was also considered a major order. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Featured Term (selected at random):SEALING The sacrament of confirmation as a perfection of baptism, in which the confirmed person receives the indelible character or seal of a soldier of Christ, ready to undergo any hardship in the preservation and profession of his faith. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Featured Term (selected at random):REORDINATION The repetiton of an ordination ceremony for a bishop, priest, or deacon because there are serious grounds for doubting the validity of a previous ordination. The term is inaccurate, since sacred orders, once conferred, cannot be repeated. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

The Priesthood by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.What is the priesthood? Before dealing at length with the meaning of the priesthood in the Catholic Church, there is value in first looking at the priesthood in general, as revealed to us by God in the Sacred Scriptures, because today in so many circles there is such widespread confusion. People are being told that priests are really no different from the rest of the faithful. They are being told that at most priests are only ministers of the Gospel. Yet they have learned over the years that the priesthood is the sublimest...

Featured Term (selected at random):APOSTASY (ecclesiastical) One of the three kinds of desertion recognized by the laws of the Roman Catholic Church; from Christianity, when a baptized person entirely gives up his Christian faith; from orders, when a cleric abandons the ecclesiastical state; and from religion, when a man or woman leaves the religious life without dispensation from public vows. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Archbishop Charles Chaput  Other Articles by Archbishop Charles ChaputPrinter Friendly Version   Priests: Ordinary Men Made Extraordinary by Grace April 4, 2008 A friend of mine grew up in a family where her father worked for General Motors. When she was young, the company transferred her dad around the Midwest every few years. The good news is that she made many different friends, some of whom have lasted a lifetime. The bad news is that she never really set down roots until adulthood. She has no single city or town from her childhood that she remembers as "home." Military...

Fr. Kyle Schnippel  Other Articles by Fr. Kyle Schnippel Printer Friendly Version   Why Does the Catholic Church Ordain Only Men to the Priesthood? Part Three March 4, 2007 Marital Imagery of the Priesthood[Part One, Part Two]Michael Novak, writing in the Journal First Things, comments on the meeting between Pope John Paul II and Dr. George Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in May 1992.  In the interim period between Inter Insigniores and this meeting, the Anglican Communion had progressed on its movement towards the acceptance of women into the sacramental priesthood.  In response, he noted an unnamed Vatican official...

by Fr. Jerome Magat Other Articles by Fr. Jerome Magat Marriage, in the Beginning 10/07/06 Of all the moral teachings that our Lord gave us during His time on earth, He was never more specific in His instruction than when He discussed marriage. The Pharisees tested Jesus on this particular teaching by referencing the law that permitted divorce which had been given to them through Moses. In order to fulfill the law, our blessed Lord both explains the rationale behind the concession that Moses made in regards to divorce and elevates our understanding of marriage by returning us to an original...

by Mickey Addison Other Articles by Mickey Addison Ordinatio Sacerdotalis 08/10/06 It was one of the few days I was really not looking forward to leading my Scripture study. I had a terrible cold and the thought of conducting a lesson on Revelation did not sound appealing. Though I was trying to put a good face on it, my priest noticed that I was not my usually boisterous self, and he asked me if I wanted a blessing. "Father, that sounds good... Thanks!" I replied. And then he laid his hands on me and prayed healing over me. Needless to say,...

Fundamentals of Catholicism by Father Robert Altier Lesson 21: Holy Matrimony and Holy Orders In this lesson, we are going to look at the last two of the sacraments that have not been covered yet: Holy Matrimony and Holy Orders. These two sacraments look to the spiritual welfare of Christians. Matrimony is that sacrament in which a baptized man and a baptized woman enter into a permanent communion of life and love by mutual agreement for the generation and the education of children, and in which they receive God’s grace to help them to grow in holiness and to fulfill...

by Archbishop Charles Chaput Other Articles by Archbishop Charles Chaput Common Sense for an Uncommon Calling 12/9/05 The Vatican’s new instruction on the admission of candidates to seminary and the priesthood has fewer than 1,500 words. That works out to about an average Sunday homily. And like many of the best homilies, it seeks to apply common sense and the wisdom of the Church to problems of the day. But we live in a culture where common sense can be rare. Thus, nobody should be surprised at the pre-emptive criticism and anxiety already directed at a Church document that deals with...

Nov. 22 (CWNews.com) - The following is an unofficial translation by CWN of the full Vatican document. Congregation for Catholic Education Instruction concerning the criteria of vocational discernment regarding persons with homosexual tendencies, considering their admission to seminary and to Holy Orders Introduction Following the teaching of Vatican II and, in particular, the decree Optatam Totius on priestly formation, the Congregation for Catholic Education has published different documents to promote an adequate formation integral of future priests, offering guidance and precise norms regarding their several aspects. In the meantime also the Synod of Bishops in 1999 reflected on the formation...

I keep hearing about how since Vatican II, the persepctive of the Catholic Church has changed: it no longer considers marriage an inferior vocation to the religious life. I'd like to think so, because I asked God if he wanted me to be a priest, and I got a very clear, "No!" Several, in fact. As in: "OK, God, right, got the message, really!" Yet, I believe we are all called to sainthood. The issue is this: Most saints were priests, sisters or brothers. There's a few married saints I can think of, who were married, and became saints in...