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The director of the Pontifical Pastoral Ministry for Priestly Vocations is affirming that 20 countries have seen an increase in priestly vocations over the past year. Monsignor Francis Bonnici reported this at a conference of English and Welsh Vocations Directors, recently held at the Venerable English College in Rome. He noted that England and Wales were among those that had seen an increase in the number of seminarians, but didn't offer a list of the others. The National Office for Vocations of the bishops' conference of England and Wales reported in September over 40 men commenced seminary formation for the...

I donÂ’t recall his source, but Thomist scholar Dr. F. F. Centore used to point out to us that according to Aquinas, women make better saints than men. And back in the early 80s, I recall reading Butler's Lives of the Saints and being struck by just how much female saints outnumber male saints; I believe it is by about two thirds. And one cannot read the Latin Fathers for a reasonable stretch without coming across the notion that the Church is a woman. She is the bride of Christ and the Mother of Christians. As St. Augustine comments on...

The Experience of ‘The Call’ October 26th, 2009 by Fr. Kyle Schnippel Known for the way he developed the interplay between light and darkness in his paintings, the Italian master Caravaggio has had a lasting impact in the world of art since his troubled life ended nearly 400 years ago.  His distinctive paintings, especially his religious scenes, continue to have an impact even on today’s viewers.For me, his ‘Calling of St. Matthew’ resonates.  Commissioned by Cardinal Matteu Contreil to hang in the French National Church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome, the scene draws you in as a nearly...

a vocation to be a priest?A website designed and run by teens who are seriously considering becoming Catholic priests. What can we do to help you discern your vocation? “I am convinced that the important ideals of a person are forged around the age of 15. Their ideals are full of dreams and imagination, which afterwards will have to mature, but these ideals are an amazing driving force for all of life.”“God calls who he wishes and when he wishes. Sometimes people question whether a 12 year-old child or an 18 year-old young person can see his vocation clearly. There...

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Much of the focus of U.S. commemorations and celebrations for the Year for Priests has been on Latin-rite priests, but priests in the Eastern Catholic Church also are marking the year, many by renewing their priesthood with retreats or days of recollection and also promoting vocations. The geographic expanses of U.S. Eastern Catholic dioceses, which often encompass several states, can make it difficult for the priests to gather together, so their observances of the special year, which began June 19, may be different than those of their Latin-rite counterparts. "We're spread out, so we take advantage of...

Chris Gillibrand of Cathcon has this picture of the “pastoral team� of a parish in Linz, Austria, a diocese where crypto-Protestant liberal priests disguise their women friends as ordained clergy. The woman on the right is dressed in a garment clearly indicating that she is a deacon. In fact – no offence – she is no more a Catholic deacon than the MacBook on which I’m writing this post. Women masquerading as ordained Catholic clergy in Linz “Stealth priestesses� is the way these ladies are described by their opponents (ie, orthodox Catholics). The use of the word “priestess� might seem...

Each month, when I face an auditorium full of engaged couples preparing for a Catholic marriage, there is a Q-and-A session. It is the interesting, unrehearsed part of the evening. The couples write their queries on a piece of paper, and the anonymity guarantees at least a few hardball questions about the Church and its practices. "What about Galileo?" is among my favorites, along with inquisitive notes about Torquemada. But the majority of these "zingers" turn out to be protests about the Church's rule of clerical celibacy. "You've told us how wonderful marriage is, that it's a great good...

Tuesday, September 01, 2009 Video: The most awesome Ordination video you'll ever see I try to avoid vulgar language on AmP, so I'll restrain myself and simply say this video "kicks butt". I love it for many reasons, including: It bears the unmistakable marks of a Grassroots Films productionIt prominently features the pastoral voice of Archbishop Timothy DolanIt uses the multimedia arts to powerfully convey the spiritual reality it portrays Show your friends, especially your non-Catholic ones. It might help them better understand the beauty and majesty of a life given totally to Christ and His Church. Labels: video,...

WESTON - A prominent priest whose support for women’s ordination has him in trouble with the Catholic Church ratcheted up his confrontation with the hierarchy yesterday, calling the church’s refusal to ordain women a “scandal’’ and “spiritual violence.’’ “I will not be silenced on this issue,’’ said the priest, the Rev. Roy Bourgeois, to about 100 people in Weston at an event hosted by the congregation of Jean Marchant, a former staffer for the Archdiocese of Boston who claims she was ordained as a priest in an unsanctioned ceremony four years ago. The Catholic Church views Marchant and Bourgeois as...

Eucharistic Season in the Year of the Priesthood By Father Mark on July 26, 2009 10:07 AM | The Seventeenth Sunday of the Year B The First of Five Sundays Focusing on the Mystery of the Most Holy Eucharist in the Sixth Chapter of Saint John's Gospel A Midsummer Eucharistic SeasonEvery three years when the B cycle of the Sunday Lectionary returns, the Church interrupts her reading of Saint Mark's Gospel to spend five weeks listening to the magnificent sixth chapter of Saint John: Our Lord's discourse on the Bread of Life. These five Sundays -- the 17th through the...

No Matter What, He Always "Acts Like a Priest" University President Speaks on Divine Providence By Father David M. O'Connell, CM WASHINGTON, D.C., JULY 3, 2009 (Zenit.org).- I wanted to be a priest for as long as I can remember. I think it was my pastor's visits to my dying grandmother, in particular, that first attracted me. He was so kind to her and so gentle. He brought her holy Communion and what we called then the sacrament of "extreme unction" during her final illness. The whole aura surrounding his visits, the mysterious sound of the Latin prayers, and the...

June 21 Year of the Priest 6/19/09 – 6/19/2010 Archbishop Timothy Dolan

Pope Benedict XVI today released a letter to priests, in proclamation of the Church’s Year of the Priest which commences tomorrow. The letter draws deeply on the priestly example of St. John Mary Vianney, France’s famous 19th-century “Curé of Ars.” From the Pope’s letter: There are also, sad to say, situations which can never be sufficiently deplored where the Church herself suffers as a consequence of infidelity on the part of some of her ministers. Then it is the world which finds grounds for scandal and rejection. What is most helpful to the Church in such cases is not only...

As a Baptist Sunday School and Bible study teacher, one of the questions that used to nag at me incessantly was this: Why, after such painstaking deliberation in dictating an institutional religion that pleased Him in the Old Testament and that was designed to lead the people to recognize the Messiah when He came, would God then introduce a system in the New Testament Church that was so completely unlike the one He established in the Old? There are innumerable examples of how ridiculous this complete “change� would be, but take the priesthood, for instance.Priests were the officiators of worship...

A couple weeks ago, I posted the item about Boston's new deaf priest. And recently the Religion News Service caught up with Fr. Shawn Carey to ask him a few questions about his singular vocation. They exchanged some Q&A emails with him. An excerpt: Q: What was it like growing up as a deaf Catholic? A: Back then, there were no (deaf) interpreters in the Catholic Church and in the Catholic schools. It was a frustrating journey, but I managed to overcome the obstacles. Today, more deaf Catholics can attend Masses and receive sacraments through deaf priests or hearing priests...

Pope Benedict XVI / St. Jean Vianney Washington D.C., Jun 9, 2009 / 01:18 am (CNA).- The U.S. bishops’ conference has set up a website to help mark the Year for Priests by providing prayers and other resources. Pope Benedict XVI designated the Year to begin on the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, June 19. His announcement also designated St. John Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests, as the Universal Patron of All Priests. According to a press release from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Secretariat for Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations has set...

You have seen him everywhere by now, on television, in the newspaper and all over the internet. That young, handsome, photogenic priest named Fr. Alberto Cutie. One sample morning article from MSN gets right to the heart of the real problem, poor reporting. The headline reads “Celebrity priest backs celibacy, but may marry” and is then followed by a “teaser line” right below it in bold type “Fla. clergyman known as ‘Father Oprah’ says he may leave Catholic Church.” The claim is not true. Father Cutie has never said he was going to leave the Catholic Church. He is defending...

WASHINGTON—The ordination Class of 2009, with computer experts, refugees, marathon runners and second-career men, mirrors the United States today.  The men from dioceses nationwide show that the call to serve God is heard at all ages. Respondents include attorneys, financiers, teachers and farmers.             Justin Minh Nguyen, of the Diocese of Austin, Texas, a skilled tailor, was a refugee from Vietnam. He was a parishioner of the only Vietnamese parish in Austin and is one of five men to be ordained for the diocese. Quy Vo, a refugee from the Philippines, is being ordained for the Diocese of Albany, New...

Vatican plans to investigate US Catholic nuns to ensure they are promoting Church teachings on homosexuality and the all-male priesthood. The Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) said it was informed of the "doctrinal assessment" in a letter from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican watchdog. The Vatican launches the probe saying the sisters have not addressed matters of concern -- homosexuality, salvation and the priesthood, which the Vatican says is reserved for men. Vatican officials have asked the American sisters to "report on the initiatives taken or planned" to promote the church's teachings on the...

GÈrard LafreniËre, 80, will be ordained as a priest at St. Joseph's Parish on Wednesday night, after a long and circuitous path to the vocation from the young age of 9 or 10 when he first felt the calling. He was married for many years and worked in insurance but was nudged again towards the priesthood after his wife died a year and a half ago." OTTAWA-After nearly a lifetime on a circuitous path, Gérard Lafrenière will finally realize his childhood dream when he is ordained as a priest at a Catholic church in Orléans tonight.“This is something that...

Wagga diocese's Vianney College seminary is at full capacity, Rector Fr Peter Thompson says. The Wagga Daily Advertiser reports the "house full" sign can go up at the seminary where 22 young men are currently preparing for the priesthood. “We have 22 rooms, but if anyone else comes knocking on our door we will find a room for them somewhere,” Fr Thompson said. The number includes five first year seminarians. “When I took over six years ago there were only four or five (seminarians); there was obviously a question mark over the future of the seminary with those numbers, but...

ROME (CNS) -- If using dolls to practice the baptismal ritual is a humbling experience for seminarians, one can imagine what it was like for someone who already had baptized hundreds of babies. Father Jeffrey N. Steenson, the former Episcopal bishop of the Rio Grande, prepared for his ordination to the Catholic priesthood with seminarians from Rome's Pontifical North American College.

The number of priests in the Catholic Church around the world is slowly rising, the Vatican says. The Holy See presented a statistical yearbook to Pope Benedict XVI, showing an increase of several hundred priests a year since 2000.

Everyone, it seems, has a "Plan B." You've had the conversation yourself with your spouse and probably with friends over dinner. In the event you can no longer be a journalist—or an investment banker, lawyer or literary agent—what will you be? A livery-cab driver? A yoga instructor? A bartender? Where would you like to take shelter from this recession? Some of you—admit it—are dreaming of the ministry. This yearning could be an escapist fantasy, a wish to contemplate divine abundance in an environment of scarcity, to wrestle with abstractions in the midst of relentless pragmatic concerns. Or it could be...

A talk with The Rev. Richard P. McBrien Life as a theologian, commentator - and lightning rod By Michael Paulson December 28, 2008 CATHOLICISM IN AMERICA is riven by internal debates - often about gender, sexuality, and authority - and seemingly unending controversies, about politics and parish closings and the handling of sexual abuse. Whenever one of these battles catches the attention of the evening news, one of the likely commentators is the Rev. Richard P. McBrien, a theologian at the University of Notre Dame who is one of the most visible interpreters of Catholicism to the American public. McBrien...

Christ came to redeem mankind from slavery to the passions by His life of sacrifice. Everything about Him went against the grain in a most unprecedented, radical manner causing scandal to the Jewish people who were expecting a temporal Messiah. Observe: he loves sinners, and eats with them; adulterers receive mercy; the ill He heals on the Sabbath. Most disturbing of all, He is not married but is a virgin and preaches continence for the sake of the Kingdom of God.The priesthood of the New Law is not made up of the powerful and intellectual but of men from ordinary...

The place: Heaven’s gate. The time: Around 2028, give or take a few mortal years. The scene: A large crowd of newly dead, not yet liberated from their earthly forms, is trying to maintain order despite a cluster of men who shout, wag their fingers and, occasionally, shove. “Gentlemen, gentlemen! For pity’s sake, please!” one of the non-combative people in the crowd cries out. “What in God’s name has you behaving in such an unholy way?” A man whose body is of average size, but whose essence emanates a royal purple aura, whirls around with a contemptuous look. Pointing to...

Newman in the Lion's Den by Rev. Dwight Longenecker 11/20/08 Last week, we at St. Mary's Church in Greenville, South Carolina, found ourselves in the midst of a perfect media storm. The Sunday after the election, Rev. Jay Scott Newman, the parish rector (I serve as a weekend assistant), published his usual column for the parish bulletin, in which he commented on the election of Barack Obama. Offering patriotic support and prayers for the president-elect, but also lamenting his radical pro-abortion policy, Father Newman told his parishioners:"Voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative exists constitutes material cooperation...

However, all that changed on August 9th when Fr. Bourgeois chose to become a “concelebrant” and homilist at the attempted ordination to the priesthood of Janice Sevre-Duszynska. The attempted “ordination” occurred at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Lexington, Ky. Now, Fr. Bourgeois has decided to engage in a new crusade, one which involves public and direct defiance of the Holy See and a repudiation of the unbroken teaching of the Magisterium of the Catholic Church concerning sacred ordination. According to a letter which Fr. Bourgeois released to the Press, he has received a letter from the Congregation for the Doctrine...

Nicolas Fernandez New York, Nov 6, 2008 / 01:34 pm (CNA).- At the age of 25, Nicolas Fernandez had all of the qualities needed to be a great policeman and his future in the force looked promising.  However, during his daily work he discovered he needed different weapons to help the “troubled souls” he encountered, so he decided to become a priest.Born on Staten Island of an Irish mother and a Spanish father, Fernandez has begun his six year-long formation at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers.  He had been serving as a police officer for two years when, inspired...

Chicago, Oct 9, 2008 / 01:07 am (CNA).- Vision Vocation Guide and the VocationMatch.com web site have reported that over the past year more than 6,900 people interested in Catholic religious vocations completed online profiles and requested information from religious communities through the web site.The web site gathers information from inquirers and matches their profiles against the profiles of religious communities to produce recommendations, similar to the way matches are made at dating sites. Vision Vocation Guide says in a press release that VocationMatch.com users become “more qualified discerners” who have considered practical questions about a religious vocation, such...

"When the Church asks publicly and authoritatively in the name of Jesus Christ that a person or object be protected against the power of the evil one and withdrawn from his dominion, it is called exorcism. Jesus performed exorcisms and from him the Church has received the power and office of exorcising. In a simple form exorcism is performed at the celebration of Baptism. In solemn exorcism, called a 'major' exorcism, can be performed only by a priest and with the permission of the bishop. The priest must proceed with prudence, strictly observing the rules established by the Church. Exorcism...

Now for something completely non-political -- and really, quite inspiring. America is about to get another married priest, but one unlike any other. From the Louisville Courier-Journal: David Harris never considered his conversion to Catholicism six years ago to be a rejection of the Baptist faith that nourished him from childhood in Eastern Kentucky. But as a married man, Harris did think the switch meant he would leave one thing behind -- his status as an ordained minister. He was wrong. Early next month, he'll make history as the first married, former Baptist minister to become a Roman Catholic priest...

Pope Gives Key to Being Highly Effective Priests Says It's Essential to Define Priorities, Give Time to Prayer BRESSANONE, Italy, AUG. 21, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI says the key for priests facing an ever increasing number of responsibilities is defining their priorities and sticking to them -- and making sure prayer is at the top of the list. The Pope affirmed this Aug. 6 when he met with priests, deacons and seminarians of the Diocese of Bolzano-Bressanone and answered in German six questions they asked him. The Holy Father was on vacation in the Dolomites, where he stayed at the...

Baptists: The Priesthood of The Believer or of Believers? "Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." (I Peter 2:9) "Each believer is a priest, both before God for oneself and by caring for fellow believers and for persons in the world for whom Christ died." From We Baptists, James Leo Garrett Jr. (editor-in-chief) To say that a Baptist is a priest sounds strange to some persons. But we are. Every one of...

As a child, I heard the story of the restoration of the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods this way:   In May of 1829 Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were praying in the woods about baptism and had John the Baptist appear to them, put his hands on their heads, and recite the following, currently found in D & C Section 13: Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah, I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the...

  The Restoration of the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthoods By Historical records and the testimony of Joseph Smith’s associates tell the manner, order, and pattern of priesthood restoration and indicate that the time of the restoration of the Melchizedek Priesthood was probably within the 13-day period of 16 to 28 May 1829.Larry C. Porter, “The Restoration of the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthoods,” Ensign, Dec. 1996, 30The growth of the Church in the latter days can be seen as a stone rolling forth “until it has filled the whole earth” (D&C 65:2). Even so, fundamental historical events of the decade...

Q. We were always taught that married men could not be ordained Catholic priests. How is it possible that we could have a married Catholic priest here in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee? A. Celibacy is a discipline of the Catholic Church practiced universally in the West. Although it is highly valued, Pope Paul VI states that celibacy "is not, of course, required by the nature of the priesthood itself. This is clear from the practice of the early church and the traditions of the Eastern rite churches." Much has been said about practical reasons for celibacy, such as giving the...

p>For the first time in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s history, a married Roman Catholic priest with children will be serving the faithful in southeastern Wisconsin. Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan asked his priests and deacons this week which of them would be willing to accept the man - a former Lutheran minister - as an associate pastor at their parish. The priest and his wife, who have juvenile and adult sons, are moving from the Diocese of Venice, Fla. She has accepted a job here. Although no married priest has served here, about 100 married priests have been ordained in the...

A friend just phoned to tell me about a discussion on a "trad" forum.  I went there and read for a while. In this discussion some people were publicly bad mouthing priests who have been celebrating the TLM and denigrating their ministry.They claim these priests not Catholic enough, not fully or really Catholic.  Not Catholic like they are. Thus, they who have no authority in the Church, laymen who have no jurisdiction, no credentials other than that they are hobbyists of the older form of the Roman Rite (sincere as their devotion may be), they who have read some encyclicals...

Since his death on June 3, 1963, many biographies and studies of Pope John XXIII (Angelo Roncalli) have appeared. In the month of his death was the article of Roger Aubert, "Jean XXIII: Un 'pape de transition' qui marquera dans l'histoire". The same year, and revised in 1981, is Leone Algisi's John the Twenty-Third / Giovanni XXIII. In 1965 there appeared that of Edward Elton Young Hales, Pope John and His Revolution. In 1973 Pope John XXIII by Paul Johnson, and in 1979 Bernard R. Bonnot's Pope John XXIII: An Astute, Pastoral Leader. We are told the writer who had...

Monday, June 9, 2008 Americans need not, no, do not, apply. The news from Chicago reports the ordination by Cardinal George of eleven new priests for the Archdiocese, none of whom were born in this country. Fifty-one years ago, 45 new priests were ordained for the Archdiocese, virtually all of whom were natives of the Chicago area. One wag commented that “priesthood is a job Americans won’t do today.” Another replied, “Not true. Those who can’t make it in the competitive job market can become priests as late vocations and be secure for life, especially nice if they are gay“....

Vatican City, Jun 3, 2008 / 01:33 pm (CNA).- The secretary for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop Angelo Amato, said this week only men can be ordained to the priesthood because “the Catholic Church is not authorized to change the will of her founder, Jesus Christ.""Therefore," the archbishop continued, "in the participation in the life and mission of the Church, women cannot receive the sacrament of Holy Orders and therefore, they cannot carry out the functions proper to the ministerial priesthood.”In an interview with the Vatican daily, L’Osservatore Romano, regarding the recent decree by the CDF...

THE PRIESTHOOD DEBATE James AkinI. Opening RemarksWhen I was an Evangelical, I originally held the same view of the priesthood that my opponent does. I viewed it as a man-made institution which robbed the faithful of their place as God's priests. I even quoted the same verses that my opponent does—the ones about us being a "kingdom of priests" or a "royal priesthood," depending on the translation you are using.But over the course of time, I began to realize that merely quoting those verses did not settle the issue. The Bible has far more to say on the subject.An embarrassment...

Priesthood Commemoration Celebration Scheduled June 8 Genesis will not be held on the first Sunday of June, but all Genesis members are especially invited to join with other Latter-day Saints in a commemoration of the revelation extending the priesthood to all worthy males, which occurred on June 1, 1978, in the Salt Lake Temple. The revelation was ratified and announced on June 8, 1978. The celebration will be held on Sunday, June 8, at 7 p.m. in the Salt Lake Tabernacle. The doors will open at 6 p.m. Elder Sheldon F. Child of the Seventy will be the speaker...

Saturday, May 31, 2008 "He Called Them Forward" After Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles ordained the nation's largest priesthood class for the year -- 12 candidates for the nation's largest diocese -- earlier today in the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, a friend in attendance sent the following brief: [Mahony] reminisced about the one thing the seminary never prepared him for all those years ago: that God is the God of surprises. He then reviewed his priestly life and spoke of each surprise and how God gave him just what he needed not only to endure but...

CNA).- Archbishop of St. Louis Raymond L. Burke will ordain nine men to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of St. Louis on Saturday at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis. It is the largest ordination class for the archdiocese since 1987.Some credit Archbishop Burke for the boom in seminarians.  A frequent visitor to the seminary, the archbishop sometimes drops by unannounced for lunches with the students."He's the center and the core of this whole thing," archdiocesan vocations director Rev. Michael Butler said to the St. Louis Post Dispatch.Archbishop Burke explained that he decided vocations would be one of his priorities. ...

Vatican City, May 19, 2008 / 09:21 am (CNA).- Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, has sent a letter to the bishops of the world with the approval of Pope Benedict XVI reaffirming the norms established by the Congregation for Catholic Education in the 2005 document, “Instruction Concerning the Criteria for the Discernment of Vocation with regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in view of their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders,” as universal and without exceptions.  In the brief “Rescriptum ex audientia” –a written response to various queries—Cardinal Bertone said the norms establishing the selection...

In May of 1994 John Paul II promulgated Ordinatio Sacerdotalis which declared definitely that the Catholic priesthood is reserved for males. That document nonetheless contained some language that was difficult to interpret. As a result, Cardinal Ratzinger made an official clarification (Responsum ad Dubium) in November of 1995, making it quite clear that the Church has taught infallibly on this matter. Hence, the question of the priesthood in its relation to sexuality - a question usually posed more simply as "Why can there not be women priests?" - has now been answered in a definitive way. There is no longer...

February 16, 2004 - Reported in Spirit Daily.com online newspaper. "In 1992 my life changed dramatically," says Father Donald Calloway. "I had a profound conversion experience after reaching rock bottom."Rock bottom indeed! Now a 31-year-old priest who serves as assistant rector at the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, Father Calloway had been a runaway youngster who was immersed in everything from drug abuse to theft."I had gone through all a boy could do up to the age of twenty," he says. "My mother had been married three times and we had no religion. The family...