St. Catherine of Siena on how to be a successful priest

Two excerpts from the latest issue of The New Oxford Review, in which David Mills writes, in his Last Things column:

It’s St. Catherine of Siena’s feast day as I write. She was famously critical of worldly clergy. In The Dialogue, she describes them as caring about “having grand horses, many gold and silver vessels, and well-adorned homes. They have and keep what they ought not, all with huge vanity. Their heart babbles out its disordered vanity, and their whole desire is feasting, making a god of their bellies.”

Inevitably, she says, they soon fall into sexual immorality. As a famous movie director said, the heart wants what it wants. We don’t easily say no to it. He who lets his heart have the horses and homes it wants, though he intends to remain chaste, eventually lets his heart have the body it wants.

Not surprisingly, the saint continues, these priests fail as pastors: “They leave behind my little sheep, whom I had entrusted to them, like sheep without a shepherd. Spiritually they do administer the sacraments of holy Church (the power of which sacraments can neither be taken away nor lessened by any sin of theirs) but they do not feed them with sincere prayers, with hungry longing for their salvation, with holy and honorable living, nor do they feed their poor subjects with temporal assistance.”

She writes pages and pages of this. She uses the word “filth” a lot. I wonder how often she’s read in seminaries.

Also from St. Catherine: The hierarchy “will never correct persons of any importance, even though they may be guilty of greater sin than more lowly people, for fear that these might retaliate by standing in their way or deprive them of their rank and their way of living. They will, however, correct the little people, because they are sure these cannot harm them or deprive them of their rank. Such injustice comes from their wretched selfish love for themselves.”

I saw this a lot in my experiences inside the religious world, as an Episcopalian as well as a Catholic, and it was one of the most disheartening things I saw. If you want a bishop’s attention, you would do well to have a lot of money, or the ability to get it for him. If, say, your priest makes a mess of the liturgy and preaches heresy from the pulpit, the bishop might listen to the rich man’s complaints, but the poor man from the small parish has no more hope of getting the bishop’s help than I do of playing center in the NBA.

I met a friend at the pub we favor, and started working after he left. A man about my age came over. “Are you religious?” he asked. I wanted to say no, but since most people mean “Do you go to church a lot?” I said, “Fairly.” He said, “No, I said are you a religious?” and explained he’d seen me there before with a priest friend. I said no. Then he asked, “Are you Irish?” No, I said.

When I told the priest this, he wrote back, “So was he raising the stakes or trying to make you feel better for having to answer negatively? That is, is being Irish a step up or down from being a religious?”

Fr. Perrone reflects on two priests -- a bitter old turncoat and a joyful new one

Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" [temporary link], Assumption Grotto News, May 26, 2019:

A dismal and blistering article was published last week in a prominent mag -- here unmentioned -- a diatribe against the Church for the often-alleged crime of clericalism, the credited reason for the Church's present troubles. Only well into the piece was it revealed that the writer was an ex-priest, a fact which didn't surprise me since only such a one can publish a splenetic attack on the faith with impunity. I won't bore you with summarizing what he wrote since there's nothing new there except the expression of a particular talent for rant. His writing led me to reflect no on the dread subject matter but on how it could be that a man ordained to the priesthood could get so much wrong about the Church, the priesthood, and theology. He was, early on, a liberal priest who championed leftist causes and challenged orthodoxy. Perhaps he was poorly educated and malformed in the seminary but his writing gave just enough indication that he knew what Catholicism stands for, even if he has rejected it. It was a wonder that he could have turned out so bad as to write what he did and be led, in the end, to leave the practice of the faith. (Actually, that's not all bad since it spares our Lord the offense of sacrilegious Communions.) Was he, I thought, one of those fake priests who infiltrated the Church years ago to make an attempted coup? Or was he among the pitiful duped who followed false guides and fell away from the truth little by little?

These questions motivated me to write here -- again, not about what was in the mag, but about the hard reality of someone rejecting "the faith once delivered to the saints" (Jude 1:3). This became a personal reflection on how many there may be, over the long course of my priesthood, who listened to my teaching or preaching and instead of taking in what I intended to impart to them interiorly resented my words or even outright rejected them. How many young students, for example, hearing my instruction opposed it, unknown to me? The fault in such case may lay with my poor teaching abilities but it might also be due to a bad disposition, whatever its causes. I realize one can't always know by body language whether one's hearers agree or disagree with what's being said. This reminded me of the parable of the sower sowing his seed and the various types of ground on which it fell: rocks, briers, or good soil. When our Lord spoke to His audiences, some of them received His teaching approvingly, some outwardly protesting it, while others harbored interior resentment. He always identified these various responses to His words, and to those who harbored hostility He exposed their private thoughts. Lacking the gift of mind-reading, I can't guess who or how many people I've taught over the years took in what I said or rejected it. Whatever may be in be in the mind sooner or later comes out into the open, as it did in the sorry example of that ex-priest. It made me realize that I must pray more that the Holy Ghost will adapt, adjust, and even correct my poor words as needed for particular souls to make the truth evident to them. (I have elsewhere averted to the divine phenomenon of what I believe may happen when the Holy Spirit causes to make heard in various minds divine truths in spite of a preacher's poor abilities, or even his errors. This would be, if I'm right to think it, an extension of the grace of Pentecost when He made each person hear what wwas being said, modifying it for their comprehension.

How can it be that some Catholics like myself brought up in the good ol' days turn out to be doubters of the Church's doctrines, deceivers of others, and turncoats? At one time, I must suppose, they were sincere and devout Catholics. Something happened to them (unless the conspiracy theory is correct, and they were deliberate "plants" sent out to destroy the Church.)

I forgot to mention where and when I heard about that article. It was while I was in Chicago for the Ordination and First Mass of our own Father Matthew Schuster. What a contrast to read about one priest's falling away and to witness another's joyful ascent to Christ's holy priesthood! While I would not wish to be presumptive of God's grace, I can't refrain from expressing my great hopes for a richly fruitful priesthood for Fr. Schuster. I'm deeply grateful to have witnessed its beginnings. He will have his first Grotto Mass on Pentecost Sunday, June 9, at the 9:30 Mass, following which he will confer, during an open reception for him in the gym, his individual priestly blessings which carry the plenary indulgence.

Finale: Pray on Memorial Day for the souls of the faithful departed who served in various capacities for our country's defense, especially those who died in conflict. We will offer holy Mass for them on Monday at the 9:15 a.m. Mass, preceded by the flag-raising ceremony at 9:00, and followed by the pryers in the cemetery. A doughnut and coffee breakfast chaser may be had in the gym.

Fr. Perrone.

A day in the life of a parish pastor

Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" (Assumption Grotto News, December 10, 2017):

What's on a pastor's mind?

As I suppose it to be for everyone, I would rather do the things I most like doing. I would rather not be exceptional in this> For me, the desirable things to do would be what are called the works of leisure, that is to say, things that are not of practical necessity. Yet I, like most of you, am restricted in my desire to pursue those more delightsome things by the duties that demand my attention.

These necessary things for me are primarily pastoral and administrative. Preparing each week to teach my three or four classes sometimes takes a good chunk of prep time. Following through, I must teach the classes for for which I have prepared. There's also a Sunday sermon to write which has a whole week's period of gestation in my daily prayers where -- presumptuous or foolish to admit it -- God gives me the substance, if not the very words, of what I should deliver to the people. And then there's the writing of the weekly pastor's column, the Descant, which is a duty to which I am resigned. Some pastors don't write a weekly column for their parish papers but I, following the lead of my predecessor, have remained faithful to this weekly chore, sometimes even less ungrudgingly. Thus far my "literary" duties of the week.

Administration of the parish is another mental pressure. So many areas of parish life require decisions of all kinds which depend on the pastor's judgments. Finances, utilities, meetings, the physical plant with its innumerable necessities never escape the mind during the day, during the night, in conversations, and into prayer.

Pastoral work is the thing for which I was ordained and the active form of work I most relish. Here are saying Mass, reciting my daily Divine Office, directing my people in the spiritual life, caring for their sacramental needs, hearing confessions, visiting the sick. The precious time alloted for this must be shared with my literary and administrative activities and so is sometimes cut short and only the minimal gets done in a given week Alas!

At the end of the day I sometimes wonder where all the time has gone. Eating and sleeping, driving, occasionally cooking a meal, and such inevitable gobblers of anyone's time leave me without much of that desired free time, the leisure time to do the things most enjoyed. Now it may sound pious or self-righteous to you for me to say it, but my personal prayer time is my very favorite thing to do. I manage to do this in the early morning hours most days, long before the work of the day begins. Here I can speak to my God to my heart's content about all that's on my mind. In some unexplainable ways I know that He hears and answers me in those quiet hours, often spent before the Blessed Sacrament. Finally there's reading books, playing the piano, and spending social time with relatives and friends. But, like the dessert after the big meal, the sweetest part takes the shortest time. Such is life for me and no doubt for you.

This reflection on the parcelling out of time in my week is not meant merely to let you know what's on my mind and what I do all week long. It's to indicate that for most people life's time consists of things that must get done as opposed to the pleasurable things one would rather do. This imbalance will be redressed, I believe, in the next life when there will be no more 'things that have to get done' but only things that are most delectable: enjoying God and His largely unknown gifts which must certainly be innumerable and delectable beyond what words can say.

In this valley of tears the all-important thing is to do what God expects us to do. Much of that is what we might rather not be doing if we had the choice. Yet He, in His goodness, gives us just enough of the good things of life, even the most simple of them, as a consolation for carrying out our daily tasks.

Perhaps you feel as I do that there are many, many more advantageous things to be grateful for in life than things to complain about. I wholeheartedly love the holy priesthood and the work proper to it. For the rest, I do what I must, sometimes even cheerfully, while I await those fewer moments when I can go about doing what's most pleasing. I hope you find your vocation in life to be equally satisfying in the larger sense, even though its demands may at times seem burdensome. In the end I am compelled to admit that life's not only worth living but, except for sin, good and fulfilling.

Carry on, Christian soul, in your daily life's work. As Saint Paul said of the athlete, he keeps his mind on the end of the game so as to win. This is hope and its season is Advent.

Tridentine Community News - The Priest's Vesting Prayers; TLM Mass schedule

"I will go in unto the Altar of God
To God, Who giveth joy to my youth"
Tridentine Community News by Alex Begin (September 11, 2016):

September 11, 2016 - Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost

The Extraordinary Form of Holy Mass incorporates rubrics and practices that display reverence towards holy objects and things destined for a sacred purpose. For example, any object handed to the priest during Holy Mass is to be kissed before being handed over. When an object is taken from the priest, it is kissed as soon as it is taken.

Likewise, before Mass, the celebrant kisses each of the vestments as he puts them on, often while reciting a set of Vesting Prayers.

The 1962 Roman Missal contains one chapter of Preparatory Prayers to be said before Mass, and another chapter of Prayers of Thanksgiving to be said after Mass. The Vesting Prayers comprise one section of the chapter of Preparatory Prayers. All of the prayers in these two chapters are optional. Several had been enriched with indulgences according to the pre-1968 list of indulgences. Many older sacristies, including those at St. Florian in Hamtramck and at the National Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak, have cards containing these prayers mounted on their sacristy walls. Since the pious custom of a priest’s preparation for Mass is not well-known, below we present the Vesting Prayers. For those who may not be familiar with them, these vestments were described in our June 25, 2006 column, available on our web site.

Washing Hands

Da, Dómine, virtútem mánibus meis ad abstergéndam omnem máculam; ut sine pollutióne mentis et córporis váleam tibi servíre.


Give virtue to my hands, O Lord, that being cleansed from all stain I might serve Thee with purity of mind and body.

Amice

Impóne, Dómine, cápiti meo gáleam salútis, ad expugnándos diabólicos incúrsus.

Place upon me, O Lord, the helmet of salvation, that I may overcome the assaults of the devil.

Alb

Deálba me, Dómine, et munda cor meum; ut, in sánguine Agni dealbátus, gáudiis pérfruar sempitérnis.


Purify me, O Lord, and cleanse my heart, so that, washed in the Blood of the Lamb, I may enjoy eternal bliss.

Cincture

Præcínge me, Dómine, cíngulo puritátis, et exstíngue in lumbis meis humórem libídinis; ut maneat in me virtus continéntiæ et castitátis.

Gird me, O Lord, with the cincture of purity, and quench in my heart the fire of concupiscence, that the virtue of continence and chastity may abide in me.

Maniple

Mérear, Dómine, portáre manípulum fletus et dolóris; ut cum exsultatióne recípiam mercédem labóris.


May I deserve, O Lord, to bear the maniple of weeping and sorrow, that I may receive the reward for my labors with rejoicing.

Stole

Redde mihi, Dómine, stolam immortalitátis, quam pérdidi in prævaricatióne primi paréntis: et, quamvis indígnus accédo ad tuum sacrum mystérium, mérear tamen gáudium sempitérnum.


Restore unto me, O Lord, the stole of immortality, which was lost through the guilt of our first parents: and, although I am unworthy to approach Thy sacred Mysteries, nevertheless grant unto me eternal joy.

Dalmatic (Deacons and Bishops)

Índue me, Dómine, induménto salútis et vestiménto lætítiæ; et dalmática justítiæ circúmda me simper.

Lord, endow me with the garment of salvation, the vestment of joy; and with the dalmatic of justice ever encompass me.

Chasuble

Dómine, qui dixísti: Jugum meam suáve est et onus meum leve: fac, ut istud portáre sic váleam, quod cónsequar tuam grátiam. Amen.

O Lord, Who said, “My yoke is easy and My burden light”: grant that I may bear it well and follow after Thee with thanksgiving. Amen.

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week

• Mon. 09/12 7:00 PM: Low Mass at St. Josaphat (Most Holy Name of Mary)
• Tue. 09/13 7:00 PM: Low Mass at Holy Name of Mary, Windsor (Votive Mass for the Propagation of the Faith)
• Sat. 09/17 8:30 AM: Low Mass at Miles Christi (Stigmata of St. Francis)

[Comments? Please e-mail tridnews@detroitlatinmass.org. Previous columns are available at http://www.detroitlatinmass.org. This edition of Tridentine Community News, with minor editions, is from the St. Albertus (Detroit), Academy of the Sacred Heart (Bloomfield Hills), and St. Alphonsus and Holy Name of Mary Churches (Windsor) bulletin inserts for September 11, 2016. Hat tip to Alex Begin, author of the column.]

Fr. Eduard Perrone: a priest's duty to study theology and the privilege of doing so

Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" [temporary link] (Assumption Grotto News, October 18, 2015):

There is usually precious little time for me to do any spiritual reading except during my vacation. I have made some adjustments now that allow me time every week to engage in some much needed theological discipline. Priests by canon law are supposed to further their education. If this happens at all, this often takes the form of priests going to workshops, hearing talks or even taking sabbaticals. None of these appeals to me because I long to ‘get serious’ about the study of the faith while, as I indicated, I have not found the time to do so–until now. Getting back to the books, in his case some serious theological studies, is a great refreshment to the mind and a real boost to the spiritual life. I hope that some of my new-found zeal may finds its way into my preaching and classroom teaching. Although there are many religion light courses that are falsely identified as ‘theology’ classes, I want the real, good ol’ tough stuff that requires deep concentration accompanied by prayer. Theology, you see, is unlike other academic disciplines in that it requires prayer to attain to its goal, which is wisdom (as opposed to acquiring a mere increase in factual knowledge). Much, as I say, passes for “theology” today that is fluff. Nor is theological study a mere reading of religious books, such as lives of the saints, liturgical books, etc. There is often a certain dryness to genuine theological writing, and this is simply because the matter at hand–God–is very heady stuff – pardon the phrase. I, on the other hand, find theological reading a great source for meditation and an incentive for prayer. By expanding the mind, so to speak, the heart becomes expanded with divine love. And so, I am now spending time every week in spiritual study and am thus less involved in that deflating humdrum busywork, limiting my involvement in the latter only as is necessary. In a practical sense this means that I will be doing less of this-‘n-that stuff, while trying to keep up with phone messages and make arrangements for needed appointments.

In closing, I wonder what your thoughts and concerns are about the way the world is going. The Church is not on the winning side of things at this time and from the looks of it there may be some grim days for Catholic Christians ahead. I say this not to worry you further but to express the great hope I have for the triumph of Christ and His truth. This will inevitably prevail. Yet it appears that the crazed lust for wickedness must play itself out in the great drama of events we are living through. Whether there will be a more flagrant form of persecution for the Church in the time to come remains to be seen but should be anticipated by a deeper personal commitment to the truths of the Church and a deeper spiritual life. In these I hope all of you will excel for–as last week’s (Tridentine) Epistle reading said it–“The days are evil.” Keep always a joyful spirit. That’s a sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit in your souls. Fr. Perrone

Profound: Fr. Perrone on the sacerdotal significance of the priest as alter Christus with his "back to the people"

Fr. Eduard Perrone, "A Pastor's Descant" [temporary file only] (Assumption Grotto News, January 19, 2014):

When as man is ordained a priest he is admonished by the bishop to think about what he will be doing when he celebrates Mass. The idea behind that counsel is not only to ward off the easy tendency to fall into mindless routine but, more important, to assure the very validity of the Mass by sustaining the priest's intention to be doing the right thing (as the Church understands it) when saying Mass. (Fortunately, as long as a priest keeps unchanged his original intention, namely, always to act according to the mind of the Church, his intention is safeguarded for the rest of his days.) It is however the first reason for the bishop's warning that ought to motivate a priest to consider, at least from time to time, the meaning of what he does at the altar so as to enable him to participate more exactly, more deeply in the mystery of Christ's sacrifice.

I have in the past written several reflections of my own about the Tridentine Mass verses the so-called 'ordinary' form of the Mass. I have not been reticent to point out the superiority of the former rite in many, though not all, of its features. Another one of them occurred to me recently as I thought about the fact that the priest begins the old Mass in the posture of having his back to the people.

Now the first thing to say here is that I myself already corrected that way of describing the stance of the priest in the Tridentine Mass. I said somewhere that the oriented (eastward) position, both priest and people together are facing unto the Lord, in the east. (I will not repeat here what I then wrote.) Truth to tell, however, there still remained something unsaid about the often heart objection that the priest's back is to the people in the old Mass. About this I have gained some thoughts.

First, it is altogether right for one to consider the back, the hinter side, as objectionable. It's the less noble side of the anatomy and it's symbolic of refusal or rejection, as in the phrase, 'to turn one's back on another.' The words 'behind' and being 'backward' have similar negative connotations. And yet, there seemed to me something very right about the priest having his back to the congregation. I reflected on that.

What came to mind was the role of the priest as, in the language of the Church, another Christ (alter Christus). So much of priestly identity nowadays has been lost, in my opinion, simply because the priest has been made to face the people for Mass. In this, not only does he not symbolically face God but he also loses his semblance to Christ the Priest bearing 'on his back' the sins of men. Christ 'took on' all humanity's sins in His Passion. The priest, in like manner, assumes his smaller portion of men's sins -- those of the assembled congregation -- on his back, just as Christ carried His cross on His back in going to Calvary.

What all this points to is the fact that the priest is not only the sacrificer -- the one performing the sacrifice -- but also representationally the victim (who is Christ, in the fullest sense). This is the aspect of priestly identity that has been nearly forgotten. In fact, the understanding of the priest even as the sacrificer has been obscured in modern times, let alone his identity with Christ the Victim. (Recall here, just to back up a moment, that Christ was uniquely both Priest and Victim on the cross: He offered Himself. A ministerial priest then can rightly be said to assume Christly identity in both senses as well.)

So, what would result from a priest who came to the realization that he must assume the identity of Christ both as priest and as victim? It would utterly transform his life. It would indicate that he needs to make reparation for his people's sins, bearing them on his back, bringing them to the altar with him, and offering himself -- with and under Christ -- for sacrifice in order to make atonement. (I hasten to add that this would also tend to chasten his conduct outside of Mass.) Heady stuff, no? Gone would be the priest as crowd warmer, entertainer, worship facilitator and paltry presider.

This is why I so love the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar that begin the Tridentine Mass. The priest is carrying the load of men's sins, bowing low before God, confessing them, and then boldly making his way unto the holy altar of God to recommence the sacrifice of Calvary.

Some liturgical changes that followed int he wake of Vatican Council II were improvements in the celebration of the Roman Rite. Facing the people for Mass (a thing not mandated by the Council) was a bad thing, disorienting (literally and figuratively) the priest and distorting if not obliterating his fundamental identity as 'another Christ.' How now this as one of my favorite bible quotes: "The old is better" (Lk 5:39)?

Fr. Perrone

Go figure: a video about the cassock!

That was the trailer. I absolutely LOVE the fact that some Catholics exist that would produce a video of this sort that is so out of step with contemporary culture as to seem (in the eyes of the world, at least, if not also in the eyes of many Catholics!) totally weird! But that's just me. You all knew I was never quite right.

Here is Fr. Z's take on it.

And now for something on the more positive side

An interview with The Very Rev. John M. Berg, F.S.S.P. ('93): "God Has Been Generous" (Thomas Aquinas College, California, July 15, 2014).

[Hat tip to Sir A.S.]

Seminary professor asks: Is there really a priest shortage in Detroit?

Mike McCallion, who holds the Rev. William Cunningham Chair in Catholic Social Analysis at Sacred Heart Major Seminary, asks: "Is There Really a Priest Shortage in the Archdiocese of Detroit? (AOD)" (The Catholic Conversation, University of Notre Dame, February 17, 2014):

I think there is a common misconception in the Archdiocese of Detroit that there is a priest shortage! When I compare the number of priests to the number of parishes in the Archdiocese, it seems clear to me that there is not a priest shortage. If I am right, sociologists would call “the priest shortage” a mythic fact, myth in the sense of statistically not true. Let me explain.....

... First of all, with 588 priests, the AOD could assign 2 priests to every parish with some to spare. So, who are these 329 non-parish priests? Well, 131 of these priests are retired, which leaves 198 others in ministries that supposedly make these priests unavailable for parish work. This total includes bishops, those engaged in provincial work, campus ministers, chaplains, faculty/teachers, those in central service, etc. Now, if we examine more closely the 198 priests who are not retired, 143 are religious and 55 are diocesan. Of the 143 religious priests there are 64 who are 70 years of age or younger (average age = 56), and 49 of the 55 diocesan priests are 70 years of age or younger (average age = 55); leaving a total of 113 priests who could possibly be pastors.

So, there are 457 active priests (259 in parishes and 198 in other roles), raising the question that if there are only 237 parishes, then what are the other 198 or, more realistically, the other 113 (non-parish) priests doing that precludes them from being a pastor? Granted, I am not privy to whether these 113 priests are equipped for parish ministry, but it seems to me that probably most of them are. Obviously, they are doing something other than being pastors/associate pastors. All things being equal, therefore, I argue the AOD faces a priest distribution problem rather than a priest shortage problem.

I also conclude, all things being equal, that it appears that parishes are not a top priority, if my figures are correct. Why? Because otherwise the AOD would not be closing/clustering/merging parishes based on the unavailability of priests (which has not always been the only reason but often the predominant one).

... The raising of consciousness [about this] is particularly important because as Mike Vlasic (Chair of the restructuring committee for the AOD in 2009) stated at the AOD Central Services day in September 2009, and to which everyone appeared to agree, the health of AOD parishes determines the health of the AOD. If that is true, then it seems to me that parishes should be the top priority in terms of priest assignments and not something else.

Finally, now that the AOD has only 237 parishes today compared to 313 in 2000, with more closings anticipated; it appears that the numbers of priests are aplenty. Then again, I could be missing something in this analysis. If so, please enlighten me. Otherwise, I agree with the USCCB, we should stop using the term “priest shortage” in that it seems to be more of a priest distribution problem than a numbers problem.

It seems, then, that in addition to stressing the top priority of parish needs, Dr. McCallion is asking a two-fold question: Does it make sense to talk about a "shortage" of priests (1) if the problem is actually one of "distribution" rather than "shortage," and (2) if the current rate of parish closings is keeping pace with the pool of available active priests? Interesting question.

"The Catholic Church does not need the approval of men, for it is the work of God." (St. Josemaria Escrivá)

The Apostle John says of the Pharisees and those beholden to them: "For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God." (John 12:43)

One of the greatest temptations of Catholics in public these days is that posed by the electronic media. There is a great pressure to self-censorship and to compromising one's message in order for it to play well in the grand stands of the public arena.

Those entrusted with sharing the treasure of the Gospel would do well to remember the unforgettable lines from Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons, in which Sir Thomas More tells the young status-seeking Richard Rich (who would eventually betray him) that he should pursue being a teacher rather than a lawyer, because he would thereby more easily avoid the temptations of power and its trappings:

Sir Thomas More: Why not be a teacher? You'd be a fine teacher; perhaps a great one.

Richard Rich: If I was, who would know it?

Sir Thomas More: You; your pupils; your friends; God. Not a bad public, that.

"In 20 years, I've buried 120 priests and ordained only one"

Monseigneur Yves Patenôtre, bishop of Saint-Claude since 1994, and archbishop of Sens-Auxerre (and Prelate of Mission de France) since 2004 -- says this in an article on a talk he had with one of the faithful who complained of giving to the Church's tithing campaign when he had not had a priest available for important moments of his life (Rorate Caeli, November 21, 2013).

Think about it. Pray about it.

Parish priests declining by approx 448 per year

There were reportedly about 60,000 priests in the U.S. at the high point of 1967. Since then, the American church has experienced a net loss of approx. 448 priests per year. This figure includes both the approx. 450 new ordinations each year and the larger number of priests who die each year. There are now more priests between the age of 80 and 84 than between the ages of 30 and 34. If we project the trajectory from 1967 to the present and another forty-five years into the future at the same rate, the number of American priests in 2057 would be approx. 19,000. Will the last priest in America please remember to turn out the lights?


Quick, someone tell Pope Francis to allow priests to marry, to start ordaining women, and to open the priesthood to committed gay partnerships! That should take care of the problem! That should bring renewal!! (Disclaimer: for those who may be handicapped by Demideckia, I'm being sarcastic here, alright?)

Fr. Z, epicure?

Reading Fr. Z's posts, I sometime worry that readers may get the impression that Catholic priests are incurible gourmands. At times, I feel guilty wishing I could have but the scraps from his table. Here, for example, is but his last Sunday lunch! ... at SS. Trinita dei Pellegrini ... Greco di tufo wine, with a bis of primi, salmone and then alla gricia, the saltimboca and a Roman artichoke. Thankfully he omits any reference to dessert. Whem! Take me along with you next time, Father! [Check out the link for zoom-in-close-up color photos that will leave you salivating.]

Today's new seminarians, tomorrow's martyrs

Five "new men" studying at the American seminary in Rome talk about their vocation to the priesthood. To see men called to the priesthood in times like these, after the catechetical disaster and liturgical shenanigans of the last several decades, on the heels of the priestly sex scandals and facing the real prospect of persecution from our own government, is nothing short of inspiring.



[Hat tip, Fr. Z.]

Video: An ordinary Vocation

Via Fr. John Zuhlsdorf at WDTPRS, June 18, 2012.

A prayer we need now more than ever!

We all need it. Our shepherds especially need it -- the more the greater their responsibilities.

Litany of Humility

Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val (1865-1930)
Secretary of State for Pope Saint Pius X

O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed,
Deliver me, Jesus.

From the desire of being loved...
From the desire of being extolled ...
From the desire of being honored ...
From the desire of being praised ...
From the desire of being preferred to others...
From the desire of being consulted ...
From the desire of being approved ...
From the fear of being humiliated ...
From the fear of being despised...
From the fear of suffering rebukes ...
From the fear of being calumniated ...
From the fear of being forgotten ...
From the fear of being ridiculed ...
From the fear of being wronged ...
From the fear of being suspected ...

That others may be loved more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be esteemed more than I ...
That, in the opinion of the world,
others may increase and I may decrease ...
That others may be chosen and I set aside ...
That others may be praised and I unnoticed ...
That others may be preferred to me in everything...
That others may become holier than I,
provided that I may become as holy as I should…

Antithesis vs. Consensus: Priests for the Future

In his book Christ and Culture, H. Richard Niebuhr's listing of five paradigms for how the Church is related to the World, or Christ to Culture, includes two that are particularly extreme. He contrasts these two, the first of which he calls the "Christ AGAINT Culture" position, and the second of which he calls the "Christ OF Culture" position.

The first might be represented by, say, the Amish people, who physically separate themselves from the modern world by shunning the use of the internal combustion engine, electricity, public schools, etc.; or it might be represented accurately by the position of the early Church as a marginalized and sometimes persecuted minority in the alien and hostile Roman Empire.

The second might be represented by, say, the liberal mainline Protestant denominations or their ecumenical organization, the National Council of Churches, which -- unlike the Amish or persecuted early Christians -- are very comfortably "at home" in the World, but, some would say, at the price of allowing the surrounding secular culture re-define their Gospel in the most reductionst terms of politically correct "niceness."

The default position of the Church through most of its European history was probably neither of these two positions, but something closer, not to the "Christ ABOVE Culture" caricature that Niebuhr identifies as Catholic, but to the "Christ the TRANSFORMER of Culture" that he mis-identifies as Calvinist, whereas the discerning eye shows it to be the clear province of the Catholicism of the Corpus Christianum throughout the Middle Ages.

In any case, Tridentine Catholicism, responding to the seismic earthquake caused by the Protestant revolt, was likely closer to the more antithetical stance of the Counter-Reformation, a version -- at least vis-a-vis those Northern European countries taken over by Protestantism -- of the "Christ AGAINST (Protestant) Culture" paradigm, to borrow from Niebuhr.

Vatican II Catholicism, by contrast, for all of Pope John Paul II's references to the "Culture of Death," has ushered in an era of accommodationism, consensus-building, throwing open the shutters of the Church to let the fresh breezes of the World into the Church, which, unfortunately, as Paul VI himself noted, have turned out to be often closer to the "smoke of Satan" infiltrating the Church.

The oddest thing about this Vatican II and post-Conciliar period is the mystery of its ebullient if not fatuous optimism in both the secular and religious world. This was the period of the Cold War, following the two World Wars, the bloodiest wars of world history with millions exterminated in Nazi death camps and Stalin's Soviet Union. Yet if one reads Jacques Maritain's Man and the State (1951), Fr. John Courtney Murray's We Hold These Truths (1960), Vatican II's Gaudium et Spes (1965), Mortimer Adler's The Common Sense of Politics (1971), or John Paul II's Address to UNESCO (1980), there is little sense of the evil of the times or of the ineluctable fallenness of human nature. Instead, there seems to be an expansive quest for broad global consensus. Adler, Maritain and a team of intellectuals gathered by University of Chicago Chancellor Robert Maynard Hutchins actually sat down together and seriously drew up a draft of a constitution for a world government! (See J.W. Boyer, "Drafting Salvation," University of Chicago Magazine, December 1995)

A striking contrast in tone is offered by pre-Conciliar popes, such as Pius XI who said: "The two opposing camps are now clearly marked; each man should choose his own. Men of good will and men of evil will face one another. The uninterested and the cowards face their fearsome responsibility. They will have their names changed if they do not change their behavior: they will be called traitors"; and: "Only by being radicals of the right will Catholics have the dynamism to withstand the radicals of the left and to conquer the world for Christ"; or Pius X, in Il Fermo Propositio (1905), who declared that "when the enemy approaches and is at our doors, it is time for the call to arms ... [but] for you, it is not only a question of sounding the alert; the enemy is in the very interior of the Empire ...."

Perhaps the greatest gift of the current Democratic administration to the Church is the opportunity to retrieve a due sense of ANTITHESIS -- a sense of the Scandal of the Cross produced in the eyes of the now secularized Western world by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The HHS Mandate was the first real shot across the bow of the Barque of St. Peter in the United States. It will be interesting to see if the bishops stand their ground. For we are speaking here of culture, which, after all, has ultimately to do with 'cultus' or worship -- or, to be exact, Whom we worship.

I was heartened to read Fr. Lee Acervo's post, "Bp. Morlino (Madison, WI): No place in the priesthood for 'wimpish-ness'” (Fr. Acervo's Corner, May 5, 2012), which leaves one with what is so badly needed now: a clarion call to counter-cultural Catholicism -- a stalwart Catholicism with a keen sense of identity and historical self-understanding, a Catholicism ready to once again DEFY the surrounding culture of post-Christian apostasy and stand its ground, come what may. Here are the words Fr. Acervo quotes from Bishop Morlino:

When we look for candidates to the priesthood and as we pray for vocations, we are looking for men who are brave in their willingness to seek holiness, to speak the truth, to lay down their lives. There is no place in the priesthood today for “wimpish-ness.” There is no place for an attitude that just wants to please people, no matter what they think and no matter what they want. Today the priest has to stand up and be brave, preaching the Truth with love. He has to be willing to be unpopular. And if it comes to it, he has to be open to martyrdom.

"This Eucharistic and sacrificial dimension is inseparable from the pastoral dimension"

New Catholic has posted excerpts from an English version of the sermon pronounced by the Holy Father on the occasion of the ordination of nine priests this past Sunday, in which the intimate relationship is underscored between the Sacramental and Sacrificial power of the ordained Priesthood and the power, reserved for ordained Priests of the New Testament, of preaching (teaching), of healing (counseling and absolving), and of governing. His comments:

For far too many decades since the Council, these functions of the ordained Priests, which the Pope recalls are "inseparable" from his Sacrificial duties, have been usurped by laymen - this is seen every single day also on this medium, as laymen, fattened by a sense of self-importance, see fit to teach and give counsel on specific matters, of declaring who is a saint or who is not, of giving authoritative answers on matters of Catholic teaching and counseling.

And the Holy Father writes:

It is very obvious that for the priest celebrating Holy Mass every day does not mean carrying out a ritual function but rather fulfilling a mission that involves his life entirely and profoundly in communion with the Risen Christ who continues to realize the redeeming sacrifice in his Church.

This Eucharistic and sacrificial dimension is inseparable from the pastoral dimension and constitutes the nucleus of truth and of the saving power on which the effectiveness of every activity depends. Of course, we are not speaking of effectiveness solely at the psychological or social level, but rather of the vital fruitfulness of God’s presence at the profound human level. Preaching itself, good works and the actions of various kinds that the Church carries out with her multiple initiatives would lose their salvific fruitfulness were the celebration of Christ’s Sacrifice to be lacking. And this is entrusted to ordained priests. Indeed, the priest is called to live in himself what Jesus experienced personally, that is, to give himself without reserve to preaching and to healing man of every evil of body and of spirit, and then, lastly, to sum up everything in the supreme gesture of “laying down his life”, for human beings, which finds its sacramental expression in the Eucharist, the perpetual memorial of Jesus’ Passover. It is only through this “door” of the Paschal Sacrifice that the men and women of all time can enter eternal life; it is through this “holy way” that they can undertake the exodus that leads them to the “promised land” of true freedom, to the “green pastures” of never ending peace and joy (cf. Jn 10:7,9; Ps 77[76]:14, 20-21; Ps 23[22]:2). [emphasis New Catholic's]

Read Pope Benedict XVI's entire homily here.

Build it, and they will come

[Hat tip to Fr. Z.]

Merton: How interior life of laity is modeled by that of clergy

Thomas Merton wrote in 1956:

"The interior life of the ordinary Christian depends in large measure on the instruction, the example, and the prayers of the clergy. If the faithful are to enter into the liturgy, the priest himself must appreciate and understand the liturgy. And if the priest is to appreciate the great liturgical mysteries, he is obliged to meditate on them, to immerse himself in them at all times. Strengthened by meditation, the priest is able to rise to the level of his great vocation to "orient his life towards that sacrifice in which he must needs offer and immolate himself with Christ. Consequently he will not merely celebrate Holy Mass, but will live it out intimately in his daily life." (Menti Nostrae). In a word, the priest must strive after a life of sanctity which requires a "continual communication with God." (ibid)"- The Living Bread by Thomas Merton (Farrar, 1956).

A reader writes: "John Paul II warned us against the laicization of the clergy and the clericalization of the laity. Between 1870 and 1905 the laity had an apostolate in France second to none. (vide Daniel Moulinet, Laicat Catholique, Eds. du Cerf) Their activity was entirely parallel to the work of the clergy and there was no confusion of roles."

[Hat tip to A.S.]