There is a certain vulnerability that comes with being a Catholic priest. It is, I think, essential to the vocation. In order to truly be what he is called to be, the priest must not have recourse to the masks and disguises that others can use to hide their frailties and failures. That is perhaps his most severe renunciation.
The quest for authenticity is everything. If respect and understanding for the Catholic priesthood has fallen dramatically in our day, I suspect it has to do with the abandonment of its essential truth by those of us who have embraced it. If our credibility is tarnished, we have tarnished it.
The quest for authenticity is everything. If respect and understanding for the Catholic priesthood has fallen dramatically in our day, I suspect it has to do with the abandonment of its essential truth by those of us who have embraced it. If our credibility is tarnished, we have tarnished it.
"What an excellent day for an exorcism!"
I am a Catholic priest, forty-something, who has spent the last 24 years - except for a brief interval - outside the USA. Part of that time was spent studying in Europe, part (the last 15) was spent as a missionary in Latin America. I now minister to a latino community in my home diocese in New England.
Much has changed. The essential stays the same. I guess that's what essential means.
This weblog is my way of obliging myself to organize and express my thoughts coherently... for my own benefit, if for no one else's. The scrawls and half-thoughts of my handwritten journal are too unsupervised to be taken very seriously. At least this way I'll be careful of my spelling.
Curiosity and integrity. That's all I can promise on this blog, for as long as it lasts.
Feel free to educate me.
