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Grace under Pressure: What Gives Life to American Priests, a Study of Effective Priests Ordained Ten to Thirty Years

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The Introduction to this 1995 book notes, "This book is divided into two parts. The first part focuses on the many responses to the question, 'What gives life to your priesthood?'... The second half of the book addresses the priests' responses to the three remaining questions ("How do you deal with controversies facing the Church..."; "How do see your role as a man in American society?"; and "What advice would you give to seminary personnel today?").

Here are some quotations from the book:

"It's not surprising that the friendship and support of other priests is important to these priests. Many of them make a point of having dinner with priests who are friends." (Pg. 33)
"For years I have heard priests just berate people who only come to church on Christmas and Easter. And what I've adopted now is what I heard a priest say a long time ago, 'Thank you for coming. All of you who don't regularly come here, know how less a Church we are without you. We need you. And how much better, how much easier the load of the whole Church would be, if all of you participated." (Pg. 69)
"One priest in his forties recalled that when he was in the seminary, 'We were the liberals. When we got out, the older priests tended to be more conservative. Now it's just the opposite. The ones who are the conservative ones are the younger guys coming out and we are the flaming liberals still. And I find that a very strange position to be in." (Pg. 98)