Customer Reviews

The Priest Is Not His Own

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been a Roman Catholic priest for 32 years. The last five years, for obvious reasons, have been very painful ones for all of who believe in the Church and in the Priesthood. Far beneath the shameful details of scandals and cover-ups lies a deeper problem: the very soul of the priesthood has been compromised. In this timeless classic, first published in 1963, Archbishop Fulton Sheen presents what is, in my humble opinion, the 'piece de resistence' of his whole life: a profound understanding of the Catholic Priesthood, grounded in the Scriptures, as a sharing in the High Priesthood of Jesus Christ, who is both Priest and Victim. This understanding filled Fulton Sheen's own priestly life.
The implications of this challenging understanding of the Priesthood are the seeds of a genuine renewal of the Priesthood in our time--so sorely needed--and transcend the issues that divide us and distract us from what is of the essence: we priests are not our own. We belong to the Priest and Victim whose life and priesthood we share! This book is a treasure!

This is a startling book and not necessarily a cheerful one. Although it was written in the 60s it seems as though Archbishop Sheen wrote it yesterday. The things he's worried about in the book : lack of vocations, scandals, acedia, and priests who are not fully committed to their calling all sound familiar.

I might have passed the book by but the cover caught my eye. It shows a very young, intense looking Father Sheen who is very different from the Archbishop we later came to know and love. Once I picked up the book I couldn't put it down. It hits hard. The archbishop gave no quarter to trendy pyschobable or to any other type of mealey mouthed excuses. As he saw it a priest only has two choices: Peter or Judas.

There is something in this book for the young enthusiastic priest, the older and perhaps tired priest and most of all it's for the priest who's in danger of losing his way. This is a tough minded yet highly spiritual book. Don't leave the seminary without it.

I would highly recommend this book to seminarians and Priests.
It is very deep and will show you many roads and signs for the times to come and to expect while you tend to God's call and tend to His sheep. I couldn't put the book down. The book was very good and to the point at the same time....deep.

I highly recommend this book to seminarians and Priests !!!

I am a middle-aged, cradle Catholic lay woman. I know that Bishop Sheen wrote this book for and to priests, but it has spoken volumes to me in my own life. This book highlights the call we each have to be preist,prophet and king as we are invited to die to ourselves and stand in intercession for the Body of Christ on earth. Certainly there are portions of the book that speak specificaly to an ordained Catholic priest, but the majority of this book applies to each one of us.

Fulton Sheen's "A Priest Is Not His Own" is a must have for any priest or seminarian. As a seminarian it speaks to me candidly about the joys and the difficulties that will be faced after ordination. Sheen doesn't mince words...to be a holy and effective priest means to enter totally into the Paschal Mystery and to continually live it out in one's vocation. There's no room for half-hearted efforts, especially today amidst a world in need of good, solid clergy.

At the seminary I attend the bookstore has been unable to keep this title in stock.

As a man entering the seminary who is still discerning whether God is really calling me to the priesthood, I found myself saying "Yes!" to everything that Bishop Sheen was saying to his priests, even the parts about sacrifice and the difficulties encountered in the life of a priest. It certainly made me more confident about entering the seminary and will be one of the factors shaping my (God-willing) priesthood. - Sayf

This book reveals truths that can bring renewal to the priesthood.
It reveals the victim dimension of the priest, necessary to be configured in Christ and transmit His grace for healing and salvation.
Excellent teaching from a very holy bishop that lived what he tought. I am a priest but this book is important for anyone interested in understanding the priesthood.

Now, I will open this review by affirming the fact that in reading this text I am looking at the heart of the matter from the outside, so to speak. I am not an ordained member of the Catholic Hierarchical Presbyterate but am a lay, twenty-two year-old Catholic who is thoroughly interested in all dimensions of Catholicism. It would be advantageous to first point out that this text is indeed applicable to the laity for two major reasons. First of all, all members of Christ's body share a priestly ordination precisely because they are human. Humanity is fundamentally priestly in character, offering the world to God through the intercessory medium of our work. Although the hierarchical presbyterate is essentially different, it is ultimately the labor of love which is at the heart of the universal call to priestliness. Therefore, this text, while reflecting on the nature of the hierarchical presbyterate, is related (and therefore applicable) to the general presbyteral call of Christianity. Secondarily, it is also advantageous for the lay to understand proper spirituality for the ordained hierarchal priests in the Church so as to enlighten them on ecclesiological concerns as well as the nature of proper Christian praxis.

Now, specifically, this text is an astute, no-nonsense reflection on the difficult task of the priest. Ultimately, all work is a labor of love and therefore, to varied degrees, painful (indeed crucifying), and Archbishop Sheen has acknowledged that this profoundly the case in the Catholic hierarchical presbyterate. The role of priest as Alter Christus is truly the heart of this work, although it explicitly plays a small role. Nonetheless, Sheen centers his thought on the sacrificial nature of the priesthood, accentuating its difficulties and its necessary sacrifices. One may argue that the beloved Archbishop raises the priest too high but to do so will only suffice to denigrate humanity. The exaltation of the priest comes only in the call from Christ, the vocational response to this call is a conviction for love, a conviction for crucifixion on behalf of the Church and therefore the world. The exaltation is by Christ, through the Church, not upon the merits of the priest so much as for the benefit of the entire Body. Therefore, this text may appear to support a degree of what some may call "clericalism" but does not truly give voice to any exaltation of the clergy at the expense of the Community as is often railed by anti-clericalists.

In a very practical sense, the text speaks offers a few, albeit not many, suggestions for the prayer life of the priest. Nobody can deny that advice for the liturgical formation (specifically by means of the Breviary) and Eucharistic adoration are sound suggestions for any Catholic, no matter what his or her vocation. I highly recommend this text to all interested in the priestly nature of Catholicism and particularly to those who think anti-clerically, bearing mind that the priest is Christ's, the Church's, and the World's and is not his own.