Customer Reviews

Stewards of God's Mysteries: Priestly Spirituality in a Changing Church

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The object of this study is exemplary--to help Catholic priests develop and sustain a spiritual depth sufficient to struggle valiantly with the rigorous demands inflicted by their service to humanity. The demands are undeniable; the priest shortage, overwork, societal challenges of a consumer driven attitudes, shifting demographics that disrupt or destroy the traditions of parochial stability, loneliness, the requirements of sustaining celibacy, and more.

Two of the three main authors are dedicated and devote priests, gay oriented scholars, who pool their theological and psychological expertise to build on the remarkable and durable document The Spiritual Renewal of the American Priesthood issued by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops in 1973.

Skillfully they draw on some the most profound sources of reflection on the priesthood written since that study came out--Ray Brown from a biblical perspective, Philip Murnion and Dean Hoge with sociological insight, numerous pronouncements of the US bishops and recent popes including encyclicals of Paul VI, Evanglii Nuntiandi and John Paul II, Pastores Dabo Vobis

It is written in a form intended to foster discussion and perhaps it succeeded. It has been my experience that just getting priests together to talk about serious personal and spiritual issues can be productive. But the book is self-defeating in three respects. It veers to the "mystagogical dimension of priesthood and celibacy" that is--the unreasonable, unnatural, and excessive. (P.54) Rather than making priesthood and celibacy more understandable, reasonable, and naturally attainable and within the reach of dedicated men, it casts them into the ethereal realm of dream, an area of the mind vulnerable to discouragement and defeat. It perpetuates the myth that priests are "like angels," an attitude inimical to the meaning of practical priestly service and one infectious with clericalism.

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Unfortunately, the book is as Sipe says in his critical review but further it misses the point that we are now in a new coveant that is not clerically centered. The new covenant is Jer 31.31...the priesthood was pulverised because of its egregious sinful ways and breaking of the covenant so much so that God "divorced" the former covenant-makers and promised a new. The new is not clerically centered...the cov meal being only one element. Two thousand years of this heresy and its likewise egregious acts ought to demonstrate to the world that each baptised christian is The tabernacle of the Living God Who in glory to the Father in Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit is the new church devoid of all this trumped up clerical garbage frosted with gooey mystical language that is more pertinent to each and every christian rather than an exclusive group of individuals wrapped in princely robe, dressed like mother and wanting to be called father.

This 2004 book begins by stating, "It is now thirty years since the publication of 'The Spiritual Renewal of the American Priesthood' by the NCCB. The National Council of Priests' Councils (NFPC), which partnered with the NCCB in writing the 1973 document, decided a few years back to prepare a thirty-year follow-up study to assess changes in ecclesial and ministerial life and their impact on priests and their spiritual livs." (Pg. 3)

They note, "A second strong concern of priests discovered by the research was the extent of loneliness felt by the priests in the survey--most notably among the recently ordained. They feel overshadowed, underprepared, and very much alone." (Pg. 56)

They conclude on the note, "This study is a fresh call to renewal for American priests. Never before has our ministry been more critical or the potential for our effectiveness greater. Serving as a priest---including the acceptance of the comprehensive complex of roles that shape our ministry today---is both difficult and immeasurably rewarding." (Pg. 84)

This is an excellent contemporary look at the priesthood and it's challenges and enormous potential. It is well documented and built on a firm foundation of Church teaching yet original and inspiring. It is well written and short and to the point. It is obviously written by a man who loves the priesthood but challenges it to be the best it can be. One of the best books I have read on the spirituality of the priesthood in many years. Fr. Vincent Dulock, C.S.B., D.Min.