Hello Good Men

Written by Michael S. Rose, the author of Goodbye Good Men: How Liberals Brought Corruption into the Catholic Church in 2002 , his book Priest: Portraits of Ten Good Men Serving the Church Today, written in 2003, is an excellent book, wonderful reading, and eternally relevant.

Many of us—including your blogger—are very fortunate to attend a parish with magnificent priests; but many of the faithful are stuck with the kind of priests written about in Goodbye…and reading Priest reminds us that there are many great priests out there, and that the Church will always, until the final triumph, battle attacks against its priests from the gates of hell.

An excerpt.

“Although each priest featured in the chapters that follow has played his own unique role in today’s Church, together they share a number of similarities. Each understands and accepts the teachings of the Catholic Church. Each understands and accepts the role of the priest in the Church and in society. Each loves his vocation as a priest and actively encourages and promotes other such vocations. Each faithfully serves the Church, doing what priests were ordained to do: offering the sacraments, preaching the gospel, teaching the Faith, and leading souls to Christ and eternal salvation. At the same time, each understands the many challenges that confront the Church today, and the many obstacles and temptations with which priests must contend. Not one expresses himself with the intent of minimizing the challenges or downplaying the many struggles. Each understands and acknowledges that this particular calling is not for the faint of heart.

“In the words of one priest: “No wimps need apply.”

“All is not well in the priesthood today—but neither was it in apostolic times. After all, the twelve Apostles were the Church’s first priests. Peter denied Christ thee times; nine other apostles were cowards who dared not follow Jesus to Golgotha; and Judas, the first “bad priest,” betrayed the innocent blood of his Lord. That leaves only John, “the apostle whom Jesus loved” (cf. John 20:2). Nevertheless, it is not the priesthood that is the problem—not today and not in apostolic times. The problem is more often than not a failure of young men to hear and faithfully answer their calling; a failure of seminaries and bishops to form and educate their future priests properly; a failure of the ordained to focus on the duties of their state in life; and a failure of the laity to offer the proper spiritual and moral support for their pastoral leaders.” (pp. ix-x)