Parish Priest

Parish Priest
Author: Douglas Brinkley
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2006-01-10
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0060776846

"Father McGivney's vision remains as relevant as ever in the changed circumstances of today's church and society."—Pope John Paul II Is now the time for an American parish priest to be declared a Catholic saint? In Father Michael McGivney (1852-1890), born and raised in a Connecticut factory town, the modern era's ideal of the priesthood hit its zenith. The son of Irish immigrants, he was a man to whom "family values" represented more than mere rhetoric. And he left a legacy of hope still celebrated around the world. In the late 1800s, discrimination against American Catholics was widespread. Many Catholics struggled to find work and ended up in infernolike mills. An injury or the death of the wage earner would leave a family penniless. The grim threat of chronic homelessness and even starvation could fast become realities. Called to action in 1882 by his sympathy for these suffering people, Father McGivney founded the Knights of Columbus, an organization that has helped to save countless families from the indignity of destitution. From its uncertain beginnings, when Father McGivney was the only person willing to work toward its success, it has grown to an international membership of 1.7 million men. At heart, though, Father McGivney was never anything more than an American parish priest, and nothing less than that, either—beloved by children, trusted by young adults, and regarded as a "positive saint" by the elderly in his New Haven parish. In an incredible work of academic research, Douglas Brinkley (The Boys of Pointe Du Hoc, Tour of Duty) and Julie M. Fenster (Race of the Century, Ether Day) re-create the life of Father McGivney, a fiercely dynamic yet tenderhearted man. Though he was only thirty-eight when he died, Father McGivney has never been forgotten. He remains a true "people's priest," a genuinely holy man—and perhaps the most beloved parish priest in U.S. history. Moving and inspirational, Parish Priest chronicles the process of canonization that may well make Father McGivney the first American-born parish priest to be declared a saint by the Vatican.

Naked Parish Priest

Naked Parish Priest
Author: Stephen Louden
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2003-08-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0826467989

Based on a survey sent out to Catholic clergy in the UK, this study is a major contribution from empirical theology towards interpreting the health and potential of the priesthood today. The issues raised by this new study concern the nature and health of the priesthood, a topic of most urgent concern at a time of clerical scandal and abuse. The conclusions of this book are extremely revealing but fundamentally positive for anyone concerned with the future of the Christian Church at the start of a new millennium.

The Priests We Need To Save the Church

The Priests We Need To Save the Church
Author: Kevin Wells
Publisher: Sophia Institute Press
Total Pages: 181
Release: 2019-08-16
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1644130335

While dissolute bishops and priests around the world grab headlines for their untoward words and deeds, too many other unfruitful priests minister as little more than glad-handing bachelors doing social service work. Top and bottom, is this the Church that Christ intended? Are these the priests we need? “No!” cries author Kevin Wells in these compelling pages that showcase how heroic priests can faithfully tread the narrow path of holy self-sacrifice first blazed by the apostles themselves. From scores of insightful interviews with modern priests, exorcists, seminary formators, and even disillusioned laity, Wells here draws forth a blueprint for priestly holiness that can once again fill our Church with priests abounding with sincere, supernatural faith, on fire with God's love, and moved by the irresistible impulse to save souls, no matter the cost to themselves. Reading this book will deepen your own faith and help you understand what all priests, by their vocation, are consecrated and called to be. Giving a copy to your parish priest will help him – and encourage him – as he strives to become a member of the small but growing contingent of holy priests we need.

The Better Pastor

The Better Pastor
Author: Patrick Lencioni
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2016-08-11
Genre:
ISBN: 9780692581605

Crying Out for Justice Full-Throated and Unsparingly

Crying Out for Justice Full-Throated and Unsparingly
Author: Tim Stier
Publisher: Hillcrest Publishing Group
Total Pages: 210
Release: 2015-03-17
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1634133803

Many people ask why more Catholic priests don't speak up about the crisis roiling the Church: the rampant sexual abuse of children and youth, the second-class status of women, the denial of dignity and respect for gay and lesbian persons, and the woeful and at times criminal behavior of bishops. Crying Out for Justice Full-Throated and Unsparingly is one priest's personal story of awakening to the urgent need for structural reform. Tim Stier's 25 years of experience as a parish priest in five parishes in the suburbs of Oakland, California, and ten more years in voluntary exile, provide ample evidence that the Catholic Church is in dire need of change. Real reform requires truth telling and this book does a lot of that. The abysmal leadership in many dioceses and parishes causes real suffering to real people.

Politics in the Parish

Politics in the Parish
Author: Gregory Allen Smith
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2008-03-29
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1589013891

For well over a century the Catholic Church has articulated clear positions on many issues of public concern, particularly economics, capital punishment, foreign affairs, sexual morality, and abortion. Yet the fact that some of the Church's positions do not mesh well with the platforms of either of the two major political parties in the U.S. may make it difficult for Americans to look to Catholic doctrine for political guidance. Scholars of religion and politics have long recognized the potential for clergy to play an important role in shaping the voting decisions and political attitudes of their congregations, yet these assumptions of political influence have gone largely untested and undemonstrated. Politics in the Parish is the first empirical examination of the role Catholic clergy play in shaping the political views of their congregations. Gregory Allen Smith draws from recent scholarship on political communication, and the comprehensive Notre Dame Study of Parish Life, as well as case studies he conducted in nine parishes in the mid-Atlantic region, to investigate the extent to which and the circumstances under which Catholic priests are influential in shaping the politics of their parishioners. Smith is able to verify that clergy do exercise political influence, but he makes clear that such influence is likely to be nuanced, limited in magnitude, and exercised indirectly by shaping parishioner religious attitudes that in turn affect political behavior. He shows that the messages that priests deliver vary widely, even radically, from parish to parish and priest to priest. Consequently, he warns that scholars should exercise caution when making any global assumptions about the political influence that Catholic clergy affect upon their congregations.

A Catholic Priest Meets Sai Baba

A Catholic Priest Meets Sai Baba
Author: Mario Mazzoleni
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 1994
Genre: Gurus
ISBN: 9780962983511

Don Mario Mazzoleni uses his theological training to examine Sai Baba's miracles and teachings. His doubts dissolve as he learns how Sai Baba's teachings mirror those of his divine master, Jesus Christ. When the Church demands that Don Mario recant for saying that God is alive or be excommunicated, the author said, "Institutions do not accompany anyone beyond the grave, the only reality that one can present to God is one's conscience. The Lord who examines our hearts is the Judge!". Don Mario Mazzoleni was excommunicated Sept. 24, 1992.