CAPG's Blog 

A pastor, undertaking, as he does, to purify the hearts of others, and to wash away every blemish, should be chaste in thoughts and clean of hand. He should be foremost in action , operatione praecipuus, lest he refute by his conduct what he preaches by his lips, lest the limpid stream at which he drinks become muddied by his own footsteps. There is no one who does more harm in the Church than he who possesses the rank of the repute of holiness without the reality.

A pastor should know when to remain silent, so as not to disclose what is secret. And he should have the gift of speech, so that he may be able to announce what should be known, to exhort in sound doctrine, and to convince gainsayers. God Himself rebukes those who fly when the wolf appears, who, like "dumb dogs that are unable to bark," close their mouths in the presence of danger...

A pastor should, in a spirit of humility, be on a level with those who are good, taking precedence of them in nothing, and rejoicing, not that he has a position of authority, but rather that he has an opportunity to confer benefit. For the most part, however, one who rules others is swollen with conceit. He sees all things at his service, all his orders instantly carried out, all his subjects ready to applaud, even though he does ill, and non disposed to contradict. Deluded by these things, he grows overweening in his own conceit, the deference by which he is surrounded blinds him to the truth, he forgets himself, lives on the breath of others, and comes to regard himself as what people say he is, rather than as what he ought know himself to be....

A pastor must not grow remiss in the care of his own soul. He must not become engrossed in secular business. For if the head is feeble vigorous limbs avail not; and in vain does an army pursue the enemy if its leader has lost the way. Nevertheless, secular business must be undertaken sometimes, not for its own sake of with aridity, but our of consideration for others. Those who censure the deeds of delinquents, but pay no heed to their temporal necessities, will never acquire much influence. Truth appeals not to a poor man if mercy does not relieve his wants...

A pastor should not strive anxiously to please men, let him rather direct all his energies to those things which ought to please. A desire to please may easily degenerate into cowardice and complainsancy, for a man may be so anxious not to dull the edge of his popularity that he will not correct his subjects, even when they go astray. The love of the people, therefore, must be sought not for its own sake, not for the pastor's sake, but as a means, as a silken cord, by which their hearts may be drawn to the love of their Maker.

Source: The priest Today by Rev. Thomas O'Donnell 1911

The bishop saying Mass, administering the sacraments or preaching the Gospel is the most perfect image of Christ. He does so according to the laws of the universal church. In him the clergy and people see Christ the Bishop of eternity. "He that receiveth you receiveth me. He that despiseth you despiseth me." That relates not only to the Pope. to the bishop, but in a less degree to any pastor, to any minister of Christ. For the ministers of Christ preach not themselves but "Christ and Him crucified."

The bishop is the head of the diocese. He is the father of all the faithful in the diocese. For he brings forth his spiritual children, his priests and clergymen by rite of holy ordination. They are the images of himself. The Priests he ordains are his sons whom he brings forth to God. He feeds his children by the words of life, by good example, by heavenly food, by the teachings of eternal life.

Happy is the diocese and the clergy who have a bishop after the heart of Jesus Christ, who lives the life of the Master.

The good bishop loves his clergy; looks on them as a father on his children; he upholds the good priest; he rewards the men of God; he defends the weak; he treats them with justice, benignity, gentleness, kindness; he is clothed with the bowels of the mercy of Jesus Christ, with forgiveness looking down from on high on those who falter on the way.

Behold his name will be called blessed, his clergy and people will love him, they will uphold him; like Moses on the mount, they will stand under his weary hands, strengthening him till he gains the victory over all enemies of the Lord and of his church. Both clergy and people will love him because he is "like unto the only begotten Son of God full of grace and truth" who "for us men and for our salvation left the bosom of his Father, came down from heaven and was made man and dwelt among us: to show pastors how to rule their subjects.

Source: Christ's Kingdom on Earth, or, The Church and Her Divine Constitution , organization, and Framework: Explained for the People by Fr. James Meagher 1892

Father Tyler Sparrow, Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, Raleigh NC.

"Bear in mind that Holy Mass is the True and Supreme Sacrifice of the Christian religion and that all those who would assist at it correctly should join in offering it to the most high God. The Mass to the Christian is not merely a form of prayer; it is an act of worship and a sacrifice; for all who hear Mass offer the Divine Oblation together with the priest.

First of all, there is the great High Priest, the Chief Sacrificer, Christ, who Himself offers every Mass that is said to His heavenly Father. Then there is the officiating priest, who immolates the Divine Victim. Thirdly, there are the Faithful, who, present at the Holy Sacrifice, have also the power of offering it - and in fact, sometimes do so with greater profit that the priest himself. Fourthly, there are those who either "pay for the Mass" (ie. give the priest a stipend for offering it), or provide something necessary for celebrating it, such as the chalice of the vestments. Lastly, those too must be included who, unable to assist in person, unite themselves in spirit to the priest and join with him in his sacrificial act while remaining in their own homes. They also, since they participate in a certain measure in offering the Holy Sacrifice, participate in its fruits and may, if they so will, assign to others the benefit of those fruits.

Ponder well these truths, for they contain valuable instruction and comfort."

Source: The Incredible Catholic Mass by Fr. Martin Von Cochem

" To draw his people more effectually to the holy Eucharist, the Cure d'Ars had endeavoured to communicate to them a taste for all holy things, and his efforts were not in vain. Sunday after Sunday these good people feasted their eyes on beautiful banners and vestments.

("In the minutes of the pastoral visitation held at Ars by the Bishop of Belley, on Monday, June 11, 1838, we read as follows: "After saying Mass and giving confirmation, His Lordship contented himself with giving Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament and reciting the prayers for the departed. He deemed it unnecessary to examine the interior of the church, the chapels, vestments and sacred vessels, because everything is so beautiful and so rich that the beholder is filled with admiration" Msgr. Convert. Le Frere Athanase.)

For a long time the saint himself trained the altar boys, and achieved wonderful results. He carried out with gravity, dignity, and the utmost care all the ceremonies of the rite of Lyons, which at that time was likewise in use in the diocese of Belley. Nor was the behaviors of the altar servers less admirable when, in 1849, Frere Athanase undertook the functions of master of ceremony.

He had so fine a liturgical spirit, and he drilled the children with so much precision and good taste, that Mgr. de Langalerie, during a clergy retreat, held him up as a pattern to the clergy of the diocese. "Do you wish to see a church where all the ceremonies are carried out to the letter? Go to Ars; Frere Athanase is a living and unerring ceremonial. His example will show you what you can achieve yourselves if you will only take the means."

There were days when the people of Ars gave special edification to the pilgrims. On Maundy Thursday, in order to commemorate the institution of the Holy Eucharist, M. Vianney insisted on providing a splendid altar of repose, and his heart rejoiced at sight of the decorations which enhanced the majesty of the tabernacle. The whole of the chancel, which had been considerably enlarged in 1845, was draped with banners. Numerous and tastefully arranged lights transfigured the scene. However, he took every precaution lest these decorations should be a hindrance instead of a help to the interior recollection of the people."

Source: The Cure d'Ars, Abbe Trochu

As from the beginning Religion in some form has always existed, consequently at the same time there has also always been a priesthood, that is to say, ministers of sacred things, "ancients," "elders" or priests. Such was Adam; such were Enoch, Noe, Melchizedek, Abraham, and after them under the Mosaic Law the ministers of Religion the High-priest, priests and Levites. (That is: men of the tribe of Levi, from which should be recruited the ministers of the Mosaic Worship. ) However, these were but a figure of and a preparation for the Priesthood of the New Law. In the New Law Jesus Christ is the sole Redeemer, the sole Mediator, the sole Intermediary between Heaven and Earth, and consequently the sole Priest. But according to the general arrangements of His Providence He has willed that certain men should be His earthly and temporary deputies such are the Catholic bishops and priests. Hence the Sacrament of Holy Orders which consecrates them and gives to them the powers and the graces necessary for the exercise of their sacred functions: to offer the Sacrifice of the adorable Body and Blood of our divine Savior; to remit the sins of men; to dispense supernatural life by means of the Sacraments; to teach the truths of religion; to preside at public worship and to render to the faithful from their birth to their death all the services in the spiritual order which they may need for the sanctification and the salvation of their souls.

On our part we have duties towards our priests: to listen to their instructions; to help them in their ministry; to defend them against calumny; and, as far as our means permit us, to provide for their material wants whilst they themselves are consecrating their lives to insure to us all spiritual blessings.

The word Orders (from the Latin Ordo, in the sense of rank, class, social condition) is applied very rightly to the Sacrament by which the hierarchy of the ministers of the Church is created from the minor orders to the sub-deaconship, deaconship, priesthood and episcopate. (We have seen already that the word, priest (presbyter) signifies aged man, ancient, a venerable man; in the primitive Church, the priests were always chosen from amongst the elders.)

Those who receive this Sacrament are the fewer in number. But everywhere God calls whom He wishes without any merit on their part to labor for the salvation of their brethren.

This "call of God" is what we term a location. Those thus called should respond: God will be faithful to them. In the Church the Pope or Sovereign Pontiff is as Bishop of Rome the successor of St. Peter, and the first of the Bishops of the whole Church. The Bishops alone like the Apostles constitute the Priesthood in its complete fullness; it is be cause of this that they alone administer the Sacrament of Holy Orders.

Once a priest, forever a priest; nothing can take away this stamp of priesthood which will remain for all eternity. But to hear confessions, every priest must be approved of for this office, and must receive jurisdiction from the bishop, as every bishop receives jurisdiction from the Pope. (Jurisdiction, that is the power to judge or to exercise spiritual authority. )

Once consecrated sub-deacon, the priest is bound: 1st to recite daily the devotional exercises called the Divine Office in which he prays in the name of the whole Church; 2nd to observe celibacy and continence; that is, not to marry and to preserve perfect purity of heart. St. Paul tells us: "He that is without a wife, is solicitous for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please God. But he that is with a wife, is solicitous for the things of the world, how he may please his wife: and he is divided." (I. Cor. VII. 32.)

The Latin Church thus imposes celibacy on her priests so that they may have no other family than that of the souls confided to their care; that they may be able to devote themselves exclusively to the service of these souls; and that they may be freer to consecrate themselves to every kind of ministry, whether in Christian or Pagan lands.

In such circumstances, therefore, it is only just that their material wants should be supplied by the faithful in accordance with the words of St. Paul. (I. Cor. IX.)

The first Catholic priests were St. Peter, who was Pope, the Apostles, who were bishops and those of the Faithful who were chosen and consecrated as priests and missionaries. Throughout the ages since the beginning of time this priesthood has been continued, and so it will be until the end of the world. When there are no longer priests, there will be no longer a Church, and so the world will come to an end. 

Source: Credo: A short exposition of Catholic Belief.  1919 1920

" Unless your justice abound more than that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven" — Matt. v. 20.

At all times men have had ideals of goodness which they looked up to and admired, and which the best among them have had the ambition to imitate. The popular ideal of the Jews when Christ came, was represented by the Pharisees, — men orthodox in faith, correct in life, ardent in the love of country, strict in the observance of the Law. Such men could not fail to win influence and popularity; and they enjoyed both in a high degree. The people who gathered round Our Savior on the Mount did not conceive of any form of life higher or better than what they had hitherto looked up to in their accredited teachers; yet He tells them plainly that their qualities were entirely insufficient to secure admittance into His kingdom. What a shock it must have been to them to hear this for the first time! But if they will only wait, the divine Teacher will show them how incomplete, and in most cases how hollow, were the lives they so admired.

From the facts of the Gospel narrative, and still more from the unsparing denunciations of Our Lord himself (Matt, xxiii. 13, and foll., Luke xvi. 39, and foll.), we may easily gather what were the shortcomings and vices of the Pharisees. Their "formalism" first of all, their exaggerated concern for externals, for the minutiae of the law, united with a practical disregard for its fundamental principles. Next, "their pride" and self-importance, revealing itself at every step, and leading to hardness of heart, and contempt for others. Finally, " their ostentation " and constant display of whatever in their lives and actions could win them the admiration of the people.

The Gospel is the opposite of all this. It leads men back to fundamental things, to the indestructible principles of justice and of love. It teaches them to act righteously for righteousness' sake, to look to God for approval, not to man. It keeps their weaknesses before them, humbles them, and makes them think more of others than of themselves. In a word, the Christian type is the exact opposite of that of the Pharisee, and something incomparably nobler and higher, even in the most unpretending of those who follow it. 

Indeed, the Pharisaic type, in its crude, unmitigated form, has become unbearable to the modern mind, fashioned by Christian traditions. But because it is, after all, true to man's natural instincts, it has not entirely disappeared from the world. Something of it may be found even in the life of a priest. He may be good, faithful, zealous ; yet, at the same time, self-important, exacting, sedulous in cultivating public opinion, eager for praise. His composed demeanor and his devotional practices may conceal even from himself much that is mean and selfish. In his concern for minor objects, he may "neglect the weightier things of the law : judgment, and mercy, and faith ; " and while " cleansing the outside of the dish" overlook the impurities it may contain.

A priest, too, may select and follow false ideals; nor is the thing at all uncommon Thus he may not fully believe in the purely Christian virtues, — such as humility, gentleness, self-denial — or in the special requirements of the priestly character. He may not even believe in the higher forms of natural virtue, all based on self-sacrifice. His ideal may be practically that of the popular priest, the successful priest ; that is, successful in doing external work, or in reaching positions of honor or emolument. His principal ambition may be to secure what will lighten, and lengthen, and sweeten existence — just like any man of the world. And yet, " unless his justice abound more than that " of those men to whom he looks up with envy, he is unfit for the work of the  priesthood; and, if he has assumed its responsibilities and fails to bear them, he is unfit for the kingdom of heaven.

The truth is, the ideal of the priesthood is not an open question at all. What sort of man a priest ought to be, what is implied in his sacred character, what he is really pledged to by the reception of orders, is determined almost as precisely as the doctrines of faith, and has varied as little in the course of Christian ages. It can be gathered from the Gospel; it is found in St. Paul ; it is spread out in the pages of the Fathers, in the enactments of councils, in the teachings of the Saints ; and everywhere it is visibly and unmistakably the same.

Source: Daily thoughts for priests, Rev. Fr. John Hogan, 1899

 Answer: They are of use in saving souls! Certainly, here is an employment which is at least as good as many others.

The mechanic works upon matter; the priest works on the soul. As much as the soul is higher than matter, so much is the priest's work higher than all the labors of the earth.

The priest continues the great labor of the salvation of mankind. Jesus Christ, his God and his Model, began it; His priests continue through all ages.

After His example, the priest goes about doing good. He is a man who belongs to all; his heart, his time, his health, his diligence, his purse, his life, belong to all; above all, to the lowly ones of the earth, to children, to the poor, the neglected, those who weep, and who are friendless. He expects nothing in exchange for this devotedness; most frequently, indeed, he receives only insults, abominable calumnies and ill treatment. True disciple of his Divine Master, he replies only by continuing to do goo.

What a life! What superhuman abnegation!

In public calamities, civil wards, contagious diseases, in times of cholera, when the Protestants ministers and philanthropists think of personal preservation, the priest is to be seen exposing his life and health to relieve and save his brethren; such was Monseigneur Affre, Archbishop of Paris, on the barricades; such were Belzunce and St. Charles Borromeo, in the time of the plage at Marseilles and Milan; such, during the cholera in 1832 and 1849, all the clergy of Paris and so many other towns, who made themselves the public servants of the whole people.

Msgr. Affre

This, then, is the use of priests! I should like to know if those who attack them are of more use.

The ungrateful wretches! They are never weary of loading with insults him whom they summon to their bedside in time of sorrow or privation, who has blessed them in their earlier years, and who never ceases to pray for them.

All the miseries of our country arise from our not practicing what the priests teach. And unfortunate France, torn with civil discords and political commotions, may apply to herself the language addressed to the chaplain of one of the Paris prisons by a poor convict, who had returned to God with all his heart. The priest had given him a little Christian's manual. "Ah Father!" he said one day, showing the little book, "If I had known the contents of this, and had practiced these maxims all my life, I should not have done what I have now done, nor should I have been where I now am!"

If France had always known, and if she now knew what priests really do teach, and if she had always practiced those doctrines, and continued doing so, she would not have been tossed about by three or four revolutions in the space of fifty years, and be reduced to ask herself in the present day, Am I about to perish entirely? Can I still hope to be saved from destruction?

She may hope to be saved, if she will again be truly Catholic! She may hope to be saved if she will but take heed to the ministers of Him who SAVES the world.

The priesthood is then the safety of France! For without religion society would be destroyed.

Her children, then, owe honor, veneration, gratitude, more than ever to the priestly character. Those who repulse the idea have not the intelligence of our age or country.

Away with these worn-out prejudices, then. Away with these coarse and injurious epithets, with which the blind impiety of Voltaire and his followers have so long assailed the Catholic Priesthood!

 Let us respect our Priests. If we see imperfections, even vices occasionally, among them, let us remember that we must ascribe to the man all that belongs to frailty.

Let us endeavor, in those cases, not to look at the man, to see nothing but the priest; as a priest, he is always worthy of respect, and his ministry is always a holy one; for he is the perpetuator of the office of Jesus Christ, the great High Priest, through successive ages, and it is of him that the Savior has said, " He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Him that sent you."

Source:  Short Answer to Common Objections Against Religion, by Louis Gaston Adrien de Segur

Answer: What do you venture to assert? The priests of Jesus Christ are impostors! Pray, how do you know that? How can you read their hearts, and pronounce whether they believe or do not believe in the sacred origin of their priesthood? It is the accuser's business to prove what he advances. I defy you to prove this accusation.

You will, perhaps, cite, by way of proof, the name of some bad priest.

I must then remind you that the exception proves the rule. A wicked, unbelieving priest would not be so much the subject of comment if the great majority were not so holy, pure and venerable.

A spot of ink is seen with extraordinary distinctness on a pure white robe; it would be hardly perceptible if the robe were black or soiled.

So it is with the Catholic priesthood, to whom impiety thus pays an involuntary homage.

That there are bad priests is not a strange thing. Remember there was a Judas among the twelve Apostle! Just as the Apostles, the first priests, the first Bishops of the Church, thrust out the traitor from among them, and were not responsible for his crime, so the Church condemns, with even more energy and horror than you yourselves express, those traitorous priests who desert their sublime duties! She first endeavors to bring them back into the right way by gentleness and pardon; priests, as well as other men, have aright to mercy; but the irreclaimable, those who persevere in the bad road, she cuts off from her communion, and strikes them with her anathemas.

Priests are impostors! And what interest have they then in hearing your confessions, reproving you for your vices, preaching to you, catechizing your children, feeding the poor, giving to this one good advice; to that one, consolation; to another, bread?

Would it be possible to curtail by a farthing their slender revenues, and the still more slender nature of their occasional fees, if they kept silence about the irregularities and excess of their parishioners, if they admitted any or every person to the sacraments, without giving themselves the trouble of examining the state of their conscience, or if they were to abridge their catechizing, etc.? What worldly interest have they then in fulfilling well their ministry?

No, no; the priest is not what the impious proclaim him to be, and it is because they are aware of this that these people detest the priest so cordially. They see in him the representative of the God Who condemns their vices, the envoy of Jesus Christ, whom they blaspheme, and Who will judge them. They see in him the personification of that law of God which they unceasingly violate; and it is because they do not wish to acknowledge the Master that they do not wish to recognize His minister.

Source: Short Answer to Common Objections Against Religion, Fr. Louis Gaston Adrien de Segur

Answer: Certainly one ought not to be a bigot! Who says you should? Do those who rant most about bigotry really know what bigotry is? If so, it would be well to use the knowledge for their own improvement: for generally they are the most intensely bigoted bigots. They are so deeply immersed in their own little puddle of bigotry that they cannot see a whole ocean of fairness beyond them.

Bigotry is not religion, it is the abuse of it.

The defects of persons who are guilty of that abuse, generally from ignorance, ought not to be imputed to Religion.

Religion is abused, like every good thing in the world. We must reject the abuse, and retain the use. We must be pious, but we must not be bigots. God loves one, but He does not love the other. The desires to behold in our hearts devotion, that is, devotedness to His service, devotedness to the duties which He imposes, and love of His commandments; but He does not desire to see bigotry reigning in them, that is to say, those enthusiastic, those narrow-minded or superstitiously religious practices, which often replace the chief object by the accessories, and substitute the means for the end.

Nevertheless, these abuses of religion are not so universal and so heinous as they are generally said to be.

Generally speaking, they do not injure any one, and are only hurtful to those who commit them. Those who fall into these pitiable mistakes are unenlightened persons, who surround and fatigue themselves with numerous external forms and practices of devotion, food in themselves, but carried to too great a length; who assume a certain strangeness of manner; who torment their consciences in the fear of doing wrong; and who become excited and angry, through misguided zeal, when it would be more prudent and wise to remain silent, etc.

This is bigotry. It is a great defect, but I should be glad to think there were no worse ones here on earth! Those who inveigh so loudly against bigotry, and are indignant at the absurdities it gives rise to, are too often persons who remind one of the criminal, who, sentenced to perpetual labor for a frightful murder he had committed, was indignant at having given him for his prison companion a thief!

They are often more worthy of censure than those whom they attack.

Their profligacy, bad conduct, neglect of the most sacred duties, religious ignorance, licentious conversation, evil example, etc, etc, are not these abuses? Are they not crimes?

Their whole life is an abuse; and the abuse of devotion is, I venture to say, the only one they never commit. Would it not be as well to exchange this one for the others, I ask?

Do not, then, be a bigot, but a Christian, and a good Christian. Love God, serve Him faithfully, observe all His commandments; fulfill all your duties, so as to be pleasing in the eyes of God, and listen with docility to the teaching of the ministers of Jesus Christ.

Source: Short answers to common objections against religion By Louis Segur

The faith of the Curé of Ars was his whole science; his book was our Lord Jesus Christ. He sought for wisdom nowhere but in Jesus Christ, in His death and in His cross. To him no other wisdom was true, no other wisdom useful. He sought it not amid the dust of libraries, not in the schools of the learned, but in prayer, on his knees, at his Master's Feet, covering His Divine Feet with tears and kisses; in the presence of the holy tabernacles, where he passed his days and nights before the crowd of pilgrims had yet deprived him of liberty day and night, he had learnt it all.

Source: The Spirit of the Cure of Ars by John E. Bowden 1865