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"One well trained priest is worth more than many trained badly or scarcely at all. For such would be not merely unreliable but a likely source of sorrow to the Church. What a terrifying account, Venerable Brethren, We shall have to give to the Prince of Shepherds, to the Supreme Bishop of souls, if we have handed over these souls to incompetent guides and incapable leaders."

Source: Pius XI (Ad Catholici Sacerdotti: Encyclical of Pope Pius XI on the Catholic Priesthood. 1935)

"We recognize the priest as one chosen from among men to serve men in the affairs of God. He is the minister of reconciliation with God, the teacher of the truth, and one who offers the sacrifice, who administers the sacraments, who prays for the people. We distinguish in him that double character of man and priest; we recognize the divine character of the priesthood which forces us to bend the knee to him for the forgiveness of sins and to receive from his hands the holy sacrifice of the Eucharist. His ordination has conferred upon the man the character of the priesthood of Jesus Christ. In the parish he is the ambassador of God, the administrator of the sacraments, the guardian of the sacred deposit of faith, the defender of the people's rights, and the unselfish friend of everyone. From the cradle to the grave, he touches intimately the lives of his people and brings to them in all the circumstances of life the blessing of the Divine Savior of whom he is the commissioned minister. The people feel that in the true priest there is no taint of selfishness, and that he is willing to sacrifice his life in order that the spiritual interests of his people may not suffer "

Source: Bishop James Conaty, Our Young People, 1912

"The blessed Apostle Paul, wishing to describe the ideal Bishop and to form by his teachings a completely new man of the Church, explained what was, so to speak, his highest perfection. He stated that a Bishop must profess sure doctrine, in accordance with what has been taught, and thus be able to exhort others to sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict it."

Source: Saint Hilairy de Poitiers (De Trinitate)

"At that hour of the Sacrifice, at the words of the Priest, the heavens are opened, and in that mystery of Jesus Christ, the choirs of Angels are present, and things below are joined to things on high, earthly things to heavenly, and the service is both a visible and an invisible event."

Source: St. Gregory the Great

"Let us strengthen our devotion to the Church. Let us love our holy mother the Church; we owe everything to the Church. Let us not fear that the words of Christʼs promise shall ever fail. The gates of hell have never prevailed, and never shall prevail, against His Church. She has never gone astray on a single doctrinal point: her enemies may be challenged to prove that she has ever erred in any point of practical justice or prudence.Her children may have done wrong; but the Bride of Christ has preserved unstained during nineteen centuries that white robe which He gave to her that she might be " a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing." She has never been unfaithful to His truth or to His cause, and, by the virtue of His power, she will purify again this earth, on which it is her lot to lead a life of ever-varying trial and combat. Let us ask to be made worthy children of that Church militant and struggling, in order that, having done our part of duty in her warfare with the world, we may merit to be enrolled among the glorious members of a Church which is triumphing in heaven."

Source: On the Church and the Age, Fr. Merrick (Catholic Oratory, A compilation of Sacred and Sublime Orations, 1891)

If it is true that by contemplating Christ sinners learn from him the “sorrow for sins” needed to bring them back to the Father, this is even more the case for sacred ministers.
How can we forget, in this regard, that nothing causes more suffering for the Church, the Body of Christ, than the sins of her pastors, especially the sins of those who become “thieves and robbers” of the sheep (cf. Jn 10:1 ff.), lead them astray by their own private teachings, or ensnare them in the toils of sin and death? Dear priests, the summons to conversion and to trust in God’s mercy also applies to us; we too must humbly, sincerely and unceasingly implore the heart of Jesus to preserve us from the terrifying risk of endangering the very people we are obliged to save.

Source: Pope Benedict XVI, Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, 19 June 2009

"The entire Church cannot give to God as much honor, nor obtain so many graces, as a single priest by celebrating a single Mass; for the greatest honor that the whole Church without priests could give to God would consist in offering to Him in sacrifice the lives of all men."

Source: St. Alphonsus Liguori (The Dignity and Duties of the Priest)

Some are scandalized at the mixture of good and evil in the Catholic Church, not knowing the Scriptures, nor believing the Word of God. The mixture of good and evil is permitted in the turbulent sea of this world; but they shall be separated on the eternal shore. And yet, though there be an evil mixture in the visible Church of Christ - bad Christians, bad Catholics, men whose lives are a scandal and a shame - nevertheless, the sanctity of the Church is never tainted. It depends not on men, but on the Sanctifier.

Source: Towards Evening, extracts from the writings of Cardinal Henry E. Manning. 1889