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A Few Thoughts About Priests

They Don’t Like Priests

“So I Became a Priest”

“But Christ Alone is Our Priest!”

What Does a Catholic Priest Do?

God Really Comes First

“All God’s Children Are Mine!”

“He Used to Be a Priest”

“You’ve Met a Happy Man”

No. 37



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1153.

Why the Knights of Cotumhus

idmtise Catholic Faith

The reason is simple. We Catho-

lics want our non-Catholic friends

and neighbors to know us as we

really are and not as we are some

times mistakenly represented.

We are confident that when

our religious Faith is better un-

derstood by those who do not

share it, mutual understanding

will promote the good-will which

is so necessary in a predominant-

ly Christian country whose gov-

ernment is designed to serve all

the people—no matter how much

their religious convictions may

differ.

American Catholics are con-

vinced that as the teachings of

Christ widely and firmly take

hold of the hearts and conduct

of our people, we shall remain

free in the sense that Christ

promised (John VIII, 31-38),

and in the manner planned by

the Founding Fathers of this

republic.

Despite the plainly stated will

of the Good Shepherd that there

be "one fold and one shepherd,”

the differences in the understand-

ing of Christ’s teaching are

plainly evident. It has rightfully

been called "the scandal of a

divided Christianity.”

If there is anything which will

gather together the scattered

flock of Christ, it is the nation-

wide understanding of the

Savior, what He did and how He

intended mankind to benefit by

the Redemption.

To this end, we wish our

fellow-Americans to become ac-

quainted with the teachings of

Christ as the Catholic Church

has faithfully presented them,

since the day the apostles in-

vaded the nations of the world

in willing and courageous obedi-

ence to Christ’s command: ”Go,

therefore, and make disciples of

all nations .
.

(Matt. XXVIII,

19).

SUPREME COUNCIL

KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS
Religious Information Bureau

4422 LINDELL BLVD. ST. LOUIS 8, MO.

© Knights of Columbus 1952



A FEW THOUGHTS ABOUT PRIESTS

I’m a priest — a Catholic

priest — or if you wish, a
Roman Catholic priest.

I’m a priest in the present

year of Our Lord, when to

many people being a priest

is unusual and different . .

.

while to others, it is all out

of place.

I dress differently from

other professional men. I do

not marry and though many people

call me "Father”, I have no children

of my own. I am a college graduate

with university degrees. Yet by the

standards of the other so-called

"learned” professions, my income

is very low, amazingly low, you

would say, if I told you the scale

paid priests in the United States.

I work a hard and steady week.

Very little of my time is my own,

for the people come to me when

they wish and I am likely to be

called out of bed in the middle of

any night; someone’s sick in the

hospital, an accident down the

highway, sudden death threatening

a dear one in the family.

If you are not a Catholic, you

probably have met or at least seen

a Catholic priest at some time or

other. Bing Crosby played a typical

priest in two highly suc-

cessful motion pictures. You

may see me in the stands at

a ball game. I play golf

when I can spare a few

hours. And if you were in

the Services, Army, Navy,

or Marines, you may have

had a Chaplain who was a

priest like me.

Non - Catholics tell me

that I seem different . . . and I am.

I am the inheritor of an office

which goes back to Christ. You will

look far back into human history

to find a generation or a nation

without priests. Even if you go

back beyond the time of Christ

you will find priests. It is only

when you come to very modern

times that you will find people,

and even Christians, attempting to

serve God without priests.

It is a deep human intuition, as

well as an ancient Divine releva-

tion, that makes people feel the

need of priests. They feel that if

they have a professional to take

care of their health, and a pro-

fessional to plead their cause in a

law court, and professionals to

teach them and their children, and

professionals to handle the news of

the world, and professionals to be

1



trained for government, they need

a professional who knows how to

serve God with his whole life and

to help them save their souls.

Whether men believed in the

true God or false gods, they al-

ways have felt the need of picking

out some of their numbers to be

priests. "It is your sole job to

worship God. It is your job to

lead us in worship and to see that

we have what we need for our

spiritual welfare.” So in all the ages

of history, certain men were se-

lected; they dressed differently

from the rest of the people; they

devoted their whole activity to

honoring God for the people and

representing the people before

God.

Although mine is the office of

a Catholic priest, I am still a man

chosen from among men. I know

my own weaknesses, my faults and

limitations. I may not have a

better mind than yours. In God’s

sight you may be holier than

I am. You may have had a finer

education than I. Yet if you are a

doctor who brings health to the

people, I am a priest whose job it

is to bring God and His grace to

the people. If you plead as a lawyer

for your clients, the people are my

clients and I plead in prayer and

at the altar with our Divine Judge.

You may be an expert engineer

who builds great bridges; I am

supposed to be an expert who keeps

in repair the bridge between time

and eternity so that you and others

may be helped to cross safely from

earth to Heaven. You may be a

professor teaching astronomy; I am

a teacher going beyond the stars

to find and teach the truth of the

Eternal God. Your business may be

steel or autos or flour or meat;

my business is what Christ called
"My Father’s business,” and it is

mighty important business for you.

So as a priest, I have a highly

important speciality, God, His

truth, and the salvation of your

soul.

I’m supposed to devote myself

full time to that and only that.

Incidentally, I may seem to do

many other things. As a priest, I

may be a professor, an editor, a

builder, the manager of a church

and related buildings, the Chaplain

in a hospital, a social worker, the

director of a boys’ camp, a radio

speaker, a TV personality, some-
thing of a financier, a psychologist,

or a man in public relations. These

and a hundred other jobs may be

mine but they are all subordinated

to two things:

I must work to bring you close

to God.

1 must bend all my energies to

bring God close to you.

I must love God and serve Him

full time.

I must love you simply and de-

votedly, unselfishly and with no

thought of personal gain. You are

my family, and if you call me

"Father,” in my heart, whether I

be young or old, I look upon you

as my children.

As St. Paul said with deep

emotion to the Corinthians (I Cor.

IV: 15), "In Jesus Christ through

the Gospel I have begotten you.”

As a Catholic priest I feel my-

self close to the Jewish priests of

the Old Law. The Jewish priest-

2



hood lives on in me; Jesus Christ

Who came not to destroy but to
fulfill, did not wipe out the

Jewish priesthood. He perfected it

in Himself as St. Paul makes clear

in his Letter to the Hebrews. And

at the Last Supper He delegated

His priesthood to His Apostles and

to all their successors through gen-

eration after generation down to

me.

When did I think of becoming

a priest?

Very early indeed. Then the

adolescent world closed in around

me, and I thought of many other

professions — the law, medicine,
advertising, and even the theater.

But in the end, something inside

me said, "Give your whole life to

God. What profession could equal

the profession that serves God and

the people? All things pass save

God and the immortal souls of His

people. This is your work in life.”

I had known priests and admired

them. So I talked things over with

several of them. They felt I had

the education and sufficient in-

telligence to take on the tough

studies that prepare a priest for his

professional duties. I had the

health sufficient to aspire to "take

up His Cross daily and follow

Him.” And a Bishop was good

enough to say that he would accept

me into the ranks of the priesthood

in one of the many works that

made up his diocese. Moreover, I

wanted to save my own soul, to
help others to save their souls. I

wanted to love God with my whole
heart and soul and mind and

strength.

Maybe I was too ambitious.

Maybe as a priest I have far

missed my mark.

But it has been a wonderful

life and I would not trade it for

any other life that is given to men

to live.

Let us make one thing very

clear: no one forced or compelled

me in any way. It was I who talked

to a priest about the priesthood

before a priest talked to me. My
mother was happy when I told her

of my intentions; but though she

had prayed for a priest son, she

had never told me she had.

During the long years of prepa-

ration for the priesthood, the doors

of the Seminary swung both ways.

At any time I could have packed

my bag, and, with a wave to my

professors and associates, gone back

to my old life. All that was or

would be expected of me was ex-

plained in detail. Nothing was

secret or hidden. No surprises
came to me after Ordination ex-

cept the surprise that is constant —

how pleasing it is to serve the Lord.

My father had hoped that I
might follow in his footsteps, for

our family tradition was business

and law. Though he had been a

convert to the Catholic Church

only a short time, when I left home

he shook my hand and said: "If

God wants you and you want God,

go ahead and be a priest. But by

all means be a good one.”

So God was generous and I be-

came a priest.

In simple honesty I feel myself

incredibly lucky. I am happy to

share my life with other men. So

I find it easy to talk of what it

means to be a priest.

3



THEY DON’T LIKE PRIESTS

Two classes qf people usually

look down upon priests:

One group says: "The

ignorant fools. Nobody but

a stupid, uneducated person

could ever be a priest.”

The other says: "How

clever and smooth these

priests are! They have been

well trained to fool the

people. They have been

educated to lies and the technique

of deceit.”

Both miss the truth consider-

ably.

Let me tell you about my edu-

cation as a priest and you can

judge for yourself.

I spent the first two years of

my school life in public schools.

But my parents felt I should get

an education in religion as well,

how to serve God and save my

soul, along with my education in

how to take care of my body and

stock my mind with the informa-

tion I needed for life and to make

a living.

So I went to a Catholic school

taught by Sisters, one of whom

quite frankly prayed that I would

be a priest some day. But she

never mentioned her hope or her

prayers to me until I finally became

a priest. Her own love of

God and her deep devotion

to us youngsters made me a

better boy and from good

boys naturally, and with the

help of God, come good

priests.

In high school I was

taught by the Christian

Brothers. Then I finished

my college training with
an A. B. degree from a small

Catholic college which since my

days has become a large and in-

fluential Catholic university. Al-

though I had an inclination

toward the priesthood during my

earliest years in school, this in-

clination left me during my college

days in which I obtained a degree

in English with a minor in phil-

osophy and science; and I left

college all prepared to take up law.

But then it was that God seemed

to say to me "How would you like

to come My way instead?” It was
such a distinct calling that with

short notice to anyone I packed up

and went to a Seminary.

Seminaries are altogether unique

places. I doubt if you could ever

put one of them into a novel or

tell their story on a screen. People

have tried, but priests who know

4



Seminaries from their own happy

days there, shake their heads and

smile: "You must have gone

through a Seminary before you can

really catch the spirit.”

Well, the spirit of a Seminary

may be difficult to describe but it

is unmistakably felt.

There were some 300 young

fellows in my Seminary, normal

lads who loved sports, who talked

loud and laughed vigorously, who

ate the treasurer into a constant

deficit, who had the bounding

high spirits of the young every-

where, but at the same time a

strange and surprising depth of

character and grip on ideals.

They had come from almost

every walk of life. Some were from

poor families and some from

families fairly well off. There were

all the national strains of race and

ancestry. There were few if any

dullards for these had fallen by

the wayside educationally before

they reached the Seminary gates.

There were fellows of real genius

and there were plodders; fellows

with golden tongues and slight

stammers; those with quick in-

telligence and those whose minds

were slow but thorough.

Three hundred men living to-

gether cannot fail to put a natural

strain on character and disposition.

Some dropped out almost at once,

and a few stopped just before they

reached Ordination. They had

wanted to be priests, but for various

reasons decided that the life was

not for them; or they suddenly

realized they were in the wrong spot.

No one thought ill of them when

they waved their cheerful or re-

gretful farewells.

Every young man in the place

carried his personal duties as the

Cadets do at West Point or An-

napolis. Each one cared for his

own room, made his own bed, and

helped serve at table. We had no
servants so we served one another.

The spirit of the place was calm

and friendly, companionable and

sympathetic. We frankly liked our
associates, and though there were

some whom I liked better than

others and even some who set my

nerves on edge, we got along in the

spirit of "give and take.” We were
all possessed of the same purposes.

We had come because we wanted
to serve God and our fellowmen —

and the Seminary expected us to

start both jobs right then and

there.

Our faculty was worth knowing

and meeting. We liked them. I’d
be exaggerating if I said that they

were all inspiring teachers, but

where does any student find a

whole faculty of men of genius and

enthusiasm? They were scholars

with graduate degrees, many of

them from Rome, Louvain, and

other great universities of America

or Europe. If we did not arrive

with a thorough grounding in Latin

or Greek, we got it at once. All of

us had our training in literature,

secular history, and the sciences

before we reached the Seminary. I

had gotten mine in college. Many

of my associates had gone to a

Preparatory Seminary, a high

school and college department

where straight high school and

college courses are given. But we

5



all faced together six years of

professional studies leading to the

priesthood.

What, some may wonder, does a

Catholic priest study in the Sem-

inary?

Well, before all else, and beyond

all else, he studies his own soul,

the law of God, and the command-

ments and counsels of Christ. At

the end of six years, he is supposed

to come out remade as far as pos-

sible in the pattern of Christ.

He rises at six, spends a half

hour in vocal prayer and another

half hour in personal meditation.

He goes to Mass and receives the

Lord in Holy Communion. During

the day, he reads from the great

books on Christian practice and

the full Christlike life. Spiritual

guides are provided for him and

he is expected to go to the Sacra-

ment of Confession once a week.

During the day the bell calls him

to the chapel where he firmly be-

lieves Christ lives on the altar to

enlighten his mind and inspire and

strengthen his will with the grace

that Christ alone can give. Each

class begins with prayers, each

meal with prayer; and the day ends

with all on their knees in the

chapel offering to God the day’s

harvest of knowledge and expe-

rience and the rest and peace of

the night.

His studies from the beginning

are severe and taxing.

Two full years are given to the

study of philosophy and the natural

sciences. He studies the thought of

the world’s great thinkers; he trains

his mind to be aware of the world

around him and to understand its

meaning, organization, and the

laws that govern its precise oper-

ation.

Then come the full four years

of essential priestly studies.

The major study is theology.

This is the study of the word of

God as it is found in the Scriptures

with their interpretations by the

greatest scholars and teachers in

the long history of the Church, the

story of Christian teaching from

the earliest times to the present

day, based on the systematic and

scientific plan drawn up by one of

the world’s greatest scholars, Thom-

as Aquinas.

No one who has studied theology

has any idea of its vast scope and

scientific approach. It is the net

result of generations of great

Christian thinkers. Into it has been

poured the best of ancient learning,

the cream of Christian thought and

the constant discoveries of modern

science, philosophy, and historic

and archeological findings.

The young seminarian is pre-

pared to guide the spiritual lives

of people through the study of the

laws and practices of the spiritual

life, through the study of psychol-

ogy, and the art of Christian living

that equips him, according to his

native abilities, to assist people

with their ideals and problems.

He is given a thorough ground-

ing in all branches of the study

of the Scriptures. He is familiarized

with authors who have attacked

Christianity and the Catholic Faith.

Those whom the Church histories

call heretics and schismatics are

given a hearing, a chance to pre-

sent their case, and the strength

6



of their arguments and proofs are

carefully measured.

The course of study in the

Seminary includes subjects which

range from the Hebrew language

to modern psychology, from church

management to sacred eloquence,

from modern languages to the his-

tory of religion. The seminarian is

given a rigorous training, four to

five hours of class a day, and in

the intervals long periods of study

in the library or in his private

room.

The weekly holiday and extra

free days find the seminarian on the

baseball diamond, the tennis court,

the basketball floor, picnicking

with his associates, exploring the

countryside around the Seminary

on long walks, visiting neighbor-

ing hospitals, or teaching religion

to underprivileged people.

There are degrees after my name,

academic degrees, which I never

use. For to my college years, I

added the full six years of Seminary

training, and finished as a trained

specialist in my field.

Like many of my associates, I

have studied in universities to get

still further degrees, reaching out

for whatever might help me to be

more effective in the particular

field in which I would serve God

and my fellowmen.

But the most wonderful degree

I can write after my name, I wrote

when my Seminary days were over.

At that moment I was entitled to

sign myself, as I so wished,—

Catholic priest. To my mind that

remains the finest "degree” any

man can claim.

"The priest must be equipped with learning suitable to his

state; and so the Church insists that before receiving the priesthood

a man must study philosophy, theology, sacred scripture, canon

law, Church history, and various other ecclesiastical subjects for at

least six years. Moreover, this presupposes that he has completed a

high school and junior college course. Clerical studies are usually

made in an institution especially adapted to the preparation of

candidates for the priesthood, called a seminary. Besides acquiring

the suitable knowledge for the clerical state, seminarians are ex-

pected to make progress in virtue, and are supervised and directed

by prudent and edifying priests. During his years in the seminary

a young man can study and test his own character and motives,

and find out whether or not he is fitted for the priesthood and

whether he is willing to undertake the arduous tasks of the ministry.

If he decides that it is better for him not to advance to the clercial

state, he is always free to leave the seminary. If he determines to

receive Holy Orders, he is given the tonsure and the minor orders

during his third or fourth year. Usually the cleric is ordained a

subdeacon at the end of his fifth year, a deacon several months

later, and a priest at the end of his sixth and final year of study.”

7



SO I BECAMEA PRIEST”

No priest ever has written

a really good account of his

own Ordination.

Many authors have tried

to describe how a young

priest feels the day he is

ordained, but their stories

are inadequate, incomplete,

surface-scratching.

The Day of Ordination

rates capital letters. It is a

day unlike all other days in life.

Long, happy and expectant years

have led up to it. The young man

has studied seriously ahd hard. His

mother and father have prayed for

him and with him. He has made

sacrifices to reach this goal. Now

the altar is before him and he

repeats in the words of David’s

beautiful Psalm, "I shall go unto

the altar of God, to God Who gives

joy to my youth.”

In his preparation for this great

day, the young seminarian has re-

ceived what are called Minor

Orders. He has also been made first

a Subdeacon, then a Deacon — an
office which is mentioned often in

the early Church and in the

Scriptures.

Finally dawns the morning when

he is to be made a priest.

The ceremonial for the Ordina-

tion of priests goes back

into the shadows of the

catacombs and beyond. The

Acts of the Apostles tell of

the Ordination of young

priests; how the Apostles

placed their hands upon the

heads of their successors

kneeling before them, called

upon the Holy Spirit to fill

their souls with power and

strength and commissioned them

as officers in the army of the Lord

and sent them forth to battle for

the kingdom of God.

Until he has become a Sub-

deacon, the young man is complete-

ly free to leave the Seminary and

return to his former life. Even as

he approaches the final step, the

Bishop demands whether he comes

freely. He must answer with a

completely voluntary "I am present

and ready.”

Just before their Ordination it

is not extraordinary for some of

the prospective priests to turn

away. One may shrink from the

heavy responsibilities of the priest’s

office, another may feel himself

unworthy, while another might

quite frankly confess that he

realizes it would be too hard for

him, day after day, to carry the

8



yoke of Christ and bear His Cross.

When this decision is made, the

young man leaves with the full

permission of the Seminary author-

ities and his Bishop. He leaves

without reproach and with the

hope that he will lead an influential

Christian life in some other

profession.

With Ordination, however, a man

takes upon himself a life’s career.

Once ordained, he belongs for-

ever to God in the service of the

people.

As Christ says, he has put his

hand to the plow and he must

not turn back. He is a priest for-

ever.

I remember my own Ordination

with deep joy and gratitude. The

beautiful church was filled with

friends but chiefly with the rela-

tives of the thirty young men

ordained with me.

My mother and father and
brother had come to see me be-

come a priest. I had eaten a quiet

and peaceful dinner with them the

evening before on the verge of

what they knew was to be the

greatest event in my life.

On the morning of Ordination,
in a room adjoining the main body

of the church, I put on the vest-

ments of the priesthood. The long

white robe was as ancient as the

Roman toga and the white gar-

ments worn by Jewish priests of

the Old Law. Though many would

think that I was throwing my life
away in becoming a priest, I felt

that I was putting on Christ as

St. Paul begs us to do, and taking

upon myself the beautiful life’s

work of one of Christ’s priests.

The elderly Bishop who ordained

me waited in the sanctuary of the

church before the altar, surrounded

by priests who had taught me in

the Seminary. These priests were

there as friends and well-wishers.

Later on, they would put their

priestly hands upon my head, to

symbolize the long connected chain

by which all priests are linked to-

gether back to Christ at the Last

Supper and even to the Jewish

priests of the Old Law. In addition,

they watched every detail of the

ceremony so that everything might

be done with perfect exactness.

For from Christ right down to

our own group, through the hands

of twenty centuries of priests, the

delegated power of Christ was to

come to me. “You have not chosen

Me but I have chosen you,” Christ
said. I was not taking this upon

myself; St. Paul had warned against

such arrogance. I was kneeling

humbly to receive the power that

in unbroken flow has passed

through 1900 years of priests from

the Apostles down to my class of

young men who were being

ordained.

The ordination itself is a beauti-

ful ceremony.

Even dramatically you can feel

the meaning of the action as it

moves forward.

We knelt in a half circle about
the altar. The events came rapidly

one upon the other.

First came the inquiry as to our

worthiness. The assistant to the

ordaining Bishop requested in the

name of the Church that we be

ordained to the office of the

priesthood. The Bishop asked, “Do

9



you know them to be worthy?”

His assistant answered: "As far

as human frailty allows to know, I

know and I testify that they are

worthy of the charge of this

office.”

Then the Bishop addressed the

clergy and people assembled:

"Dearly beloved brethren, the cap-

tain of a ship as well as the pas-

sengers are in the same condition

as to safety or danger. Their cause

is common, therefore they ought

to be of the same mind. Indeed,

not without reason did the Fathers

ordain that in the election of

candidates for the service of the

altar the people also should be

consulted. For it happens here and

there that, as to the life and conduct

of a candidate, some few know

what is unknown to the majority.

Necessarily, also, people will ren-

der obedience more readily to the

ordained if they have consented to

his Ordination.

"Now with the help of the Lord

these deacons are to be ordained

priests. As far as I can judge, their

life has been of approved goodness

and pleasing to God, and, in my

opinion, merits for them promotion

to a higher ecclesiastical honor.

However, lest one or a few be

mistaken in their judgment, or de-

ceived by affection, we must hear

the opinion of many. Therefore,

whatsoever you know about their

lives or character, whatsoever you

think of their worthiness, freely

make it known. Testify as to their

fitness for the priesthood according

to merit rather than according to

affection. If anyone has anything

against them, before God and for

the sake of God, let him confident-

ly come forth and speak . .
.”

Then after a pause, the Bishop

addressed us who were to be
ordained: "Dearly beloved Sons,

you are about to be ordained to

the order of the priesthood. Strive

to receive it worthily, and after

having received it, to perform its

duties in a praiseworthy manner.

"The office of the priest is to

offer sacrifice, to bless, to govern,

to preach, and to baptize. Truly it

must be with great fear that you

ascend to so high a station; and

care must be taken that heavenly

wisdom, irreproachable character,

and long - continued righteousness

shall command the candidate’s

chosen future. It is for this reason

that the Lord, when commanding

Moses to select from the whole

people of Israel seventy men to

assist him, and to impart to them

a share in the gifts of the Holy

Spirit, added this direction: Take

whom thou knowest to be elders

to the people. Now you have been
typified by these seventy elders;

if, assisted by the seven gifts of

the Spirit, you observe the Ten

Commandments of the law, and

prove yourself to be worthy, mature

in mind and likewise in works.

"Under the same mystery and

figure, the Lord chose in the New

Testament seventy -two disciples

whom He sent, two by two, to go

before Him preaching. Thus He

wished to teach by word and deed

that the ministers of His Church

should be perfect in faith and

practice, in other words, that they

should be well-grounded in the

twofold love, namely the love of

10



God and the neighbor.

"Therefore endeavor to be such

that, by the grace of God, you may

be worthy to be chosen as helpers

of Moses and the twelve Apostles,

that is, the Catholic Bishops who

are signified by Moses and the

twelve Apostles. Truly wonderful is

the variety with which Holy

Church is endowed, adorned, and

governed. Its ministers are men

ordained to various orders, some

Bishops, others inferior in rank,

priests and deacons and subdeacons;

and out of many members dis-

tinguished as to dignity the one

Body of Christ is formed.

"Therefore, dearly beloved sons,

chosen by our brethren to be our

helpers in the ministry, maintain in

your deportment inviolate purity

and holiness of life. Understand

what you do, imitate what you ad-

minister. Inasmuch as you celebrate

the mystery of the death of the

Lord, you should endeayor to

mortify in your members all sin

and concupiscence. Let your preach-

ing be a spiritual medicine for the

people of God and the sweet odor

of your holy lives a delight for the

Church of Christ. May you thus

build up, by word and example,

the House, that is the family of

God, so that your promotion to

and reception of so great an office

may not be either for you or for

us a cause of damnation, but rather

of reward. May He by His grace

grant it to us.”

Then the Bishop and all present

prayed for us. And the final prayer

was that of the Bishop: "Let us

pray, dearly beloved brethren, to

God, the Father Almighty, that He

may multiply heavenly gifts upon

these His servants whom He has

chosen for the office of the priest-

hood. May they by His help ac-

complish what they undertake at

His gracious call through Christ

Our Lord.”

Turning to us, as we knelt be-

fore him the Bishop prayed again:

"Hear us we beseech Thee, Lord

Our God, and pour out upon these

Thy servants the blessing of the

Holy Spirit and the power of

priestly grace. Sustain them for-

ever with the bounty of Thy gifts

whom we present to Thy mercy

to be consecrated. Through Our

Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who
liveth and reigneth with Thee in

the unity of the same Holy Ghost,

God, forever and ever . .

.

. . We beseech Thee, O Lord,
give also to us help in our infir-

mity; we need it so much ... as our

weakness is so much greater. We
beseech Thee, the Almighty Father,

invest these Thy servants with the

dignity of the priesthood. Do Thou

renew in their hearts the spirit of

holiness, that they may hold the

office, the second as to importance,

which they have received from

Thee, O Lord, and by the example
of their lives point out a norm of

conduct. May they be watchful

fellow laborers of our Order; may

the pattern of all justice shine forth

in them so that, when they will give

a good account of the stewardship

entrusted to them, they may re-

ceive the reward of eternal happi-

ness.”

Then we were dressed in the

priestly vestments which we car-

ried upon our arm and we were

11



charged as we did so by the Bishop

with these words: "Receive the

yoke of the Lord, for His yoke is

sweet and His burden light ... re-

ceive the priestly vestment, by

which charity is signified; for God

is powerful to increase unto their

charity and perfect service.”

I then held out my hands which

the Bishop anointed with oil and

wrapped them carefully in new

linen. The oil set them apart for

the high responsibilities of my

priestly work.

During this anointing the Bishop

prayed: "Vouchsafe, O Lord, to
consecrate and sanctify these hands

by this our anointing and our

blessing . . . that whatsoever they

shall bless, may be blessed, and

whatsoever they shall consecrate be

consecrated and sanctified . .
.”

I was entrusted with the altar

vessels — a chalice filled with wine
and a little water and a small

golden dish holding the unconse-

crated bread which I would hence-

forth use at the altar. And the

Bishop prayed: "Receive the power

to offer sacrifice to God and to

celebrate Mass for the living as

well as for the dead, in the name

of the Lord.”

I was thus being consecrated to

God and the service of souls.

I was being marked with the sign

of the Cross.

The very heart of the Ordination

was silent and almost like the im-

parting of a great secret.

I had knelt before the Bishop

and on my head he placed his

hands. This was no light and casual

gesture. His old hands, gnarled

with the labors of a lifetime,

seemed to press into my head. He
made them deliberately heavy, for

those hands came to me laden with
the history of the ages. The gesture

he made, St. Peter had made, and

St. James and St. Paul when they

sent their young successors out to

labor and to die for Christ.

His hands were heavy with the

Holy Spirit.

For he knew and I deeply be-

lieved that the Holy Spirit was

coming to me. "Receive ye the

Holy Spirit,” Christ had said to

His disciples. And that same Holy

Spirit they also had passed on to

their successors who had knelt be-
fore them to receive the priesthood.

The Bishop’s hands were heavy

with the powers Christ had given to

His selected disciples. I was

ordered to forgive sins. "Whose

sins you shall forgive, they are

forgiven them ...” I was com-

manded to take the bread and wine

and offer them in the sublime

Sacrifice of the Mass. "This is My
Body . . . this is My Blood . . . Do
this in remembrance of Me.” I was

now obliged to raise my hands in

the gesture of an official teacher.

When the hands of the Bishop

were lifted from my head, one

after another the priests who filled

the church walked by and each

of them rested his priestly hands

upon my head.

I could almost seem to feel the

flow of the grace of their priestly

power into my young soul. Genera-

tion upon generation long past

were centered in that moment,

when to me, a new priest, was en-

trusted the same high dignity that

had belonged to the priests of the

12



Old and the New Law. Now their
wonderful office was mine.

Undeserving, I had been lifted

by my office to be an instrument

of Almighty God — an office which
placed me at the head of my people

before God.

From that moment onward I

must spend my life begging God to

return to His People and by my

official acts making possible His

return.

Now I must reach down and lift
my people close to God.

The tremendous responsibilities

of this office made me shudder

then as I shudder now with the

continual experience of my own

personal unworthiness. But I knew

then as I know now that God

willed to come to His people and

would use even me, an unworthy

priest, for His own high desire. I

knew, too, that the inner hunger

of the people was for God and

they would accept my priesthood,

however imperfectly I would exer-

cise it — especially if by my personal
life and my work as a priest I

could lift them closer to their God.

The Bishop had turned back and

faced the altar because it was time

now for the completion of the

Ordination Mass.

My voice and the voices of my
associates around me, now priests

like myself, joined with the Bishop

as he offered the sacrifice.

Together all of us offered to God

the bread and wine.

Together we spoke the glorious

words that Christ has ordained:

"This is My Body, this is My
Blood.” The Son of God visited

His people.

Together we begged Him to

come to our hearts and the hearts

of the people we loved. It was the

awesome moment of Holy Com-

munion.

The Ordination Mass was ended;

the Bishop left the sanctuary and

we turned to the waiting church.

There at the railing which sepa-

rated the sanctuary from the rest

of the church, knelt my mother

and father. I moved toward them

and made the sign of the Cross

over their bowed heads with my

freshly anointed hands. They, my

best beloved, were the first I served

in the joy of my priesthood.

Then the railing was crowded

with people who came to be blessed

by God through His new priests.

I was a priest forever and I

cannot find the words to tell you

of my joy.

"The practical solution of the question of vocation is this: Any

boy or man who desires to be a priest and feels that he has the

necessary qualifications should pray fervently and frequently to

the Almighty that he may reach this goal; and if it is conducive to

God’s glory and to his own spiritual advantage, divine Providence

will open the way to him. He should, moreover, seek the advice

of a pious and experienced priest.”

13



This is the claim of those

who say that they have no

need for anyone to come

between them and God. "I

go straight to God for

everything,” they say.

Now when it is closely
considered, this claim is

singularly untrue . . . any

way you want to look at it.

God has a plan, a most

discernible plan, which runs through

the universe: All things come to

us from God as their ultimate

Source; but most things come to us

also through some created agency

or in connection with its activity.

God made that His way of

running His universe.

No one can deny that God acts
constantly through human agents.

Between us and God are a

multitude of people, who are in

reality God’s deputies, who serve

us in His name and under Him. All

things come from God; but they

come from God through the busy,

professional, trained or untrained

hands of our fellowmen.

God is the Creator of all the food

we eat.

Yet except for the rare and

exceptional cases like Manna in the

desert, all food comes to us through

the vast system of the mate-

rial universe and from such

human agents as the farmer,

the herdsman, the chef and

the baker.

God is the source of all

truth.

But except for the rare,

inspired prophets of ancient

days, all truth comes to us

from God through such

human sources of truth as our

parents, teachers, writers, news^

paper editors, friends, educators

and literary experts.

We pray God for health and
thank Him when He has blessed

us with bodily strength.

Yet our health would be in a

bad way if we did not use the

means God has put at our disposal

of being strong and staying well:

the inherited health and generous

care of our parents, the right food

from those who provide it, our

doctors, hospitals, chemists and

nurses.

Even our very life itself comes

to us from God with the coopera-

tion of His creatures.

God is the author of life. Yet

He uses our parents in giving us

life. Had they not cooperated with

Him, we should not have been

14



conceived or brought forth into the

world. Life came from God to us

only when our parents loved,

married, and begot our infant life

according to His plan.

So to say that one gets every-

thing directly from God is sheer

nonsense.

Indeed the normal way we get

everything in God’s present plan

is through human beings.

Even God Himself and His

Grace.

If you believe in God, He did

not teach you directly about Him-

self. He taught you through your

parents, through Christ and His

Apostles, through His Holy Book

which was brought into existence

by a variety of divinely inspired

but still human writers, and

through His Church.

So to reject the fact and the

work of priests in Christianity is

to say: In only one place and at

one time does God act directly and

without a human intermediary —

when it comes to religion. Where

in the Bible does anyone get such

an idea? As a matter of fact, the

Bible is a long history of the way

in which human beings lead other

human beings to God. You will

find there that God is constantly

choosing men' and women to act as

His messengers, to lead His people

to Him. He listens to the voices

of the saints of the Old Law. They

can win His favor as others can-

not. He Himself does not directly

lead His people. He chooses men

and women to lead His people in

His place.

The whole Old Testament, right-

ly dear to Christian hearts, is the

record of men and women, notably

ordained priests chosen by God,

who stand between Him and the
people. They pray for the people.

They offer sacrifices for the people.

They do the appointed things

which win His favor for the

people. They teach the people.

They lead the people up to God

Who waits for their love and
service.

As a Catholic priest, I am

deeply aware of the priesthood of

Jesus Christ.

Indeed, in Him I see the full and

perfect priest.

To me as a Catholic, as a Chris-

tian who accepts the full and

perfect Christ, Christ is a priest

by the very force of His nature.

A priest by virtue of his office
and his professional character and

work is, please remember, a man

who stands as a representative of

God to the people and the people’s

representative before God. He

draws God down to the people and

the people up to God.

How perfectly, then, how fully,
and how really Jesus Christ is a

priest!

I believe that Jesus Christ is

true God and true man.

I believe that in the person of

the Saviour is the perfection of the

Divinity and all the attributes of

our humanity.

So in Jesus Christ you have the

complete priest.

In His own Divine person, He

unites the nature of God and the

nature of man.

Actually, at the moment when

the eternal Son of God became

man, God came to the earth and

15



lifted human nature to a union

with Himself.

Throughout His life, Christ was

the priest, the full and perfect

priest, for in the person of the

Saviour was united the God of

Heaven and the Son of Man.

Then, in the sublime moments

of His priestly office, Christ acted

the full part of a priest.

At the Last Supper, He fulfilled

perfectly the priestly function of

the Father of the Family. He offered

the Paschal lamb and gave it to

His Apostles. Then He moved for-

ward to the glorious Sacrifice of

the New Law. He first offered to
God the bread and wine which are

the ancient symbols of life. He then

spoke the clear declaration of fact:

''This is my body . . . this is my

blood;” and He separately offered

His Body and Blood to God in

unbloody sacrifice, a full and sub-

lime gift.

Closely following the Lord’s

Supper on Thursday night, came

the Sacrifice of His life on Calvary

the next day.

Christ our High Priest mounts

the altar of the Cross. There He

stands the perfect priest. In His

Divine person He has united both

God and man.

Now as our great High Priest
He makes His offering to God. He

presents His guiltless life to His

Heavenly Father.

Because He is man, His suffer-

ing and death can atone for our

human sins and failings.

Because He is God, what He

does is of infinite value, acceptable

to the infinite God.

The life He freely offers is His

own. He Who offers that life is
our representative and yet our God.

So Christ’s death on the Cross

was not merely the unselfish act

of a great and good man, but the

supreme Sacrifice of our High

Priest for all ages.

In Him all the bloody fore-
shadowing figures of the Old Law

and its sacrifices are fulfilled. John

the Baptist had called Him the
Lamb of God. Now that Lamb,
favorite victim of all sacrifices, is

sacrificed for our sake.

I believe that Jesus Christ is the

perfect, the principal and unique

priest of all time and, as such, He
could have no successors.

I accept all that St. Paul writes

so glowingly of Him in his
Epistle to the Hebrews.

This is, indeed, our great High

Priest.

I not only believe this, but I

know exactly why I believe it.

But does that mean, because we

have one High Priest, that with

Him all sacrifice has ceased? Did

Christ intend that His religion

would be a religion with one

historic Sacrifice fading into the

distant past? Was Christianity to

be content with the memory of a

great Gift only once given to God?

Was the day of Good Friday to

have Christendom’s one and only

Sacrifice? And was there to be no

priest once Christ had functioned

as our High Priest?

Christ said Himself that He

came not to destroy but to fulfill.

At the Last Supper, once He had

perfected the sacrifice of the

Paschal lamb and given in its

place the Sacrifice of Himself

16



under the appearances of bread

and wine, He gave an instant com-

mand to His Apostles: "Do this

in remembrance of me!”

The offering of the bread and

wine which He had made, they too

were to make.

The consecration of the bread

and wine into His Body and

Blood was now to be their office

as His delegates and as the in-

struments of His Divine power.

And they were now to offer Him

under the appearances of bread

and wine to the Heavenly Father.

The Jewish priesthood was per-

fected in the Christian priesthood,

and the religious functions which,

by the command of God, the

Jewish priests did in a preparatory

fashion, the Christian priests in-

stantly began to do in the perfect,

Christ-ordained fashion.

History takes over instantly.

Christian priests, as the ambas-

sadors of God and the dispensers

of His mysteries, at once begin to

function.

They stand between God and

the people, these Apostles. They

carry on the mission of Christ re-

conciling God and His people.

They teach as priests. They for-

give sins by Divine command.

Everywhere they perform the Sacri-

fice of the Last Supper.

So from the very foundations of

Christendom, we have the Chris-

tian priest.

He looks upon himself as doing

what Christ has commanded. So

also do his people.

He is commissioned to carry

forward the work of Christ, the

great High Priest. What he does is

merely what Christ commanded:

"Do this” with the bread and

wine.

"Forgive sins” in the name and

with the power of Christ.

"Go teach” in obedience to the

voice that said, "He who hears you,

hears me.”

It would take far more space

than a small booklet affords to

explain all this fully. I can give

here merely an explanation and not

the proofs which many inquiring

minds demand. It is difficult in

itself to give an explanation, so

let me put it personally.

I am a priest because in the plan

of God, human instruments serve

God’s people in everything. He

gives food, clothing, knowledge

and even religion through my

fellowmen. Yes, He gives even

Himself.

I do not believe that Christen-

dom had only one Priest long

since ascended into Heaven, Who
performed one Sacrifice and then

left the people without a daily

gift to give to their God. I believe

that the perfect religion which is

Christ’s has a sublime High Priest,

the Saviour. It also has a living,

a daily Sacrifice, and living priests

ordained to offer it.

When I go to the altar to offer

that Sacrifice, I go as the agent

and representative of Christ. It is

only in that way that I share in

His priesthood. I believe that in

what we call the Mass, the re-

enactment of the Last Supper,

Christ Himself is as He was on

Calvary and at the Last Supper, the

great High Priest. I am merely a

human agent to whom His priest-

17



hood has been delegated, doing

what He commanded, so that His
great Sacrifice can be the daily

gift offered by mankind to God

and the gift of redemption and

grace from God to His people.

I know that I can only do this

as the instrument of God.

I am fully aware that it is my
obligation to draw the people not

to myself but, to Jesus Christ.

I am the dependent, delegated,

weak and fallible priest; He the

unique and perfect priest. Yet since

He has entrusted the management

of His kingdom to human beings

like myself, He has given me the

blessed privilege and office of

functioning as His priest in His

name and through His power.

If God has ordained that you

go to a doctor for the maintenance

and restoration of your health —
though all the time you pray to

Him to inspire and guide the
doctor . .

.

If you employ a lawyer to gain

justice for you — though you ask
God to give wisdom to the

judge...

If you thank God for your food
— and yet buy it from your grocer
and eat what has been prepared by

your cook . .

.

If you gain knowledge through a

thousand human agencies — though
you know God is the ultimate

source of truth . .

.

Then I believe it is simple logic

to say: God has intended us to

have human agents who profes-

sionally present His gifts to us and

who represent us before Him. It

is all part of His wonderful plan

of allowing free human beings the

actual management of the world

and His kingdom on earth. He
owns the world. We are His
stewards. He gives us all things;

but these things come to us

through the ministrations of those

who serve us in a thousand differ-

ent ways.

I know that Jesus Christ is the

great and supreme High Priest.

But He graciously allows me to

act in His name as His visible

priest before the people.

For He wants them to have a

visible as well as an invisible

priest.

He wants the Sacrifice of Chris-

tians not be be one Sacrifice nine-

teen centuries removed, but one

Redeeming Sacrifice that is made

available to the people every day

and in every place.

He did not end the priesthood

once and for all by His own perfect

priestly character, but set the

standard of what His Christian

priests should be.

This is what historic Christianity

always has believed.

This is the desire of the human

heart . . . the answer to the aspira-

tions of human nature.

Christ definitely and in clear

words raised men to an office be-

tween the people and God and

delegated to them the power to

teach with truth, to forgive sins,

to do wonderful things with bread

and wine.

This I do today because I am a

priest of Christ.

18



WHAT DOES A CATHOLIC

PRIEST DO?

"Being a Catholic priest

must be a pretty plushy job.

What does a priest do any-

how to deserve the support

that his people give him?”

That’s a large question, so I

have to answer it in some

detail.

Let’s take the day of an

average priest, almost any

priest.

He rises somewhere between six

and seven, depending on the hour

of the Mass he is saying in the

parish church or chapel.

He is expected by the Church

to put in at least a half hour in

personal prayer. This he owes to

God and to his own soul. Usually

this is called mental prayer, prayer

spent thinking about some incident

in the Gospel, about some char-

acteristic of Christ, about his own

duties and privileges for which he

owes God so deep a gratitude,

about the needs of his people, and

what he can do to meet them.

He then goes to the altar and

says Mass.

As a priest, I regard this as my

greatest work of the day. I offer

to God, as He commanded me, a

triple gift:

The gift of bread and wine, the

ancient symbols of Christ

Himself;

The gift of myself and

r\ perfect God and perfect

/ I] man under the appearances

of bread and wine;

The gift of myself and

^ TB God’s people united with
11 the Saviour and dedicated to

\\l™ His 8lory-
In return, God gives me

and the people Christ Jesus in the

wonderful union we call Holy

Communion.

I offer the Mass with distinct

intentions in mind: for peace for

the world, strength and success for

the living, for the salvation of

sinners and the increase of saints,

for God’s blessing on all mankind,

for all those things which men and

women must have if they are to

know God’s will and do it.

More than that, I believe that

through the Mass I open the door

by which Jesus Christ visits His

world. Communists hate priests; so

do all those who hate Jesus Christ.

By some sort of diabolical intui-

tion they know that when they say

Mass priests bring Christ into His

world and close to His people.

They feel that if they can stop

the Mass, they can separate Christ

19



from His people. So they strike at

the priests as a means of putting

an end to the Mass.

Following the Mass, a priest

often brings Christ under the ap-

pearances of bread in Holy Com-

munion to the sick and shut-ins of

his parish. He goes from house to

house, bringing Christ with him.

As the man with the Roman collar

drives past you on your way to

work, the chances are that he may

be bringing Jesus Christ in the

Eucharist to the old, the bedridden,

the sick, the dying.

Often enough before Mass or

after, there are people who wish to

go to Confession. Confession is the

priest’s way of fulfilling the com-

mand of Christ to forgive sins and

the way for Christians to seek for-

giveness for their sins. Beyond this

matter of forgiving sins with the

power of Christ, Confession is an

opportunity for Catholics to seek

advice, lay their personal problems

before an objective and trained

adviser, and get the help they need

for the confused and difficult living

which we all experience.

Breakfast in a priest’s rectory is

usually hurried; for the calls upon

his time begin early. His day is

punctuated by numerous phone

calls, by trips to the study or office,

by the ringing of the doorbell.

Priests are a magnet for beggars,

for those in spiritual or mental

distress, for saints, for sinners, for

plain people — and for bores. A
priest early learns to listen, so he

listens, gives of his slender income

in charity and of his store of care-

fully acquired knowledge and ex-

perience in direction.

It is now very common for a
priest to teach religion to the boys

and girls in the parish school. Or

he may be teaching Latin or science

or literature in a Catholic high

school or college.

After his parish duties many a

modern priest heads for one of

the important diocesan offices;

which means that he may be the

editor of a religious paper, a direc-

tor of a city’s Catholic charities,

the superintendent of a Catholic

school, or in charge of the office

which collects funds necessary for

sustaining missionaries here at

home and in far countries.

If he is not doing this, he is

engaged in a thousand duties con-

nected with the management and

maintenance of a Catholic parish.

For a Catholic parish is not just a

church open on Sunday mornings

and perhaps two nights a week; it

is a church open from sunrise

until late at night; a full size

grammar school with possibly a

high school; a center for a variety

of Catholic organizations; perhaps

a social or youth center. All these

things need constant attention,

supervision, and actual physical

work.

Many a city parish has a hospital

within its boundaries. Whether

this is a Catholic hospital or not,

the priest visits those who wish to

see him, and makes it a point to

see if he can locate and call on

those who might in some way

profit by his visit, his advice, his

immediate help, and the priestly

powers that are his.

Connected with every Catholic

church are a variety of activities —

20



societies for both boys and girls;

societies for men and women and

married couples; societies devoted

to particular works of charity, in-

struction, recreation, missions, co-

operatives, and so on. The priest is

responsible for at least a personal

interest in these activities and

societies and their meetings are

always time consumers.

If he is building, the priest must

see and consult his superintendent.

If he is repairing, as he almost

constantly is, he has to give time

to bids and contracts, to checks

and rechecks on work planned and

work in progress.

As an educated man, he needs

time for personal study and read-

ing. Each Sunday he has his sermon

to deliver and usually during the

week he has some talks to give.

Good sermons do not happen by

wishing them into existence. They

take careful study and preparation.

Afternoons can be busy times.

Usually most priests try to take

off one afternoon a week to visit

their parents, to play a little golf

or tennis, to do personal shopping,

to read in undisturbed quiet, to

pursue some hobby like photog-

raphy or stamp collecting. If they

actually get such an afternoon,

they regard themselves as in rare

luck.

The other afternoons are a con-

stant round of calls to the office;

people coming to arrange for mar-

riages and funerals and baptisms,

mothers coming with their children

for advice, married people with

their problems, unmarried people

coming to talk over their futures.

During the afternoons, the Con-

fessions of children are heard and

usually, once a week, the priest

hears the Confessions of the nuns

in a neighboring convent.

After dinner the average pastor’s

evenings are full.

Two or three nights a week,

there may be church services.

Almost every evening some

society has a meeting, some com-

mittee calls for his attention, some

club is in session.

In the evening he usually in-

structs those who seek information

about the Catholic Church. A young
lady may bring the young man who

wants to marry her and who must

be told what it means to marry a

Catholic.

The prospective convert has to

be instructed in the complete out-

line of Catholic Faith and practice.

The mere inquirer must be received

with courtesy and consideration.

Then in intervals throughout the

day, the priest makes his parish

rounds. He visits the sick. He drops

in on the bedridden. He may visit

a new parishioner, in fact there are

a wide variety of reasons why he

must make the opportunity of

visiting these people.

Many a priest in addition to all

this may now and then be called

to serve as a luncheon speaker at a

noonday club, the chaplain of a

Legion Post, or in charge of Boy

Scouts.

But to sum up what may seem

to be a tiresome catalogue of

routine duties, a good priest tries

to be all things to all men.

He is a public servant, and his

people so regard him. He has little

enough privacy and small periods

21



of uninterrupted time.

He is obliged by his vows to
give freely what he has freely

received from God.

His people call him "Father” for

in a spiritual and religious sense

he must often act as the father of

a family which constantly demands

his help in recurring difficulties

and which would share with him

their joys and their successes.

But he is most the priest when

he mounts the altar and the pulpit.

He feels his priesthood deeply

as he sits in the darkness of the

confessional and sinners come to

him for peace of mind and soul.

He loves to raise Christ under

the appearance of bread to bless

his people in Benediction. He is

pleased when a small boy stops

him with an invitation, "Come,

watch us play ball, Father.”

He smiles on the lady who holds
out her rosary for him to bless.

He is wonderfully happy when
he pours the water in Baptism

over a little infant head, when he

blesses the joined hands of a young

couple in marriage, when he wel-

comes to his parish one of "his

boys” who has been away at the

Seminary and now returns a young

priest full of zeal.

It is a busy life, but it is, as far

as human zeal and faith can make

it, involved in God’s business . .

.

my Father’s business.

And that is why a good priest

is a happy man.

I certainly think he is a useful

one.

"We often hear the expression 'a vocation to the priesthood.’

Does this mean that God chooses only a few boys whom He wishes

to be priests and to them alone imparts the requisite abilities and

graces? This is the idea of a priestly vocation proposed by some

theologians and spiritual writers. Others, however, attribute more

concurrence to the individuals themselves. They believe that the

Almighty has endowed many boys with the requirements for the

priesthood, and any one of them can be said to have a vocation

if he himself is willing to give his life unselfishly to the work of

the ministry and to practice the virtues required of a priest. How-

ever, it must always be remembered that the priesthood is directed

to the benefit of the Church rather than of the priest himself, and

no man, however holy or talented he may be, or however ardently

he may desire the priesthood, receives the final element of a

priestly vocation until he has been invited to receive Holy Orders

by an official of the Church — that is, a bishop or, in the case of

a religious, his superior.”

22



21IIIIII

I
#od Bcallg Comes first

Christ gave the world two

great commandments:

Thou shalt love the Lord

thy God with thy whole

mind and heart and soul

and strength.

Thou shalt love thy

neighbor as thyself.

In a self-styled practical

age, many a man and

woman is content to be

trying to keep only the second

commandment. The Catholic priest

is convinced that he must try with

all his human powers and the grace

of God to keep them both.

"Why don’t you priests marry?”

I have been asked a hundred times

in the course of my life.

One hesitates to put it bluntly

for the true ideal sounds, perhaps,

too humanly ambitious. Yet it is

God’s simple command to love

Him and I should like to think I
am trying my best to observe His

law.

"We do not marry because we

want to love the Lord our God

with our whole heart, mind and

strength. We try to give God not a
divided, but an undivided heart.”

That could be our answer.

St. Paul, whom virtually all
Christians regard as a saint, was

a priest who never married. He

explained why he did not.

When a man is married, he

told the early Christians, he

is worried about what his

wife needs and thinks and

wants. But when he is not

married, he can devote him-

self entirely to God and the

things which God wants.

He can serve God with an

undivided love.

A Catholic Bishop wears a ring
as a symbol that he is wedded to

his diocese. A Catholic priest does
not wear a ring, but he is supposed

to be wedded wholeheartedly to his

people and to the cause of God

Whom he serves.
So from the very first days of

his early training, a Catholic priest

is challenged to love God.

He is reminded that God is His

generous and loving Father.

From personal experience he

knows the greatness of God’s gifts

to him.

He makes a lifelong study of

the person of Jesus Christ, true God

and true man, and most attractive

of the sons of men. The priest is

asked to make God’s business his

whole concern and to have no other

major interest.

Daily he talks with God in

23



prayer.

Daily in the Mass he is in closest

association with the Divine Saviour.

He knows that God has made

him His personal steward, a sort of

minor partner in the management

of His kingdom.

He must not let love of family

or power or wealth or position

interfere. He must love God the

Father and the Saviour Christ

Jesus as They have loved the chil-

dren of men.

So He is taught to think of

everything in terms of God and

His kingdom.

Priests are often accused of being

narrow-minded. It would be better

to say that a good priest is con-

sistent. Certainly he is not broad-

minded in the sense that he is

willing to let those go unchallenged

who think that adultery is an ex-

cusable sideline for a millionaire,

that rotten entertainment won’t do

irreparable harm to small children,

or that exploiting the poor is not

an unlawful way of gaining en-

trance to a country club.

Christ was not a broad-minded

person in that sense. For Him
truth was truth and good was good.

He had small patience with the

Pharisees and sin was a horrible

thing that had to be uprooted at

all cost.

So if a priest is consistent, he

has to think with the mind and

see with the eyes of Christ.

That may make him appear

narrow-minded to many; but I

don’t think the Pharisees and

Sadducees found Christ particularly

tolerant of their trickery and

hypocrisy.

Christ emphasized His Father’s

business. He loved His Father and
all that concerned His Father’s

kingdom on earth. He hated what-
ever upset God’s plan and made

the work of God appear to fail in

the eyes of men. For that, they

killed Him.

I should exaggerate if I sug-

gested we priests all succeed

splendidly in loving God; I should

be lacking in humility if I said

we are as consistent in opposing

sin as Christ Himself was.

But I do claim that we are

expected to do just that.

We promised God that we would
love Him.

We promised to give our whole
life to Him and to His work.

Before all else, we are expected

to serve Him and to give Him
our minds, our hearts, our hands.

Each day we are required by the

Church to spend about one full

hour praying to God, using the

official prayer which is called the

Divine Office. Out of the Psalms

of David and all the great prayers

of the Old and New Testament,
the sermons and the deeds of

Christ, the shining achievement of

the Apostles and saints, the Church

has compiled one of the world’s

great books. It is at once a prayer-

book, a guide to the love of God,

a record of glorious lives of men

and women who have loved and

served God, the cream of the

Scriptures, the lofty thoughts of

those who have known God most

intimately and served Him most

perfectly.

One hour each day of his life,

the priest reads and prays and

24



meditates in saying the Divine

Office.

A priest may miss his annual
vacation for there is no Church law

that protects and guarantees him a

holiday. But there is a Church law

that does insist that each year the

priest retire from all his normal

activities, go to a quiet place, and

spend a full five to seven days

with God in what is called a

Retreat.

Usually under the guidance of

an older priest, experienced in the

spiritual life and practiced in

prayer and the love and service

of God, he walks in silence, prays

and thinks, looks back at the mis-

takes and shortcomings of the year

and plans for the year to come.

The efforts of his spiritual

guides in the seminary were to train

him to think as saints are supposed

to think. Each day of his priestly

life is expected to throw him in

closer association with the Saviour.

Yet for about a week, he is

ordered to walk with God, to think

entirely of God and his own soul,

and to come back to his work ready

to serve God with fresh enthusiasm

and zeal.

The good priest has one sole

ambition — to become as much like
Jesus Christ as possible.

The zealous priest is rightly

ambitious to love God and serve

Him well.

Like all frail mortals, he fails

often; the goal is high and the

ideals are almost frighteningly

splendid. He knows his own sins

and when it is possible, once a

week he kneels before another

priest and confesses them as all

Catholics must confess their sins.

He is expected constantly to keep

reading the Scriptures and those

spiritual books which will help

make his life finer and more like

the life of Christ. He knows how

far short he falls of the ideal; but

he knows that the ideal is always

there and he is expected by God,

the Church, his fellow priests and

the people to come as close to re-

producing in himself the image of

the Saviour as he possibly can.

The Church holds in disdain

worldly and selfish and sinful

priests.

The Church demands that he

keep Christ in the center of his

life and make God his only love

and God’s work his sole ambition.

He must not forget that the

first and greatest commandment

given to the world by Christ the

Priest is this: "Thou shalt love the

Lord thy God with thy whole

mind and heart and soul and

strength.”

If he is a true priest, that is the

first and great rule of his personal

life, his official occupation, and his

constant striving.

25



dJUUUULgJUUUUUULfl^^ Q fl.Q.BAQJLQJLg.QJl

It

ALL GOD’S CHIUM flfif ME!
11

TmTnrminrymTnrm

Christ had no illusions about

the difficulty of the second

commandment: Thou shalt

love thy neighbor as thy-

self.

One hears a surprising

number of people say in a

careless way: "I may not be

very religious; but I try to

practice the Golden Rule.”

Christ was wiser than

that. He knew the only way to

love one’s neighbor was first to

love God. Should it be difficult

to love God? He is all-good, gen-

erous, kind and merciful, all-just,

and beautiful. God has been won-

drously generous to us. God is our

Father, our Saviour, our Holy

Spirit of love and light.

Really loving God presents little

difficulty.

Loving one’s neighbor? Ah,

there’s a quite different matter.

I may love those who are good

or sympathetic. I may be fond of

those who are fond of me. I may

find attractive people attractive,

and be kind to kind people, and

generous with the generous. I like

the intelligence of people who find

me intelligent. I am grateful for

the gracious and enjoy giving to

those who appreciate my gifts.

But these make a rather

small circle of people in the

lives of most of us.

What about those who

rub me the wrong way?

What about the uncouth

and ungenerous, the stupid

and the boresome?

What about those who

accept my favors without

thanks and who never think

of giving me a gift of any sort?

What about the people of other

races and different colors, people

whose manners are rough and even

whose company I find repulsive?

What about my enemies? What

about the Samaritans of all gener-

ations?

As a priest of God, perhaps I am

in a strange situation. I have a

double obligation. I must not give

my love to any one person but I

must love everybody. I cannot

attach myself to any family, my

own or another’s; yet I must regard

as my children all those who call

me "Father” as well as those who

turn away from me in distrust and

dislike.

I must prize holiness wherever

I find it and yet I must be gentle

and merciful with sinners.

I must strive for a Christ-like

26



perfection in myself and always be

considerate of the imperfect who-

ever they may be.

I cannot bind myself to anyone;

yet I must let the poor and the

needy, the young and the unstable

cling to me.

I must find, in God my sole

support; and in turn I must be the

support of .those who call upon me

for help.

I must love my neighbor as my-

self. Indeed, in some ways, as a

priest I must love God’s children

more than myself.

It is a difficult commandment

which makes for a difficult life.

Yet Christ expects me, his priest,

to obey that law with the best

possible approach to the perfection

that He Himself showed.

So I sit in the confessional while

sinners pour out the stories of their

evil lives. I must wait patiently

while the garrulous repeat over and

over their trifling faults. I must

listen without a smile to the tiny

faults of the child and hear with-

out wincing the lurid account of

a life of crime.

As a priest I am expected to be

all day long at the service of God’s

children. None of them is really

mine; but they are all His and

hence they are all my responsibility.

I cannot choose to serve only

those whom I like; Christ didn’t.
The lepers are mine along with the

gracious women of Bethany and the

wise Nicodemus. I must give as

freely to the ungrateful as to the

grateful. I have to spend long

hours with the scrupulous and plead

with the stubborn. I am expected
to be the teacher of those who

thirst for knowledge of the truth

and of those who laugh at what I

say and ridicule the mysteries of

God’s revelation.

I must go to the hospital and to

the city jail if there are those who

await me there. I must take the

death walk with the condemned

man even if I hear the mockery of

the voices that shout: "He consorts

with publicans and sinners.” I can-

not refuse my advice, the absolution

of sins, or my service to anyone

who comes sincerely demanding

them. I must crawl under the

wrecked car, enter the blazing

hotel, or the gas-filled mine shaft;

I cannot run away in time of

plague and I must take the risk of

infection when the eternal welfare

of my people is at stake.

Again that is the reason why I

am not a married man.

Like St. Paul I am expected to

be all things to all men.

No personal ties, no home con-
nections, no obligations to a wife

or child can stand between me and

my duty to God’s children. I can-

not hold back out of consideration

either for my self or someone dear

to me. Christ died for all, and I

must live for all who need me.

Fortunately, my own life has

been filled with wonderful people.

I have known the gracious and

have been friends with the good.

I have seen the innocence of the

young and heard the wisdom of old

age. I have benefited by the gener-

osity of the kind and shared the

labors of the zealous. My life has
been a long catalogue of charming

people, good people, holy people,

people who showed me the very

27



best in their characters.

Yet as a priest I must serve all,

without thought of their personal

charm or lack of it.

The priest’s parlor or office is

the narrow gate through which pass

all classes and all types.

The confessional knows saints

and sinners, the ragged and the

unwashed.

God’s grace and forgiveness,

Christ’s Sacraments are for all, and

I must bring them to all, give them

to all.

I cannot consciously harbor dis-

like for those who dislike me and

they are numerous enough in this

age when priests are often dis-

trusted and hated. I cannot take

revenge on my enemies. I must
forgive as He did.

In my mail comes at least my
full share of letters from people

who attack me, attack my Faith,
hate my Church, smear my priest-
hood and tell me what crooks all

priests are. I have to answer their

letters as I think God would. And

I try to.

I am not supposed to accumulate

a personal fortune; I am supposed

to think only in terms of winning

people to God.

As a priest, I must think more

highly of the quiet work in an

unknown confessional than the

applauded appearance on a lecture

platform or pulpit.

God loves the sinner and so
must I.

God wants His grace showered

upon every possible saint, and mine

are the hands to take part in this.

The young need patience; a

different sort of patience from that

demanded by the old; God asks

patience from me for both.
I am supposed to be the father

of the poor, the teacher of the

ignorant, the gentle corrector of

the perverse, the guide of the

troubled, the counselor of the dis-

tressed, the physician for the sick

of soul, the firm support of the

tottering and the tempted.

Am I all that?
God forgive me, I am far from

what I should be.

But as a priest I know what

God expects of me and the people

rightly demand of me. Where I

fail, I strike my breast in sorrow.

When I can do my work for my
people, it is my privilege, oppor-

tunity and honor.

Nothing human must be alien to

me.

No cry should escape my ears.

Any hand outstretched should

find mine outstretched in turn

with ready assistance.

"Whatever trials the priest may have to undergo, he knows

that our Lord is ever at his side, to comfort and to strengthen

him. He has the assurance that the cause for which he is laboring

will triumph in the end. Even though his individual efforts in the

ministry may result in failure, the Church and the priesthood will

endure forever, for it was to the Church and its priests that Christ

gave the consoling promise: 'Behold, I am with you all days even

to the consummation of the world’ Matthew xxviii. 20).”

28



ff

HE USED TO BE A PRIEST
n

Every year a certain number

of priests — remarkably few
considering the thousands

of priests in the world in

spite of claims to the con-

trary-give up the practice

of their priesthood and

sometimes their Faith.

Frequently they are un-

fortunate men beset with

some weakness. Whether

they admit it or not, they leave

the practice of their sacred profes-

sion with real regret. They often

die with the grace of God in their

hearts and a deep sorrow for the

disgrace they have brought to the

priesthood.

There are those who get into

difficulties because of their faults

and misconduct, who are turned

out of their office and are the

failures one finds in any profession

demanding high integrity and

faithful performance of duty.

Few ever hear of them. They

are swallowed up in the silence

they deliberately choose. God is

merciful and He may remember

their former courage, the bright

light in their eyes as young priests,

and the love and loyalty they once

had shown.

However, there are also the

professional ex-priests who

have become the enemies of

the priesthood.

Once they loved the

Church. Now for any of a
thousand reasons they have

come to hate it. Once they

defended and taught the

truth that is taught by the

Church of Christ. Now they
seem to have slight regard

for that truth in any form.

On occasion, they make a
comfortable living slandering their

former associates, building up

gigantic fictions about the Church,

or dragging out the human faults

and failings that occur in any

group of weak and sinful mortals,

and make them the stock and trade

of their public lectures and the

books and pamphlets which they

write.

Some priests simply lose their

faith. St. Paul himself prayed that

his friends beg God that while he

preached to others, he himself

might not become a castaway. God

alone can judge the sincerity of

priests whose faith is gone.

Some, as the poet Francis

Thompson said, "read the Gospel

light in some beautiful woman’s

eyes.” They lose their faith after

29



they have lost their priestly morals.

And some of them make a trade

of detraction, a science of slander,

and a better than average living by

holding their former profession and

their rejected Church up to the

laughter and ridicule of a shocked,

pleased and slightly morbid audi-

ence.

To be a good priest and to

continue in that difficult profes-

sion, a man needs to be humble.

God despises the proud and casts

down the mighty from their places.

One cannot be a good priest if he

places his own abilities above the

gifts of God and his own will

above God’s law and his lawful

religious superiors.

It is a notable fact that ministers

from the Protestant Church and

Rabbis who come from Judaism to

the Catholic Church, love their new

Faith with a deep affection; yet

they speak with affection and wist-

fulness of the religions they have

left. The Catholic Church does not

want them to hate and revile what

they have left; it would find vicious

attacks on the morals of their

former associates a poor defense

of Catholic living. All decent

Catholics would be shocked if

these converts were to say and

write things about their former

Churches, fellow ministers or

Rabbis which were filthy lies and

obscene slanders.

Some priests who have left the

Church wrote books attacking its

teachings and practices. These

books have been read and studied

by Catholic priests and answered

in calm, scholarly fashion.

But some priests who turned

from the Church and married de-

spite their vow not to wed, have

made a business of distortions, lies,

and the most fantastic twisting of

what they pretend to recall of their

former lives.

Indignant people sometimes de-

mand that the Church and the

clergy do something about this.

But what answer is there to a lie?

How can you combat attacks
which are sheer fiction?

What defense is there against

character assassination or the slan-

dering of an entire profession or

class of men?

Within the Church there are

monasteries wherein ex-priests can

retire to mend their broken lives.

There is a special religious group

of nuns who lead a very difficult

and penitential life, they are called

Carmelites. They dedicate them-

selves to prayer and the love of

God, never leave their convents,

sleep on plank beds, never eat

meat, fast rigorously almost half of

the year, and rise before dawn to

pray for the world for which Christ

died. But above all others they

pray for fallen-away priests.

They offer up their love of the

cross that the Crucified Saviour

may forgive these men who have

betrayed their high office.

They fast and pray that God will

in the end grant them forgiveness

and save their souls.

The Church has known the awful

injuries done by men who turn

from the priesthood to blacken the

Church and who left the service

of the altar to swing sledges

against the altar and the tabernacle.

30



But the Church in the end seeks

out and tries to save these fallen

priests.

An extraordinary number of

them quietly on their deathbeds

make their Confession, repent of

their lost vocations and the harm

they have done to the Mystical

Body of Christ, and die with an-

other priest speaking hope at their

side.

Even for Judas, Christ had words

of friendship and the implied

proffer of forgiveness. The Church

has suffered frightfully from fallen

priests who have been its bitterest

enemies, but it loves them and

mourns for them and rejoices when

they as lost sheep, rather than lost

shepherds, return to the fold of the

Good Shepherd.

It always has seemed significant

that the professional ex-priest has

such deep hate for the Catholic

Church. He seldom argues against

Catholic truth, rather he hurls

angry explosives to bomb it. He

seldom reasons, but rather violently

shouts accusations, calls names,

blames the Church for the faults

and sins of individual members,

builds a whole case out of the

weakness and sins of a single

character or mistaken individual.

You may well distrust the pro-

fessional ex-priest. I doubt if

Benedict Arnold had much good to

say for the young America he once

had saved. I am not inclined to

think that Judas would have made

a notable defender of Christ Whom
he betrayed to death. The unfortu-

nate, weak, simply sinful ex-priest

is usually a silent man. The priest

who leaves because of loss of faith

is almost wistful as he speaks of

what he has lost.

But the man who in pride re-

fuses to obey; the priest who finds

the life too hard and exacting, the

renegade who makes a living

traducing the things he once held

sacred . .

.

God forgive him. The Church

does. We priests do. And in the
end, we seek him out with extended

arms, forgiveness waiting, and

Christ in the Eucharist eager to be

his escort through death into Life

recaptured.

"Since Christ intended His Church to endure until the end of

time, it is evident that He willed the priestly powers which He

gave to the apostles to be passed on to other men. The apostles

themselves realized this; and so we read that St. Paul communicated

the same ministerial powers that he possessed to Timothy in

Ephesus and to Titus in Crete. The ceremony by which this

transmission of the priesthood was effected was the laying on of

hands with a form of prayer, for the apostle admonished Timothy:

"Neglect not the grace that is in thee, which was given thee by

prophecy, with imposition of the hands of the priesthood” (1

Timothy iv. 14). And it was understood that those on whom
St. Paul had bestowed the priesthood would in turn impart it to

other worthy men, for he counselled Timothy: 'Impose not hands

lightly on any man’ (1 Timothy v. 22).”

31



"YOU’VE MET A HAPPY MAN"

So I am a Catholic priest. I am

also a happy man.

No one forced or induced me
to become a priest. It was the

grace of God and my great good

fortune that made my priesthood

possible. As a priest, I am the heir

of the ages; for every nation and

race has had the human instinct

and the Divine command to ap-

point priests. I am of their fellow-

ship.

In me is continued the Jewish
priesthood which has otherwise

disappeared from the earth.

My High Priest as well as the
High Priest of my people, is Christ

the Saviour.

My priesthood is a fulfillment of
His command to do as He had

done.

Because the Church regards its

priests as most important, I have

enjoyed an exceptional education

and other opportunities.

In my life, I try to stand where
by obligation I belong. It is my
splendid and challenging duty to

bring God to the people and the

people to God.

By my office I must love the
Lord my God with heart and soul
and mind and strength.

In that office, I must serve my
neighbor in the spirit and devotion

of Christ.

I know my human limitations
and I regret them.

But I know, too, my Divine
responsibilities and opportunities

and they make me humbly glad.

You have met through these

pages a Catholic priest.

May I now invite you to meet

a priest, your nearest priest, in

person? He will be happy to know

you. Perhaps you will be better

off just for knowing him.

32



2
KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS - RELIGIOUS INFORMATION BUREAU

4422 Lindell Blvd., St. Louis 8, Missouri

List of pamphlets available at the above address. One title may be requested at a time free
of charge. Several titles, complete sets, and quantities of individual pamphlets may be ordered
at 7<k for each pamphlet, plus postage.

3. The Bible is a Catholic Book

5. Christ’s Seven Sacraments

6. The Holy Sacrifice — the Catholic
Mass

7. Why the Catholic Church says "Inves-
tigate” — Masons, Inquisition, Nuns

8. Speaking of Tolerance — Controver-
sial periods in history

9. These Men They Call "Knights”

10. Why Catholics Believe As They Do
— Existence of God, Immortality

11. A Short Story of the Popes
12. Let’s Stick to Moses — Ten Com-

mandments explained

13. But Can It Be Found in the Bible? —
Bible not sole rule of faith

14. What Happens After Death?

15. Yes ... I Condemned The Catholic
Church

16. What Do You Mean "Only One True
Church”?

17. But How Can Educated People Be
Catholics?

18. No . . . Belief in God is not Enough!
19. The Real Secret of Successful Mar-

riage -

20. The Way to Everlasting Life . . . The
Catholic Church

21. Is the Catholic Church a Menace to
Democracy?

22. But Do You Really Understand the
Bible? — Rules for understanding

23. A Letter to Our Non-Catholic Neigh-
bors — Aspects of Catholic faith

24. Yes, the Mother of God Will Help
You!

F

25. What Makes a Woman Choose Such
a Life? — Life of a Catholic Nun

26. I’ll Tell You Why I Am a Catholic
27. Why So Many Decide to Become

Catholics — Convert stories
28. Let Us Judge Catholics by the Bible

— Prayer to Saints, unmarried priests
29. But Would Christ Call You A Chris-

tian?

30. But Do You Understand What God
Told Us? — Apostles’ Creed

31. Should Children Learn About God-
in School?

32. The Bible Is Not Our Sole Guide
33. This Was the Faith of Our Fathers
34. These Are Our Seven Deadly Enemies

— Seven capital sins explained
35. Let’s Test Catholic Loyalty — A Good

Catholic is a good citizen

36. Remember the Sabbath . . . Keep It
Holy — The "Sabbath Question”

37. I Am a Catholic Priest
38. But Why the Candles, Holy Water

and Beads ? — Sacramentals
39. The Reformation. Was It Reform or

Revolt?

40. Why I Had to Embrace the Catholic
Faith — Convert stories

41. Yes, Miracles Happened at Fatima
42. Does the Bible Contradict Itself? —

Peter the Rock, Faith and/or Works
43. I Was Warned About the Catholic

Church ! — Religious Liberty
44. Why a Woman Needs the Catholic

Faith

!

45. The Early Years of the Catholic
Church — First three centuries

46. Yes ... A Priest Can Forgive Your
Sins — Sacrament of Penance

47. But Why Don’t You Pray to the
Saints? — Communion of Saints

48. God’s Story of Creation — Genesis
49. Is the Catholic Church Out of Place

Here? — Catholicism and Loyalty
50. This Is the Catholic Church — Creed,

Sacraments, Mass, Commandments
51. Revelation ... A Divine Message of

Hope — Revelations or Apocalypse
52. Does It Pay to be a Catholic? — How

to be a Catholic

53. Think About Death and Start to Live
— Catholic attitude toward death

54. What Do You Find Wrong With
the Catholic Church?

55. His Name Shall Be Called God With
Us — Divinity of Christ

56. The Infallible Church, Truth or Trick-
ery? — Church of the Scriptures

57. Tell Us About God . . . Who Is He?
Existence and nature of God

58. The Word Was Made Flesh-
Humanity of Christ

59. Let Us Pray—Prayer

60. Gift of the Holy Spirit—Confirmation

61. The Church Says — Precepts of The
Church



Learn All About

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

By Mail ... At No Cost!

You can easily investigate Catholic faith and worship

in the privacy of your home.

Just send us your name and address and advise that

you desire to learn about the Church by mail.

We will send you an interesting course of instruc-
tion which is short, yet complete.

The book explaining Catholic faith and worship is

written in an easy-to-understand form, and there are

six tests sheets to be checked. There is no writing to

do, and nobody will call on you unless you request it.

You merely mail your marked test sheets to us. We
correct them and return them to you. This enables

you to determine how well you understand the book

and on what points further explanation by mail may

help you.

There is no cost to you, no obligation.

Write today to:

Supreme Council

KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS
Religious Information Bureau

4422 UNDELL BLVD.

ST. LOUIS 8, MO.

Imprimatur:

^JOSEPH E. RITTER

Archbishop of St. Louis

St. Louis, November 26, 1952

Published in United States of America

9th Reprinting, April, 1961