QUOTATION: Priests

I cannot understand why some priests are so eager to be indistinguishable from other Christians, forgetting or neglecting their specific mission in the Church, that for which they have been ordained. They seem to think that Christians want to see the priest as just another man. That is not so. They want to find in the priest those virtues proper to every Christian man and, indeed, every honorable man: understanding, justice, a life of work -- priestly work in this instance -- and good manners.

--St. Josemaria Escriva, "A Priest Forever", In Love with the Church.

QUOTATION: Threefold Hierarchy

Your bishop presides in the place of God, and your presbyters in the place of the assembly of the Apostles, along with your deacons, who are most dear to me.

--St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Magnesians, 6.

QUOTATION: Pastors

Many pastors of souls are more afflicted if the revenues  of the Church are diminished or lost than if a great number of souls  perished through their absence or neglect.

--St. Robert Bellarmine, The Seven Words on the Cross

QUOTATION: Pastors Must Be Vigilant

A lack of vigilance — as we know — makes the Pastor tepid; it makes him absentminded, forgetful and even impatient. It tantalizes him with the prospect of a career, the enticement of money and with compromises with a mundane spirit; it makes him lazy, turning him into an official, a state functionary concerned with himself, with organization and structures, rather than with the true good of the People of God. Then one runs the risk of denying the Lord as did the Apostle Peter, even if he formally presents him and speaks in his name; one obscures the holiness of the hierarchical Mother Church making her less fruitful.

--Pope Francis, Homily at the Profession of Faith with the Bishops of the Italian Episcopal Conference, May 23, 2013

QUOTATION: Priests

Priests do not exist to give certificates of virtue to the just, but to absolve and console poor sinners.

--St. Peter Julian Eymard

QUOTATION: The Clergy on Judgement Day

Let us fear lest the angered judge say to us: If you were the enlighteners of My Church, why have you closed your eyes? If you pretended to be shepherds of the flock, why have you suffered it to stray? Salt of the earth, you have lost your savor. Light of the world, they that sat in darkness and the shadow of death have never seen you shine. You were apostles; who, then, put your apostolic firmness to the test, since you have done nothing but seek to please men? You were the mouth of the Lord, and you have made that mouth dumb. If you allege in excuse that the burden was beyond your strength, why did you make it the object of your ambitious intrigues?

–-St. Charles Borromeo

QUOTATION: Bad Clergy is God's Punishment

The most evident mark of God's anger, and the most terrible castigation He can inflict upon the world, is manifest when He permits His people to fall into the hands of a clergy who are more in name than in deed, priests who practice the cruelty of ravening wolves rather than the charity and affection of devoted shepherds. They abandon the things of God to devote themselves to the things of the world, and in their saintly calling of holiness, they spend their time in profane and worldly pursuits. When God permits such things, it is a very positive proof that He is thoroughly angry with His people and is visiting His most dreadful wrath upon them.

--St. John Eudes

QUOTATION: Priests

Priests should be lions at the pulpit, and lambs in the confessional.

--St. Jean Vianney, the Curé of Ars

QUOTATION: Hell

Priests and bishops who don’t teach about Hell will probably wind up there.

--Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

QUOTATION: The Duty of a Parish Priest

If a parish priest doesn't want to be damned, and if there is any loose living in his parish, he must spurn the very thought of public opinion and the fear of being despised or hated by his parishioners. Even if he were certain of being lynched when he came down from the pulpit, that must not stop him from speaking out against it.

--St. Jean Vianney, the Cure of Ars

QUOTATION: Priests

There are few workers to reap such a great harvest. We should feel a deep sorrow, for although many wish to hear the good news, few are willing to preach it to them.

--Pope St. Gregory I Homiliae in Evangelia

QUOTATION: Clerical Garb

It is an infinitely small point, but does the abandonment, total or partial, of the clerical garb by some modem clergymen really make the laity feel more at home with them? Does it not rather create the suspicion that they are ashamed of being what they are?

--Msgr Ronald Knox, The Belief of Catholics, 1927

QUOTATION: Persecution

Persecution shows who is a hireling, and who a true pastor.

--St. Bernard of Clairvaux

QUOTATION: Those who have no rights

There are two groups of people who have no rights...the unborn and the priests.

--Fr. Benedict Groeschel

QUOTATION: Priests

It would certainly be better to have fewer ministers if they be upright, suitable and useful, than many who are likely to accomplish nothing at all for the building up of the body of Christ, which is the Church.

--Pope Benedict XIV, Ubi Primum

QUOTATION: Priests

To the carnal eye the priest looks like other men, but to the eye of faith he is exalted above the angels because he exercises powers not given even to angels.

--Cardinal James Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers, 28