What do you think?
Rate this book
The Spirituality of the Diocesan Priest
Beyond the dramatic drop in seminarians and the declining numbers of priests, beyond the sexual misconduct scandals shaking the confidence and trust once readily given to priests, a spiritual deepening and maturing is renewing the spirit and confidence of the diocesan priest. In this collection of essays, twelve priests (including four bishops) reflect on the spirituality of the diocesan priest from their personal and pastoral experience. Have diocesan priests finally transcended the monastic and religious order spiritualities that have shaped their prayer and interior lives for centuries? Is a spirituality particular to the diocesan priest emerging precisely at a time when the priesthood is under such close scrutiny? The contributors - pastors, theologians, poets, and bishops - grapple with the maturing of the diocesan priest's soul, touch the mystery of the priesthood, and unveil personal, often moving, dramas of grace. Contributors and their articles include Tenders of the Word" by Donald B. Cozzens, "Personal Symbol of Communion" by Denis Edwards, "Confessions of a Pilgrim Pastor" by William Hammer, "A Kindled Heart" by Frank McNulty, "A Glorious and Transcendent Place" by Robert F. Morneau, "The Conciliar Documents and the 1983 Code" by Edward G. Pfnausch, "Ruminations of a Canonist" by James H. Provost, "Heralds of the Gospel and Experts in Humanity" by Sylvester D. Ryan, "Servant of the Servants of God" by Robert Schwartz, "Speaking Out for the Inside" by William H. Shannon, "Paul of A Model for Diocesan Priesthood" by Richard J. Sklba, and "Spirituality of the Diocesan Using the Wrong Measure?" by Kenneth Untener.
- GenresSpirituality
208 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1997
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 5, 2025
A SERIES OF ESSAYS GIVING A VARIETY OF VIEWPOINTS ON SPIRITUALITY
Editor Donald Bernard Cozzens (1939-2021; he died from COVID) was a pastoral psychologist, and president-rector of St. Mary's Seminary of the Diocese of Cleveland. He wrote in the Introduction to this 1997 book, “My own search for the core and charism of diocesan priestly spirituality is the genesis of this collection. I began putting this book together believing I knew something about the priesthood. And I thought I knew priests. I had counseled priests, directed their spiritual journeys, and preached their retreats. As a former vicar for clergy, I knew the wounds of the priesthood, the pain of it, the unspeakable privilege of it. But the past few years seem to have laid bare, more than anything else, the unfathomable mystery of the priesthood. It was not always so..” (Pg. vii)
He continues, “If the essays in this collection capture the spirituality of the diocesan priest, then the fog engulfing the priesthood in English-speaking countries over the past decade is lifting. In spite of the unprecedented scandal of sexual misconduct with minors, the sharp decline in candidates for seminary training, the graying of the clergy, and the staggering demands for pastoral care for a growing Catholic population, priests, for the most part, have held their ground. They have stood in the fire of suspicion and criticism and emerged wiser, more mature, and spiritually renewed.” (Pg. ix)
He adds, “[T]welve authors agreed to address the issue of the spirituality of the diocesan priest. They are poets and pastors, theologians, canonists, and bishops---priests who have walked straight into the darkness of the mystery until the shadows gave way to light. The common threads of their stories weave a surprisingly passionate tapestry. The essays you are about to read come from the experiences , the ordeals, the failures and triumphs of the writers. They come from men who have become, by the grace of God, ministers of mystery and grace… They bear witness to their love of God, their love of the Church, their struggles to love and hope and believe.” (Pg. x-xi)
Robert M. Schwartz acknowledges, “Often, nothing happens while I am praying. Regularly enough to rule out coincidence, insight into the Scriptures comes crashing in on me while I am actively involved with the people of the parish. Whether it be while listening to them reflect on the Scriptures or the challenges of their lives, or watching them share their gifts, or entering with them into the news of the day, God often speaks to me more strongly in the midst of the lives we share than in prayer itself. I am confident, though, that this sensitivity to God’s self-revelation in daily life would not happen without a major commitment to quiet pondering of the word each day in prayer. Personal prayer is the place where I become pregnant with the word. Ministry is the place where God’s word comes to birth in the midst of human realities. While interacting with God’s people it grows to maturity, inviting me to conversion by its powerful impact on daily life.” (Pg. 7)
James H. Provost recalls, “Nearly twenty years ago I made a thirty-day retreat. Not your usual Jesuit-directed retreat, but thirty days in a Trappist monastery where I was introduced by a very understanding and patient abbot to the riches of our Catholic spiritual tradition. In one sense, I felt cheated that this did not come sooner in my life, rather than the mind-numbing (and at times body-numbing) hours spent in chapel before dawn during seminary days, and the helter-skelter approach of various well- intentioned confessors ever since. On the other hand, the riches were always there; it was I who needed to change, to pause and discover the resources which mark our tradition.” (Pg. 29)
Later, he adds, “for anyone attempting to live as a Vatican II Christian, committed to renewal in the Church, there is a tendency to grow weary, to get worn down just by the inertia so prevalent in any group, and so all the more prevalent in a world-wide Church. I get worn down when I take the work on as my own, rather than as Christ’s work; when there is so much personal investment in a plan, a project, a program, that it becomes more important than the spiritual good it is designed to promote.” (Pg. 40)
William H. Shannon states, “The Eucharistic ‘revolution’ brought a radical change in Eucharistic vocabulary. Where we once restricted the role of ‘celebrant’ to the priest, we now speak of the entire assembly as ‘celebrants.’ The priest presides over the celebration. Where we used to speak of the priest changing the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, we now see his role as a humbler one: to ask God to send the Holy Spirit to effect this change, in other words, to ask God to send the Holy Spirit to do for us now what Jesus did at the Last Supper.” (Pg. 98)
Robert F. Morneau suggests, “A significant part of the spirituality of a diocesan priest is closeness to the people. Preaching is one means of achieving this bonding, but it must be a type of preaching that is appropriate… Spirituality is about life, life in God. As God has given life to the priest, the life of grace and faith, that same life is to be shared with people. Helping overcome self-hatred, showing them how to come into God’s presence singing for joy, demonstrating that conversion is not only possible but filled with delight, challenging the community to do justice (now!), instilling a hunger for depth and destiny---such is the business of the priest who lives with and among his people. An alternative message must be offered to our people who are inundated with the sad news of individualism, consumerism, and racism.” (Pg. 110-111)
Cozzens states in the Afterword, “A new, if uncertain priestly culture is taking shape. Stripped of the status and privilege that allowed priests to ignore the personal signs of anxiety and loneliness that often touched their lives, priests have been forced to address their human condition without the defenses and rationalizations of previous clerical cultures. Now as men without illusions, they are free to own their own humanity with a humility and freedom that, not surprisingly, has renewed their hope and confidence.” (Pg. 187)
This book will be of keen interest to those studying the ‘spiritual’ side of modern priests.
Editor Donald Bernard Cozzens (1939-2021; he died from COVID) was a pastoral psychologist, and president-rector of St. Mary's Seminary of the Diocese of Cleveland. He wrote in the Introduction to this 1997 book, “My own search for the core and charism of diocesan priestly spirituality is the genesis of this collection. I began putting this book together believing I knew something about the priesthood. And I thought I knew priests. I had counseled priests, directed their spiritual journeys, and preached their retreats. As a former vicar for clergy, I knew the wounds of the priesthood, the pain of it, the unspeakable privilege of it. But the past few years seem to have laid bare, more than anything else, the unfathomable mystery of the priesthood. It was not always so..” (Pg. vii)
He continues, “If the essays in this collection capture the spirituality of the diocesan priest, then the fog engulfing the priesthood in English-speaking countries over the past decade is lifting. In spite of the unprecedented scandal of sexual misconduct with minors, the sharp decline in candidates for seminary training, the graying of the clergy, and the staggering demands for pastoral care for a growing Catholic population, priests, for the most part, have held their ground. They have stood in the fire of suspicion and criticism and emerged wiser, more mature, and spiritually renewed.” (Pg. ix)
He adds, “[T]welve authors agreed to address the issue of the spirituality of the diocesan priest. They are poets and pastors, theologians, canonists, and bishops---priests who have walked straight into the darkness of the mystery until the shadows gave way to light. The common threads of their stories weave a surprisingly passionate tapestry. The essays you are about to read come from the experiences , the ordeals, the failures and triumphs of the writers. They come from men who have become, by the grace of God, ministers of mystery and grace… They bear witness to their love of God, their love of the Church, their struggles to love and hope and believe.” (Pg. x-xi)
Robert M. Schwartz acknowledges, “Often, nothing happens while I am praying. Regularly enough to rule out coincidence, insight into the Scriptures comes crashing in on me while I am actively involved with the people of the parish. Whether it be while listening to them reflect on the Scriptures or the challenges of their lives, or watching them share their gifts, or entering with them into the news of the day, God often speaks to me more strongly in the midst of the lives we share than in prayer itself. I am confident, though, that this sensitivity to God’s self-revelation in daily life would not happen without a major commitment to quiet pondering of the word each day in prayer. Personal prayer is the place where I become pregnant with the word. Ministry is the place where God’s word comes to birth in the midst of human realities. While interacting with God’s people it grows to maturity, inviting me to conversion by its powerful impact on daily life.” (Pg. 7)
James H. Provost recalls, “Nearly twenty years ago I made a thirty-day retreat. Not your usual Jesuit-directed retreat, but thirty days in a Trappist monastery where I was introduced by a very understanding and patient abbot to the riches of our Catholic spiritual tradition. In one sense, I felt cheated that this did not come sooner in my life, rather than the mind-numbing (and at times body-numbing) hours spent in chapel before dawn during seminary days, and the helter-skelter approach of various well- intentioned confessors ever since. On the other hand, the riches were always there; it was I who needed to change, to pause and discover the resources which mark our tradition.” (Pg. 29)
Later, he adds, “for anyone attempting to live as a Vatican II Christian, committed to renewal in the Church, there is a tendency to grow weary, to get worn down just by the inertia so prevalent in any group, and so all the more prevalent in a world-wide Church. I get worn down when I take the work on as my own, rather than as Christ’s work; when there is so much personal investment in a plan, a project, a program, that it becomes more important than the spiritual good it is designed to promote.” (Pg. 40)
William H. Shannon states, “The Eucharistic ‘revolution’ brought a radical change in Eucharistic vocabulary. Where we once restricted the role of ‘celebrant’ to the priest, we now speak of the entire assembly as ‘celebrants.’ The priest presides over the celebration. Where we used to speak of the priest changing the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, we now see his role as a humbler one: to ask God to send the Holy Spirit to effect this change, in other words, to ask God to send the Holy Spirit to do for us now what Jesus did at the Last Supper.” (Pg. 98)
Robert F. Morneau suggests, “A significant part of the spirituality of a diocesan priest is closeness to the people. Preaching is one means of achieving this bonding, but it must be a type of preaching that is appropriate… Spirituality is about life, life in God. As God has given life to the priest, the life of grace and faith, that same life is to be shared with people. Helping overcome self-hatred, showing them how to come into God’s presence singing for joy, demonstrating that conversion is not only possible but filled with delight, challenging the community to do justice (now!), instilling a hunger for depth and destiny---such is the business of the priest who lives with and among his people. An alternative message must be offered to our people who are inundated with the sad news of individualism, consumerism, and racism.” (Pg. 110-111)
Cozzens states in the Afterword, “A new, if uncertain priestly culture is taking shape. Stripped of the status and privilege that allowed priests to ignore the personal signs of anxiety and loneliness that often touched their lives, priests have been forced to address their human condition without the defenses and rationalizations of previous clerical cultures. Now as men without illusions, they are free to own their own humanity with a humility and freedom that, not surprisingly, has renewed their hope and confidence.” (Pg. 187)
This book will be of keen interest to those studying the ‘spiritual’ side of modern priests.
Read
May 5, 20200
December 12, 2023
Mostly polemical rubbish with a few interesting points that aren’t developed enough to constitute anything insightful.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews