Catholic Books for Priests

While dissolute bishops and priests around the world grab headlines for their untoward words and deeds, too many other unfruitful priests minister as little more than glad-handing bachelors doing social service work. Top and bottom, is this the Church that Christ intended? Are these the priests we need? "No!" cries author Kevin Wells in these compelling pages that showcase how heroic priests can faithfully tread the narrow path of holy self-sacrifice first blazed by the apostles themselves. F...

The Autobiography of a Latin Mass Exile Fr Bryan Houghton's life was fraught with momentous transitions. As a Protestant child educated in a Catholic school, he gradually awakened to the truth of the Faith and eventually converted. He responded to the call to priesthood, which he understood in its traditional sense as an office of offering sacrifice, reconciling sinners, feeding the spiritually hungry, and preaching divinely revealed truths. When the Second Vatican Council hit, and even more ...

God has no need for anything, proclaims St. Paul in the midst of the Areopagus. God has no need for mankind: He creates men and women out of pure generosity. The priesthood, remarks Monsignor Ronald Knox, is similarly the fruit of the Divine largesse: God “could have done without [priests], but he preferred to have, once more, a kind of tool through which his action should express itself. Tools in his hand, that is what we priests were to be.” Comprising sixteen retreat talks, The Priestly Li...

Short Sermons For the Sundays of the Year on Texts from the Epistles This book consists of a series of short sermons based on the epistles throughout the Liturgical Year. Originally published in 1927, it was written by Fr. Michael Andrew Chapman, a former Episcopalian minister. Newly typeset, with new cover art, and featuring a foreword by Fr. John Hunwicke (priest of the Ordinariate of our Lady of Walsingham). Here is an excerpt from his foreword: Because the Bible is the Church's book, the ...

In the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries It is hoped with the second edition of the English translation of Petit's classic masterpiece that this hidden jewel of a book will become less hidden. That the people of our day might find inspiration in the amazing story and spirit of the Norbertine Order in its first centuries - the story which Fr. Petit so lovingly unpacks in these pages. And that it may contribute to keeping the Premonstratensian fire burning brightly— nine centuries after it was f...

This book is a collection of homilies crafted for Sundays, solemnities, and significant feasts in the liturgical calendar's Year C cycle. The book begins with an exploration of the Christology of the Gospel of Luke, emphasizing Jesus as the universal and compassionate Savior, deeply rooted in the fulfillment of God's promises. It outlines themes central to Luke's Gospel, such as Jesus' outreach to the marginalized, His Spirit-filled mission, and the role of prayer in His ministry. The homilie...

A book is a book, and a very good thing, for all the wisdom and knowledge that makes up its contents. Books are common, everyday tools of leisure, education, and prayer; but not every book is a common thing—the Holy Bible is certainly an extraordinary one; and so too the Breviary of the Catholic priest is a very great book, having its roots in Holy Scripture itself. The breviary is the lifetime companion of the priest. It is his first act in the morning and his last act at night. Though pries...

In Holy Order: The Apostolic Ministry from the New Testament to the Second Vatican Council, Fr. Aidan Nichols, OP, presents a concise yet comprehensive study of the priesthood’s development throughout Christian history. This book traces the theological and pastoral evolution of Holy Orders from its biblical foundations to modern renewal. Nichols begins with the New Testament witness to apostolic ministry and continues through the writings of the Fathers, medieval scholastic theology, and the ...

The Year of Consecrated Life invited Catholics to reflect on and celebrate the witness of those who have dedicated their lives entirely to God. But what exactly is the Religious Life? In this concise and insightful book, Fr. Aidan Nichols, OP, offers a clear introduction to its origins, development, and enduring spiritual significance in the life of the Church. Drawing from Scripture and the early Christian tradition, Nichols traces the emergence of Religious Life from the Gospels and the Apo...

Warriors of God: The Great Religious Orders and Their Founders, by church historian Walter Nigg, is a detailed and lively account of eleven of the great Christian monastic and religious orders and the fascinatingly diverse figures who launched them. The author begins with St. Anthony and the desert fathers, and continues with St. Pachomius and the development of cenobitic monasticism, St. Basil, St. Augustine and the common life of the clergy, St. Benedict and the Rule, St. Bruno and the Cart...

To carry on the mission of the Church, we must be unified, which Jesus himself prayed for. This unity begins first of all with the clergy, who share in the Sacrament of Holy Orders.As I Have Loved You explores the concept of "clerical unity," which is a way of living out one's vocation to Holy Orders with a sense of oneness, cohesion, and harmony without divisions or fragmentation. Bishops, priests, and deacons form a single, complete brotherhood while maintaining, in whole, each order's dist...

That after seven hundred years his life is still the subject of historians' endeavors is a clear proof of the deep significance of St. Dominic's personality for his Order, for the clergy, and the entire Church. He lived in the late Middle Ages, when the Chair of Peter was occupied by popes like Innocent III, whose prudence and firmness were active factors in shaping Europe's history. The spirit of faith still had at least a little influence in political matters, and enthusiasm for the reclaim...

Sexual abuse is not the only mistreatment that can happen in the Church. There is also spiritual abuse. Fr. Dysmas de Lassus, superior general of the Carthusian Order, comes out of his silence to denounce the unacceptable behavior of some religious superiors and founders of communities. Rooted in the monastic tradition and the robust theology of religious life, Fr. Dysmas presents elements that will assist everyone in evaluating the dangers of certain spiritual practices and methods of govern...

The exhilarating scope of the title - Words and the Word - may seem almost undercut by its sober subtitle: The Use of Literature as a Practical Aid to Preaching. But the value of this book lies in its very bi-polarity. On the one hand, here are practical ways of enhancing the word delivered from the 'mountain' of the pulpit (usually not so lofty these days); on the other, here are some of the great themes that pervade theology and life. This duality seems utterly right. And both aspects are i...

What is Carthusian life really like? What actually goes on in a Charterhouse? Is the Order's ancient mixture of carefully regulated solitary and community life a hopeless harking back to the Middle Ages, or is it relevant to modern lifestyles and problems? If any book can answer these questions, it is The Wound of Love. It provides background information on the Carthusian Order, including letters from St Bruno, its founder, and a reflection on Bruno's continuing significance today. The many c...

Spiritual direction is a vital aspect of the priestly ministry. It launches souls on the road to Heaven and keeps them oriented as the pathway becomes narrow and steep. Everyone -- from the pope to the most innocent of children -- needs spiritual direction. In these rich pages, Msgr. Charles Hugo Doyle shares wisdom and practical advice on the process that holds rewards not only for priests but for lay faithful as well. As Fr. Edward J. Hogan of St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore observed when ...

Here is the book to provide you with the directions and indications needed to carry out the various rites found in the liturgical books of the Catholic Church. This manual aims to restore the grammar and syntax to the body language demanded by the celebration of Mass, the sacraments, and sacramentals. The scope is limited to those rites that the typical parish clergy are most likely to celebrate on a regular basis. It will assist priests and all those who exercise liturgical ministries with a...

"We are workers with you for your joy," states St. Paul, "because you stand firm in the faith." These words, declared Pope Benedict XVI in a 2008 ordination homily, are the very program of the priesthood. To fulfill this program, he told the ordinandi, "the fire of the Gospel must burn within you and the joy of the Lord dwell in you. Only then will you be able to be messengers and multipliers of this joy."Remarkably, the eight reflections of Ministers of Your Joy antedate that homily by thirt...

Priest of the Eucharist From a young age, (now St) Pierre-Julien Eymard wanted nothing more than to be a priest. Once ordained, young Fr Eymard quickly developed a deep devotion to his Lord in the Holy Eucharist. Consumed by his great love, Fr Eymard devoted his life to increasing devotion to Jesus in all tabernacles. In this biography of the "Priest of the Eucharist", Fr Tesnière, a novice trained by St Pierre-Julien, showcases the prayerful devotion to the Most Blessed Sacrament that charac...

An Historical, Liturgical and Devotional Explanation of the Mass according to the Roman Missal "In a word, the service of God is meant to be beautiful, because a true instinct of man makes him realize, even when he is in a state of retrogression and barbarism, that all that is best and noblest must be made subservient to the worship of the Lord and Creator of all." Dom Ernest Graf begins his work The Priest at the Altar with this declaration that beauty is the fundamental form of the Liturgy....

Ten Short Stories Based on Actual Events  Can priests miss Mass? This little book light-heartedly depicts ten Holy Masses nearly missed by priests due to some opposition from within Holy Church, not from without. From Kilimanjaro to Loch Ness, from Burma to Paris and more, the ten humorous short stories describe hindrances to the celebration of Holy Mass inflicted on innocent priests by sacristans, shrine rectors or even bishops. Those failed to recognise that, given a suitable time frame and...

Reflections on the Sacred Priesthood This book identifies sinful hindrances and spiritual resources for a fruitful and rewarding priestly life in the twenty-first century. These reflections are drawn from the author's traditional priestly formation and from his twenty years of experience as retreat master for clergy and laity, and as vocations promoter.

Sermons on the Gospels for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany In these modern days of the six-minute homilette, some may question the use of translating musty old sermons. Why bother with the past? Yet if we want to be whole Catholics, we need to know what went before us, as well as our present. In these confusing times where some in the Church are trying to erase any reminder of the past, it becomes all the more necessary to be familiar with the Faith as handed down through the centuries, in or...

The Sanctoral Cycle I In these modern days of the six-minute homilette, some may question the use of translating musty old sermons. Why bother with the past? Yet if we want to be whole Catholics, we need to know what went before us, as well as our present. In these confusing times where some in the Church are trying to erase any reminder of the past, it becomes all the more necessary to be familiar with the Faith as handed down through the centuries, in order to better explain what we believe...

Sermons on Septuagesima, Lent, & Eastertide In these modern days of the six-minute homilette, some may question the use of translating musty old sermons. Why bother with the past? Yet if we want to be whole Catholics, we need to know what went before us, as well as our present. In these confusing times where some in the Church are trying to erase any reminder of the past, it becomes all the more necessary to be familiar with the Faith as handed down through the centuries, in order to bett...

Sermons for Pentecost and the Time after Pentecost In these modern days of the six-minute homilette, some may question the use of translating musty old sermons. Why bother with the past? Yet if we want to be whole Catholics, we need to know what went before us, as well as our present. In these confusing times where some in the Church are trying to erase any reminder of the past, it becomes all the more necessary to be familiar with the Faith as handed down through the centuries, in order to b...