Catholic priesthood emphasized in new book

Pope Benedict XVI noted on Good Shepherd Sunday, which was also the World Day for Vocations, that the Church is in need of the example of those who are ordained and consecrated for life.

“On this fourth Sunday of Easter, in which the liturgy presents Jesus as the Good Shepherd, we celebrate the World Day of Prayer for Vocations,” the Holy Father said.

“In every continent, the ecclesial communities ask the Lord for many and holy vocations to the priesthood, to the consecrated life, to the missionary life, and to Christian marriage. They meditate on the theme ‘The vocation to the service of the mission-Church.’”

The World Day of Prayer for Vocations, the pontiff said “puts itself in the perspective of the Year of Paul, which will begin next June 28 to celebrate the two thousandth anniversary of the birth of the apostle Paul, the missionary par excellence.

“In the experience of the Apostle to the Gentiles, whom the Lord called to be a ‘minister of the Gospel,’ vocation and mission are inseparable.

“He therefore represents a model for all Christians, in particular for missionaries for life, that is, for those men and women who dedicate themselves totally to proclaiming Christ to the many people who do not now know Him: this is a vocation that preserves its whole validity.

“In the first place,” the Holy Father said, “the priests perform this missionary service, dispensing the Word of God and the Sacraments, and manifesting the restoring presence of Jesus Christ with their pastoral love to all, above all to the sick, the young, the poor. We give thanks to God for these our brothers who give themselves without reserve in pastoral ministry--at times combining fidelity to Christ with the sacrifice of their lives, as happened yesterday for the two religious killed in Guinea and Kenya.

“To them goes our grateful admiration together with our prayers of support. We pray also that the choice of those who decide to live radically the Gospel vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience will always be nourished.

“There are men and women who have a primary role of evangelization. Others dedicate themselves to contemplation and prayer, and others to the many forms of educational and charitable action.

“But all have in common the same purpose: that of testifying to God’s primacy over all things and spreading his Kingdom to all areas of society. Many among them, the Servant of God Paul VI writes, 'are enterprising and their apostolate is often marked by an originality, by a genius that demands admiration. They are generous: often they are found at the outposts of the mission, and they take the greatest of risks for their health and their very lives.'"

The sacrament of matrimony, said Benedict XVI is also a missionary vocation: “the spouses, in fact, are called to live the Gospel in their families, in the workplace, and in the parish and civil communities. In some cases, moreover, they offer their precious collaboration in the mission to the nations.”

A new book published in the United States speaks to the struggles of those who are called to ordained and consecrated life, especially in an age that has little regard for the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

Realizing that laity and clergy are perplexed about the contemporary role of the priesthood, Rev. David L. Toups, S.T.D. — Associate Director of the Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops — has written “Reclaiming Our Priestly Character” as a blueprint for the future of those both called to serve and those already in service.

Rev. Toups, who has served as a parish priest,