Year for Priests

Pope Benedict XVI has established a Year for Priests from June 19, 2009 through June 19, 2010. The year will provide opportunities

  • to deepen the commitment of priests to interior renewal for the sake of their witness to the Gospel in today’s world,
  • to help make the importance of the priest's role and mission in the Church and in society ever more clearly perceived.
     

LINKS


Year for Priests - US Conference of Catholic Bishops

Benedict XVI - Statements on the Priesthood
Benedicto XVI - Declaraciones sobre el sacerdocio

Vatican II & Other Recent Popes on Priesthood

Annus Sacerdolotalis - English, Español and other languages

Prayers for the Year for Priests - English y Español

ThinkPriest.Org - the path to priesthood starts here

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church
The Sacrament of Holy Orders
Christ's Faithful—Hierarchy, Laity, Consecrated Life


OTHER WEBSITES


Year for Priests
- Loyola Press
Year for Priests - Our Sunday Visitor

Year for Priests - Catholic University of America


QUOTATIONS

 

Pope Benedict XVI on the relationship between Priests and Lay People
Priests and laity together make up the one priestly people and in virtue of their ministry priests live in the midst of the lay faithful, that they may lead everyone to the unity of charity.... Here we ought to recall the Second Vatican Council’s hearty encouragement to priests “to be sincere in their appreciation and promotion of the dignity of the laity and of the special role they have to play in the Church’s mission. … They should be willing to listen to lay people, give brotherly consideration to their wishes, and acknowledge their experience and competence in the different fields of human activity. In this way they will be able together with them to discern the signs of the times.” 
In his gifts the Spirit is multifaceted… He breathes where he wills. He does so unexpectedly, in unexpected places, and in ways previously unheard of… but he also shows us that he works with a view to the one body and in the unity of the one body. In this regard, the statement of the DecreePresbyterorum Ordinis continues to be timely: “While testing the spirits to discover if they be of God, priests must discover with faith, recognize with joy, and foster diligently the many and varied charismatic gifts of the laity, whether these be of a humble or more exalted kind." ... The communion between ordained and charismatic ministries can provide “a helpful impulse to a renewed commitment by the Church in proclaiming and bearing witness to the Gospel of hope and charity in every corner of the world."

 

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