Need book recommendations on the priesthood
A question mainly for those of you who are priests:
I'm looking for good books to give away at ordination anniversaries. I've often chosen ones on the Eucharist, since that's a central subject I happen to be fairly well read in myself, but what I'd really like is books on the priesthood itself, a subject I'm not well read in at all.
What are the best books you know on the priesthood, and why? Not dogmatic theology or how to do this or that so much as priestly spirituality. They don't need to be in Logos (though we should make suggestions of them if they aren't).
And while we're at it: can you recommend something on the Office for someone who's prayed it for years.
Mac Pro (late 2013) OS 12.6.2
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I'm not a priest but have several priest friends and have also read some. Here are a few I could suggest.
Not in Verbum:
He Leadeth Me Fr. Cizeck's story - must read for any priest.
The Priest Is Not His Own Fulton Sheen - another must read.
The Priesthood Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI (maybe several of Benedict's works on the liturgy would be welcome.)
Many are Called Scott Hahn
Gift and Mystery Pope Saint John Paul II
Priests for the Third Millennium Cardinal Timothy Dolan (New York)
Men of Brave Heart Archbishop Gomez (Los Angeles)
I have the following resources in my Verbum library and like them:
https://www.logos.com/product/52208/priest-and-bishop-biblical-reflections
https://www.logos.com/product/27634/the-religious-state-the-episcopate-and-the-priestly-office
https://www.logos.com/product/45885/the-unchanging-heart-of-the-priesthood
EDIT: I forgot one for LOH that is not in Verbum but a recent contribution worth reading:
Praying the Liturgy of the Hours Fr. Timothy Gallegher
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All good suggestions!
Let me add a few others, to round out the picture. Each one, in its own way, has to do with "where the rubber meets the road", so to speak, or where the theology/spirituality of priesthood meet the challenges of contemporary life:
The Joy of Priesthood, by Msgr. Stephen Rossetti
View From The Altar, by Howard Bleichner
The Last Priests in America, by Tim Unsworth
As for the Office, I have two recommendations:
The Liturgy of the Hours in the East and West, by Robert Taft, SJ
Sacred Reading, by Michael Casey (This isn't about the Office per se. It's about lectio divina. However, praying the Office will be enriched if one prays it as lectio divina and resists the temptation to just race through the Hours just to say that "I did it".)
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There are also Saints who have written about the priesthood...
“The trouble is that everyone talks about reforming others and no one thinks about reforming himself.” St. Peter of Alcántara
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Steve said:
The Priest Is Not His Own Fulton Sheen - another must read.
This is included in the Ignatius Press Theology and Discipleship Collection.
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[Y] I'm looking forward to it! I hope more bids come in and we can get this into development soon.
In fact, I'm looking forward to all the resources in that collection. Very nice! [:)]
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Thanks, and sorry I haven't come back to you. I've started researching the books several times, but kept getting interrupted. Which is bad, because I really should have ordered a couple by now. Some seem a bit too dogmatic, biographical, or American for what I currently want, but some seem promising.
Hahn was the one I already had on my list, but he's so popular I don't know if I want to risk them already having it. And I don't know how much his being a layman influences his treatment of the topic. I'll buy it for myself, though, and take a look (why isn't it in Logos??). Might be better for younger priests than the ones I currently have in mind.
Sheen is the one I'm most tempted by. I doubt they'll have read him. It's from 1963; it's not too pre-Vatican II or too based on the Tridentine Mass, is it?
And thanks for reminding me about Gift and Mystery! It's been in Swedish too long to be useful as a gift – they have almost certainly read it – but the litany at the end is beautiful and just what I need right now. Might make a novena of it, in fact. (If you have prayers to spare, my parish could use them.)
Mac Pro (late 2013) OS 12.6.2
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fgh said:
Sheen is the one I'm most tempted by. I doubt they'll have read him. It's from 1963; it's not too pre-Vatican II or too based on the Tridentine Mass, is it?
Vatican II ran from 1962 to 1965, so it's not pre-Vatican II at all. [;)]
“The trouble is that everyone talks about reforming others and no one thinks about reforming himself.” St. Peter of Alcántara
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SineNomine said:
Vatican II ran from 1962 to 1965, so it's not pre-Vatican II at all.
For all intents and purposes it is, as not a single V II document was published at the time of writing. As I'm sure you know.[:)]
Ah, I didn't realize he was actually at the Council. Then he might have had time to hear the earliest discussions on the Liturgy before writing, but certainly not on the Priesthood, which is a 1965 document.
SineNomine said:Didn't think to check Google Books. And although I thought I'd read the reviews, it seems I hadn't, so I guess I needed that reminder too. Thanks.
Mac Pro (late 2013) OS 12.6.2
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fgh said:SineNomine said:
Vatican II ran from 1962 to 1965, so it's not pre-Vatican II at all.
For all intents and purposes it is, as not a single V II document was published at the time of writing. As I'm sure you know.
[:)] [;)]
fgh said:Ah, I didn't realize he was actually at the Council. Then he might have had time to hear the earliest discussions on the Liturgy before writing, but certainly not on the Priesthood, which is a 1965 document.
Definitely, although Presbyterorum Ordinis was never really controversial in its texts or implementation, unlike Sacrosanctum Consilium.
“The trouble is that everyone talks about reforming others and no one thinks about reforming himself.” St. Peter of Alcántara
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