Books

Why I Am A Priest: Thirty Success Stories, ed. Boadt, Hunt

Reviewed by Katie Lindorff

Contents - Mar 2001 - Buy a copy now Editorial: ACU theology: prompt action needed - Peter Westmore New cardinals to continue John Paul II's agenda - AD2000 Report News: The Church Around the World Seminary numbers up in orthodox US dioceses - Michael S. Rose How Archbishop Pell will implement Statement on Women in the Church Elizabeth Anscombe, R.I.P. - Robert P. George ACU theology: how orthodox, how accountable? - Michael Gilchrist Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter ordinations How monastic life can reinvigorate the Church - Fr Peter Knowles OP Cardinal Ratzinger on 'Third Secret' of Fatima What we must teach our children: Archbishop Chaput - Archbishop Charles J. Chaput New Catholic radio program to start in WA The surprise Cardinal: Fr Avery Dulles SJ - Zenit News Service Letters: Euthanasia in S.A. (letter) - Errol P. Duke Letters: Science and Christianity (letter) - Scot Chaston Letters: Enneagram workshop (letter) - Br Con Moloney CFC Letters: Church doctrine? (letter) - Frank Mobbs Letters: Anti-Catholicism (letter) - Frank Bellet Letters: Old liturgical books (letter) - Frank Carleton Letters: Latin (letter) - Karmenu Attard Letters: Supernatural order (letter) - Fr G.H. Duggan SM Letters: Misguided compassion (letter) Letters: G.K. Chesterton (letter) - Nancy McKelson Letters: EWTN tapes (letter) - John Lovegrove Letters: Vocations and orthodoxy (letter) - John Schmid Letters: Third Rite in Toowoomba (letter) - Mark Power Letters: Poem to Our Lady - Marion Craig Letters: Appeal from India (letter) - Kevin L. Fernandes Letters: Catholic education (letter) - Daniel Bryce Letters: Boredom? (letter) - Josephine Landsberg Books: Come To The Father: An Invitation to Share the Catholic Faith, Aidan Nichols OP - Christopher Quinn (reviewer) Books: Streams of Living Water: Autobiography of a Charismatic Leader - Anthony Cappello (reviewer) Books: Why the hopes of the Council Fathers of Vatican II are yet to be realised - Michael Daniel (reviewer) Books: Why I Am A Priest: Thirty Success Stories, ed. Boadt, Hunt - Katie Lindorff (reviewer) Books: The Pange Lingua Hymnal, compiled by Paul Newton - Fr Gregory Pritchard PP (reviewer) Reflection: Liturgy in the true spirit of Vatican II - Ralph McInerny

Why I Am A Priest: Thirty Success Stories, edited by Lawrence Boadt CSP and Michael J. Hunt CSP (Paulist Press, New York, 1999, RRP $17.95. Available from AD Books)

With the media constantly portraying priests as pedophiles or as anti-gay, anti-contraceptive, out-of-date, "old" men, Why I Am a Priest comes as a breath of fresh air. It is a book of thirty success stories of priests who love being priests.

Each of the thirty priests has written a short story on why he became a priest and why he is still a priest.

The stories differ, of course, but they all have similar themes running through them: their love of the Church, of the Pope, of the Holy Eucharist and of prayer are clearly evident in each of the stories.

The reasons these priests give for continuing to live their priesthood are also similar: the people they serve, the Eucharist they celebrate, and God's continuing call.

As Fr Lawrence Boadt says in the Introduction, "Ultimately, priesthood is not so much a work for the Church, as a life in and of the Church." All of the writers have discovered this in their vocation.

A prominent American churchman, who is quoted in the Introduction, describes the dignity of priesthood very well: "We are not indispensable 'functionaries' in the Church; we are bridges to the very mystery of God and healers of the soul."

Katie Lindorff is a Melbourne Catholic writer.

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 14 No 2 (March 2001), p. 16