CAPG's Blog 

Jerome (...) wrote (...) a famous letter in which he enumerated the austere duties of the sacerdotal life. Amongst many other lessons to be found in it is the following, which applies to all preachers, and which Fenelon has inserted in his third " Dialogue upon Eloquence":

"When teaching in the church do not excite the applause but rather the lamentations of the people; let the tears of your auditors be your commendation. The sermons of a priest should overflow with Holy Scripture. Be not an orator, but a sincere expounder of the mysteries of your God."

Source: Saint Jerome by Father Largent, translated by Hester Davenport 1913

Kneelers at Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, Raleigh NC

“The practice of kneeling for Holy Communion has in its favor a centuries-old tradition, and it is a particularly expressive sign of adoration, completely appropriate in light of the true, real and substantial presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ under the consecrated species.” Cardinal Ratzinger

"The Council also said nothing about moving the Tabernacle. It said nothing about removing altar rails. It said nothing about taking out kneelers. It said nothing about turning the altar around. It said nothing about multiple canons. That, too, is an invention; a pure invention." Father Fessio, SJ 1999

“The Church from Rome never said to remove the altar rails.” Cardinal Arinze

“It distinguishes between the sanctuary and the nave and the priest from the people. It harkens back to the Jewish understanding of the Holy of Holies where the people are invited to confidently step up to the very edge of the Holy of Holies in reverence.” Without an altar rail, he wrote, “the people approach the Communion station and, after receiving Communion, hurriedly depart. A panoramic devotional view of a beautiful sanctuary, like the splendor of decorations adorning a wedding feast, is thus unlikely. The reception of Communion is individualistic, not communal.” The Magic of the Altar Rail

"The Catholics are bigoted." But, which, I ask, is the greater bigot, the catholic, who, perhaps quietly dropping his beads, and insulting no one, is yet indeed forcibly attached to his religion, because it is the religion of the saints, and the faith of every age, or the protestant, who, although, it may be, he is not attached to any peculiar creed, still, with relentless animosity, insults his catholic brethren; misrepresenting their tenets, vilifying their characters; casting suspicion upon their sincerity; and calling down upon them, not merely the ill will of the state; but, what is worse, the ill will of their fellow-citizens; which of these, I ask, is the greater bigot! No doubt, it is the latter.

Well; and if so, then it is likewise true, that the bigots of the latter description are, I do not say, general, but exceedingly common, even in the best educated ranks of Protestantism."

Source: The Catholic's Manual. Jacques Bossuet  1817

"Unless a Priest esteem the Holy Sacrifice as it deserves, he can never celebrate it with suitable devotion. Assuredly there is no action, which man can perform, so sublime, so sacred, as the celebration of Mass.

God Himself could not enable a man to perform anything greater than the celebration of Mass."

Source: Sacerdos sanctificatus; or, Discourses on the Mass and Office, St. Alphonsus Liguori 1861

“The Catholic Church is not a loose federation where different national synods or gatherings and prominent leaders are able to reject essential elements of the Apostolic Tradition”. Cardinal Pell

"Oh, how sad would be the state of society were the Popes, the bishops and priests to be banished from the earth! The bonds that unite the husband and wife, the child and the parent, the friend and the friend would be broken. Peace and justice would flee from the earth. Robbery, murder, hatred, lust, and all the other crimes condemned by the Gospel, would prevail. Faith would no longer elevate the souls of men to heaven. Hope, the sweet consoler of the afflicted, of the widow and the orphan, would flee away, and in he stead would reign black despair, terror, and suicide. Where would we find the sweet virtue of charity, if the Popes, the bishops and priests were to disappear forever? Where would we find that charity which consoles the poor and forsaken, which lovingly dies the tears of the widow and the orphan; that charity which soothes the sick man in his sufferings, and binds up the wounds of the bleeding defender of his country? Where would we find that charity which casts a spark of divine fire into the hearts of so many religious, bidding them abandon home, friends, and everything that is near and dear to them in this world , to go among strangers, among savage tribes, and gain there, in return for their heroism, nothing but outrage, suffering and death?

Where, I ask, would we find this charity, if the Popes, the bishops and priests were to disappear forever?

Leave a parish for many years without a priest, and the people thereof will become the blind victims of error, of superstition, and of all kinds of vices.

Show me an age, a country, a nation without priests, and I will show you an age, a country, a nation without morals, without virtue. Yes, if "Religion, Science, Liberty, and Justice, Principle and Right, " are not empty sounds - if they have a meaning, they owe their energetic existence in the world to the "salt of the earth" to the Popes, bishops and priests."

Source: The Catholic Priest, Rev. Michael Muller C.S.S.R

Prayer for Zealous Priests

Sanctify to Thyself, O my Lord, the hearts of Thy priests, that, by the merits of Thy sacred humanity, they may become living images of Thee, children of Mary, and full of the fire of the Holy Ghost, that they may guard Thy house, and defend Thy glory, and that through their ministry the face of the earth may be renewed, and they may save those souls which have costs Thee all Thy blood. Amen

Queen of the Apostles, pray thy Son, the Lord of the Harvest, to send laborers into His harvest, and to spare His people. Amen.

The Prayer Book. Imprimatur Samuel Cardinal Stritch Archbishop of Chicago, May 10, 1954.

The Bishop is the principal teacher in the faith community. As such, he must be devoted to preaching the Gospel constantly. That preaching aims at illuminating to the faithful what they must believe and put into practice, while steering them away from every error that is life-threatening to the spirit.

Source: The Duties of the Bishop, Most Rev. Robert James Carlson

"(...) The bad or careless confessor, who is ignorant, imprudent, lazy, and negligent, is a plague in Christ's  Holy Church. He is not an emissary of God, but an agent of the devil. He is not a doctor of heaven but of hell, for as God has his patriarchs so the devil has heresiarchs. As God has His prophets, apostles and martyrs, so , too the devil has his prophets, apostles and martyrs.

The unworthy confessor is not a divine judge, but another Pilate, pronouncing sentence upon Christ and the souls that the Son of God died to redeem. He is not a mediator for God, but for the devil, not a dispenser of heavenly blessings but a profaner of divine mysteries and sacraments. In a word, instead of being another Christ, he is a very devil.

No tongue can tell the evil the bad confessor commits. He does great harm to the Church, persecuting it more cruelly than Nero, Diocletian, and the tyrants of history. Would to God that all priests who administer the Sacrament of Penance might meditate seriously on these truth! Would to God  that they might consider the inestimable good that they would accomplish if they were animated with the same spirit an if they followed the same maxims! They would completely overthrow the devil's tyranny and snatch souls from perdition. Would they might open their ears to the words of the Holy Spirit: "Take heed what you do; for you exercise not the judgment of man, but of the Lord." (2 Par. 19,6) Take heed in very truth for what you do  is not temporary, but eternal. What you perform does not concern an earthly kingdom, but the kingdom of God. You handle the treasure of heaven; you are responsible for the salvation or the damnation of souls. Remember to bring to your task the care and application demanded; have the necessary qualifications. Otherwise, the absolution you give may become so many damnation for you. Never forget that when you say the words: Ego to Absolvo, the eternal judge may reply, if you are unworthy, Ego te condemno."

Source: The Priest his dignities and obligations, St. John Eudes

"The first duty of the flock is to defend itself. The true children of Holy Church, at such times, are those who walk by the light of their Baptism, not the cowardly souls who, under the specious pretext of submission to the powers that be, delay their opposition to the enemy in the hope of receiving instructions which are neither necessary nor desirable."

Source: Dom Prosper Guéranger, The Liturgical Year

"Pray, pray for your priests; every nation, every diocese gets the clergy it deserves.
We priests are only earthen vessels, you know for yourselves many of the shortcomings, hasty temper and slovenly habits and so on, by which we often disgrace the livery we wear. But, when you observe such things, you merely shrug your shoulders, and say, "Pity Father So-and-so isn't more like poor Canon So-and-so". You should be on your knees,this next week, praying for the clergy everywhere, from the Holy Father himself down to the new priests [...]; praying for the seminaries too, the factories where the tools of Christ are made. God protect His Church in the anxious, bewildered days that are coming; and give us supply of good priests to work as the martyrs worked, to live as the martyrs lived, and if need be to die as the martyrs died, to the glory of His Holy Name."

Source: Monsignor Ronald Knox, Priesthood, Pastoral Sermons and Occasional Sermons