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"By the will and ordinance of God, its Founder, it (the Catholic Church) is a society perfect in its kind, whose office and mission it is to school mankind in the precepts and teachings of the Gospel, and by safeguarding the integrity of morals and the exercise of Christian virtue, to lead men to that happiness which is held out to everyone in heaven. And since it is, as We have said, a perfect society, therefore it is endowed with a living power and efficacy which is not derived from any external source, but from the ordinance of God and its own constitution, inherent in its very nature. For the same reason it has an inborn power to make laws, and justice requires that in its exercise it should be dependent on no one. It must also have freedom in other matters pertinent to its rights.

But this freedom is not of a kind to occasion rivalry or envy, for the Church does not covet power, nor is she urged on by any selfish desire. This one thing she wishes, and this only she seeks: to preserve among men the duties which virtue imposes, and by this means and in this way to provide for their everlasting welfare.

Source: Pope Leo XIII, encyclical Praeclara June 20, 1894. The American Ecclesiastical Review

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"The ambition of men, who have no fear of God, rushes into high posts, and exalted office is now publicly known as the prize of impiety. The result is, that the worse a man blasphemes, the fitter the people think him to be a bishop. Clerical dignity is a thing of the past. There is a complete lack of men shepherding the Lord's flock with knowledge. Ambitious men are constantly throwing away the provision for the poor on their own enjoyment and the distribution of gifts. There is no precise knowledge of canons. There is complete immunity in sinning; for when men have been placed in office by the favour of men, they are obliged to return the favour by continually showing indulgence to offenders. Just judgment is a thing of the past; and everyone walks according to his heart's desire. Vice knows no bounds; the people know no restraint. Men in authority are afraid to speak, for those who have reached power by human interest are the slaves of those to whom they owe their advancement. And now the very vindication of orthodoxy is looked upon in some quarters as an opportunity for mutual attack; and men conceal their private ill-will and pretend that their hostility is all for the sake of the truth. Others, afraid of being convicted of disgraceful crimes, madden the people into fratricidal quarrels, that their own doings may be unnoticed in the general distress. Hence the war admits of no truce, for the doers of ill deeds are afraid of a peace, as being likely to lift the veil from their secret infamy. All the while unbelievers laugh; men of weak faith are shaken; faith is uncertain; souls are drenched in ignorance, because adulterators of the word imitate the truth. The mouths of true believers are dumb, while every blasphemous tongue wags free; holy things are trodden under foot; the better laity shun the churches as schools of impiety; and lift their hands in the deserts with sighs and tears to their Lord in heaven. Even you must have heard what is going on in most of our cities, how our people with wives and children and even our old men stream out before the walls, and offer their prayers in the open air, putting up with all the inconvenience of the weather with great patience, and waiting for help from the Lord.

3. What lamentation can match these woes? What springs of tears are sufficient for them? While, then, some men do seem to stand, while yet a trace of the old state of things is left, before utter shipwreck comes upon the Churches, hasten to us, hasten to us now, true brothers, we implore you; on our knees we implore you, hold out a helping hand. May your brotherly bowels be moved toward us; may tears of sympathy flow; do not see, unmoved, half the empire swallowed up by error; do not let the light of the faith be put out in the place where it shone first."

Source: ST. BASIL OF CAESAREA To the Italians and Gauls. letter 92

Prayer for Spiritual Fathers

Most gracious Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for thou faithful priests and bishops, whose spiritual fatherhood and example of fidelity, self-sacrifice, and devotion is so vital to the faith of your people. May our spiritual fathers be guided by the example of St. John Vianney. Give them valiant faith in the face of confusion and conflict, hope in time of trouble and sorrow, and steadfast love for Thee, for their families, and for all Thou people throughout the world.

May the light of Thy Truth shine through their lives and their good works. Assist all spiritual fathers, that through Thy Grace they may steadily grow in holiness and in knowledge and understanding of Thy Truth. May they generously impart this knowledge to those who rely on them, Through Christ our Lord,

Amen.

"We must not be deterred by the idle reproach preferred by some that we are ever speaking of the Savior's Passion, that we exhibit the life and death of a Christian as an expiatory immolation. Now can we do otherwise? As ministers of the Gospel have we the right to preach anything but Jesus and Him crucified? Is other knowledge than this needed in the spiritual life of the faithful? If the Cross today is a scandal to the worldling and the sensualist, if it is only folly to the superficially brilliant and the proud, that is certainly no reason why the capital dogma of faith and salvation should be toned down or veiled to bring it into accord with an erroneous view.

We must preach this dogma, and in its entirety; the Cross prolonged in the Eucharist and touching the confines of heaven; the Cross the portion of the baptized, of the believer, of the communicant who must needs be sacrificed upon it, but only that he may live eternally; the Cross the loadstone of the ages, today more than ever sweetly drawing to itself privileged souls the nobles, the purest, the best, who become enamored of suffering in order to continue and complete the Passion of Jesus. Who can adequately tell the beauty, the fecundity of the Cross dominating as it does the Christian world?"

Source: The Priesthood in the Sacrifice of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by J. Grimal SM

"When you meet very serious difficulties in the path of holiness and the exercise of your ministry, turn your eyes and your mind trustfully to her who is the Mother of the Eternal Priest and therefore the loving Mother of all Catholic priests. You are well aware of the goodness of this Mother. In many regions you have been the humble instruments of the mercy of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in wonderfully reviving the faith and charity of the Christian people.

Our Lady loves everyone with a most tender lover, but She has a particular predilection for priests who are the living image of Jesus Christ. Take comfort in the thought of the love of the Divine Mother for each of you, and you will find the labors of your sanctification and priestly ministry much easier.

To the Beloved Mother of God, mediatrix of heavenly graces, We entrust the priests of the whole world in order that, through her intercession, God will vouchsafe a general outpouring of His Spirit which will move all ministers of the altar to holiness and, through their ministry, will spiritually renew the face of the earth."

Source: Pope Pius XII in his exhortation Menti nostrae, issued on Sept. 23, 1950. The translation is from p46 of the NCWC edition. Mary and the Priest, The American Ecclesiastical Review. March 1951.

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"Let the cause of schism be immediately cut off with the sword of St. Peter, that is, by a true confession of the faith in a synod, and the detestation and anathematisation of all heretics."

"The Roman Church admits to its communion none who impugn the Catholic faith."

Source: Publications of the Catholic Truth Society, Volume 10. Saint Columbanus (539-615) by the Rev. John Golden page1

"There is nothing so great as the Eucharist. If God had something more precious, He would have given it to us."

-- Saint Jean Vianney

"The priest must be a believer, one who converses with God. If this is not the case, then all his activities are futile."

Cardinal Josef Ratzinger

The honor of fasting consists not in abstinence from food, but in withdrawing from sinful practices.

For let not the mouth only fast but also the eye, and the ear, and the feet, and the hands, and all the members of our bodies. Let the hands fast by being pure from rapine and avarice. Let the feet fast by ceasing to run to unlawful spectacles. let the eyes fast, being taught never to fix themselves rudely upon handsome countenances, or to busy themselves with strange beauties. let the ear fast, refusing to receive evil speakings and calumnies. Let the mouth, too fast from disgraceful speeches and railings. For what doth it profit if we abstain from birds and fishes; and yet bite and devour our brethren?

What advantage shall we gain by abstinence from meats, if we do not also expel the evil habits of the soul.

St. Chrysostom

There are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God's plan for marriage and family. Marriage is holy, while homosexual acts go against the natural moral law. Homosexual acts “close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved”.

Source: Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Considerations Regarding Proposals to give Legal Recognition to Unions between Homosexual Persons

"Our vocation is not to go and reap in the Father's fields: Jesus does not say to us: " Cast down your eyes and reap the harvest"; our mission is still more sublime. Here are the words of the Divine Master: "Lift up your eyes and see..." see that in Heaven there are empty places; yours it is to fill them...you are as Moses praying on the mountain; ask of Me laborers and I will send them; I await but a prayer, a sigh from out your heart!"

-- St. Therese of Lisieux (St. Therese of Lisieux Spiritual Maxims)