It’s the question priests most hate to hear: “How much is a Mass, Father?” Most priests have a standard explanation for reply, about Mass being a pearl of great price, an event of inestimable value, that the Mass can’t be bought or sold (and that attempts to trade in religious things have gotten the Church…
Fr Ciaran Dougherty OP At the beginning of the Metaphysics, Aristotle said “all men desire to know.” And he was right. But he wasn’t just talking about the acquisition of random knowledge, he had a very specific thing in mind. He wanted to know what was what. This day after your ordination, it may seem that…
Over the last 20 years or so, I’ve noticed that many with a vocation to priesthood have headed for religious communities like the Dominicans or Franciscans rather than diocesan life. Mothers have expressed their relief that this was their sons’ choice, rather than what they perceived as the loneliness of diocesan life. I’ve often wondered…