"What does "Priesthood Sunday" mean to you?

By Paul Dion, STL


You are reading this a day or two before Sunday, so you are being told now that this Sunday, October 26, has been designated "Priesthood Sunday" by the universal Catholic Church. And the "Burning Question" feature of your favorite Catholic magazine is jumping into the fray early.

Rest assured that you are going to hear at least one of the following from the pulpit when you sit back and turn your ears on:

a) It is important that we honor our priests and render homage to them.
b) There are few priests in the active ministry and this is a grave problem for the entire world. c) There will be pleas for prayers and sacrifices for more priests.

All three of these concepts are valid and true. As you read these lines you were nodding your head, "yes." There is more, but the priests themselves will refrain from saying them. Since we are a little removed from them, maybe we can bring up the subject to help one another through the concept of "Priesthood Sunday."

In the form of a question then, let's join together and put some thoughts on the table that reflect our attitude toward our priests.

What is a good priest?
How can we help the Church to maintain good priests?
How can we help the Church to develop more good priests?

Let's work at it together. By answering these questions with our opinions, we will be contributing to the forming of good attitudes in the priests and in the laity with and for whom they work. Let's do it.

We will forward the answers/suggestions to the bishop that you name at the end of your comment.

BIBLE SERIES: What are your Personal Bible Habits?

By Paul Dion, STL

Editor's Note: This is Part 1 of our series on the Bible. It is an offshoot of the Bishop's Synod being held at the Vatican from October 5-26. Please follow this blog series and be enlightened on why the Bible needs to be part of our ongoing Christian life and experience.

The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church

"But you, remain faithful to what you have learned and believed, because you know from whom you learned it, and that from infancy you have known (the) sacred scriptures, which are capable of giving you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy, 14 - 17)

The Bishops of the world are going to Rome to discuss the topic as it appears above. Click here to read about the Bishop's Synod on the Word of God.

As you know, the Word of God is none other than Jesus. He is the one who brings God to us through His humanity. It is Jesus Christ who brings the life and the mission of God to us. It is Jesus who brings the fullness of the meaning of the Old Testament to us.

Jesus assured the continuation of His presence among us through the Church. The Holy Spirit the continuation of Christ's presence among us through the inspired written Word of the New Testament which is the fulfillment of the Old Testament, the Hebrew Scripture. The Sacred Scripture serves as a source of enlightenment (revelation) concerning what we understand about God through Jesus and His Church. ParishWorld.net is offering its readers the opportunity to state their opinions about their personal Bible reading habits. It is our goal to give you all some insight into the importance of the Sacred Scripture in the life of the Church and in our personal lives as well.

The first topic of importance is:

Do you own a Bible? If not, why not?
If you do own a Bible, do you read a part of the Bible on a daily basis? If not, why not?
If you do own a Bible, do you read a part of the Bible on a weekly basis? If not, why not?
Are you familiar with the parts of the Bible that you may hear on a weekly basis? Which are they?

We will stand by and react to your answers as they arrive.

Please post your comments and aanswers below. God bless.