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The parish priest who has grown in paschal wisdom will naturally demonstrate pastoral charity in his actions and in his person. The experience of this deep and abiding love for the Church and the Lord’s people is the consummation and satisfaction of the priest’s call to holiness through service. Pastoral charity is the hallmark of the priesthood.

Today, family life faces many serious challenges that can undermine the vocation of spouses and deflate a child’s development into an attentive and thoughtful young adult. Over the last several years, I have been struck by the number of authors who have offered reflections and guidance for the formation of the family and what we can refer to as intentional parenting for child development.

In this special Year for Priests, we have an occasion to reflect on the core grace that animates a parish priest’s ministry: paschal wisdom. This grace fortifies the priestly vocation as it faces the challenges that are inevitable in any busy ministry today.

There are several challenges that we should consider here. The following common mistakes can exist in various degrees in a particular priest’s vocation or in the diocesan structures. There can be a tendency to celebrate extra-ministerial achievements as more worthy and important than the daily routine of pastoral life and work in the parish. It is possible to allow scandals, the decreasing number of priests and the ever-increasing demands on priests to go without prayerful reflection. It also is a mistake to see the presbyterate as a nonreligious community with only loose references to fraternity. Another possible mistake is for priests to avoid speaking fraternally among themselves about religious matters and faith concerns. Finally, many different forces can lead a priest to adopt agreeable and pleasant components from the religious and lay vocations to form a compromised lifestyle marked by secular materialism and pious overture.

As Catholics our observance of Advent is our strongest response to a frenzied holiday season of shopping, office parties, social events and greeting cards. The season of Advent affords all Christians time to appreciate the greatest affirmation humanity has ever received – the Nativity of the Savior.

The birth of God as man is itself an act by God of profound humility. The Christ is not to be found in a palace or in a family of social advantage. Without any loss to his being God, Jesus is born in the poverty of the stable. He takes on flesh and all that being human entails save sin. God humbles himself to show us his way of love (Ps 25:9). His experience of poverty isn’t limited to the economic; he enters the poverty of all mankind. God, who is love, comes to know the ravages of our human pain, prejudice and persecution from within the frame of human experience. God comes with glorious works not for his sake, but ours. He comes in a free act of love to be with us just as one friend lovingly desires time with the other friend. With this wonderful expression of God’s love for mankind, we, as the people of God, are filled with great anticipation, hope and joy.

A day doesn’t go by without some assault leveled at the authority of the Church to teach on issues of the moral life. From concerns of justice in the workplace and the dignity of family life to procreation and euthanasia, there are many areas of the moral life that the Church is compelled to address as a moral voice in the modern world. Most recently, the possible inclusion of public tax dollars in paying for abortions in the proposed national health care reform calls for the Church to stand firm for health coverage for everyone, but not at the expense of innocent life. Thus, a proper understanding of what "authority" entails is essential if the Church’s voice is to be heard among the many competing calls for various personal freedoms.

This is the first part of a yearlong series.

The time is right for a Year for Priests. The last 40 years have been challenging for the Catholic Church. Many good men who serve as Roman Catholic priests have been demoralized by the dramatic changes since Vatican II; the decline in Mass attendance and confessions; the scandals of sex abuse; secularism’s erosion of morals, faith and family; and the decline in the number of men ordained to the priesthood.

While liturgical icons have only gained popularity over the past 20 years in the West, the transcendent beauty of icons is well-appreciated by the Eastern Church. In the East, the spirituality surrounding icons is everywhere. Most Eastern Churches are graced with these wonderful creations of faith, calling believers to a deeper experience of God and his works.

By definition, an icon is more than just a picture or portrait of an individual; an icon engages the faithful in an experience of the truth of God’s revelation, namely Jesus Christ, the Blessed Mother and the saints. Icons serve to foster and better our faith in the Incarnation of the Son of God. The Council of Nicaea II was clear in affirming that the tradition of sacred images was handed down from the earliest times of the Church and, as a matter of faith, confirmed that the Incarnation of the Word of God was real and, in fact, did occur.