The smell of the sheep is not something external to the priest that he may put on from time to time when engaging in ministry.
Priesthood
Posted inNews
Top 10 takeaways from a report on the 400 men becoming US priests in 2026
A new report sheds light on the age, education, work experience and upbringing of the 428 ordinands who will become priests this spring.
Posted inNews
Pope Leo to wash the feet of 12 priests on Holy Thursday, highlighting support for clergy
Rome-based Dominican Father Patrick Briscoe cautioned against viewing Pope Leo’s decision as a critique of Pope Francis, who often washed the feet of inmates and the underprivileged on Holy Thursday.
Posted inNews
Marriage or the priesthood? Pope Leo XIV shares advice for discerning one’s vocation
Pope Leo XIV has shared his advice for how to discern one’s vocation, starting with the importance of creating space for interior silence to “hear what the Lord desires for our happiness.”
Posted inNews
Belgian bishop says he will ‘make every effort’ to ordain married men by 2028
In a pastoral letter published March 19, Bishop Johan Bonny of Antwerp wrote that the question is “no longer whether” married men can be ordained, but “when” and “who will do it.”
Posted inBooks
Review: Parables of a Greenland priest
Henrik Pontoppidan’s ‘The White Bear’ gives us two novellas that work in conversation with each other. Both feature burly, uncouth protagonists who endure episodes of childhood trauma and develop a fiercely independent way of engaging with the world.
Posted inVatican Dispatch
Pope Leo praises heroic action of priest killed by Israeli tank fire in Lebanon
Pope Leo called Father Pierre al-Rahi, who rushed to help parishioners wounded by Israeli fire, “a true shepherd, who always stayed beside his people, with the love and sacrifice of Jesus the Good Shepherd.”
Posted inShort Take
Only half of U.S. priests trust their bishop. Here’s how to strengthen that relationship—and the church’s mission.
A recent survey found that only 52 percent of U.S. diocesan priests said they trusted their own bishop. This is more than a workplace issue; it is also a deep pastoral challenge.
Posted inFrom Our Archives
From 1982: Cardinal O’Connor on military chaplains
Bishop John J. O’Connor, then the auxiliary bishop to the Military Vicar, wrote on chaplains in ‘America’ in 1982.
Posted inNews
A priest is walking from Pope Leo’s childhood home to Ellis Island to highlight plight of migrants
A Chicago-area priest is on a mission to highlight the plight of families upended by the current mass deportation efforts in the United States by making a 50-day pilgrimage—on foot—from Chicago to New York.