The Protestant's Guide

To the Roman Catholic Priesthood

Having been raised in non catholic traditions, mostly presbyterian (baptized and confirmed) I feel like your tour guide here to the roman catholic priesthood. I never met an RC priest until the age of 24 when i went to Georgetown Law School. Saint Isaac Joques it turns out was a Jesuit martyr and a church by that name sat next to my junior high but I never went inside. Later I visited his Shrine and thanked him.
My family was traditional conservative religious and we have deacons in the family (father and grandfather actually who insisted we read the bible and did from the time we could read which is why I know chapter and verse better than some priests and love being a lector.) The good and kind priest at law school there started me on a journey where i wanted to meet more in California after graduation. He was cool-wore berkinstocks before they were fashionable and was Byzantine Rite- he knew how to decorate elaborate russian easter eggs and was eceumenical in his approach, warm and embracing. He had an obvious care about the students- there he is over 25 years later still serving the community of eager legal beagles.
You don't probably know his name because he isn't one angling for publicity- which he could easily get as the pastor to students who went on to become legislators, judges and esteemed legal professionals all over the country.

Then there is the lawyer turned priest who is the pastor and runs a society named after the first Bishop of the US John Carroll whose brother was actually a signer of the declaration of independence. He has heard the confessions I imagine of a few Supreme Court Justices. He is a scholarly sort of priest and went to the place where I think the best priests come from in Rome (except from where all the Jesuits come from because you will never meet a bad Jesuit priest, they are all definitionally exceptional I find)- Gregorian, and the North American College in Rome. I love all the priests I have ever met who did their studies there staying at the North American College. Something about being steeped in the history of Christendom surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses as those Roman martyrs forged the character of this fraternity of priests. They are all living testimonies to the Gospels. If you were inclined to donate to the priesthood, the North American College in Rome would be top of my list- Fr. Kevin, Fr. Evelio, Msgr. Vaghi, and now the bright and brilliant Fr. Charlie Gallagher (don't call him 'chuck!'). They are internationally experienced-they speak multiple languages often (at least passable italian) and they are smart fellows. Really smart typically in a spiritually discerning sense.
These guys are a cut above in their humility, gentleness and frankly, brilliance in expositing the gospel and most importantly, desire to see the goodness of God manifest in the world. When I think of the year of the Priest, now over (thank God ) , I pray for them.
Fr. Evelio literally casts out demons- there are a few that visit the homeless ministry in the basement of Saint Matthews Cathedral to create havoc and he puts order in the place. He brings people back from the edge. You won't see him angling for publicity in the Catholic Standard or lauding his background which is indeed impressive. He was an El Salvadoran immigrant who came to America with the clothes on his back after the civil war there. He patiently kindly gently reads scripture to the spanish speaking homeless men and women in the basement of Saint Matthews and leads a discussion group over breakfast. He also is hysterical -great sense of humor. Now with budget cuts he has taken over the mantle of the social justice ministry as well as his other many duties- so please pray extra hard for him as he does the work of ten men and women.

Fr. Kevin is hard to call Father because he looks 12 and a half. But he is deep. I remember that I was arguing federal cases before federal judges at his age so he must be qualified- even though he looks 12 and a half. His homilies are more inspiring than even Joel Osteen at times. He was disarming in his humility as a new lecturer in the Saint Matthews scripture class, and showed slides of his trips to places Saint Paul visited in Greece. He has no pretentions. Unpretentious- just a good kind priest.

Fr. Charles is a brand new baby priest so if you run into him give him a few pointers and breaks and pray for him also. Young women working on the hill will call him 'Father What A Waste" because he is so georgeous- so he will need more of your prayers until they change the rule. He will have his heart broken in twelve.
You can't say enough about the singularity of mission and devotion of a priest like Msgr. Vaghi whom it was once remarked of his downtown parish when he was there that he knew the first names of his homeless friends as much as the paying customers.
He reminds me of those saints like Teresa of Avila who were given the vision that "no one gets out of hell" so he is about your soul's salvation and he means business. He gives regular lectures to professionals in DC expositing scripture- you clearly understand some people are called by the Spirit to Teach- he is one of them.
With the exception probably of Fr .Evelio, who as a hispanic american grasps discrimination in different ways, They all likely suffer from the generally wrong attitudes about spiritual deficiencies of womenkind no fault of their own- it's what has been historically taught-

There are a few of what my father called the "Elmer Gantries" of the lot, and I am not talking about pedofiles who are so unworthy of a clerical collar they should be on street cleaning duty in orange jumpsuits spearing garbage off the highway. Why even dignify them with press coverage, just lock them up, end of story.

Temptations to ego, cults of personality and social climbing status seeking are not alien to the priesthood, and good ones know how to cast those demons out also. Here is a hint- if your priest is all about him, and can't stop wanting to read about himself in blogs, the catholic standard or the various sodality newsletters powdering his nose for his next close up, he's not all about his congregation, he's probably struggling with his 'vocation' and doth protest too much. If he loves to see his name in lights and press, cater to whomever is giving out free pilgrimmage trips to priests, he is angling to be a Bishop and he cares about you less than the next Sera contributor who writes a bigger check. If your church bulletin doesn't contain any scriptural exposition ever in the pastoral letter, watch for the cult of personality. And Run little sheep, run. There are few more sinister things than a cult of personality in a priesthood- and lessons abound regarding predatory priests where God rails on self-dealing self-serving priests in the First Testament. There is more than one way to be a predatory priest. There are some who do profound spiritual destruction. The same can be said for those white robed ones hiding out in houses of study idealizing Saint Thomas Acquinas, that mysogynist sexist who wrote that female fetuses could be aborted much longer in the gestational process because women were just watered down men- try to develop an entire theological orientation with your head wrapped around that deception and you will figure out why there are no women priests and they rank only as customers or distraction.

All in all, priests are still not Rabbis to whom, the book of Hebrews teaches, the 'oracles' of God are given. The oracles of God are given to the Jews. So you still need a good Rabbi.

I have been a lawyer now for over twenty years. I don't have to convince anyone I am a lawyer, it's just who I am. I know stuff- I regularly read cases and legal blogs and file things in courts and argue before judges. I don't have to go on TV and say, here's why I knew I would be a lawyer. One day I was in rosary throwing distance of a judge, a big judge- actually I sat next to Justice Sandra Day O'Connor at a brunch, or I met Thurgood Marshall, or Rhenquist and that nailed it for me. If I have been a good lawyer for 20 years no one needs to know that to know I am a good lawyer. Priests do that though- I remember when I was in earshot of JPII....

I can say that too- I saw JPII twice alive, once in rosary distance at Saint Peter's. I have seen Benedict in person twice, once at the regular Wednesday audience at the Vatican and once as he passed by waving from the fortified armored Popemobile.
Nothing about any of those experiences made me more pious. Because that is something internal and doesn't come with the wave of a papal wand or sign of a cross in the air. Spiritual character doesn't come with club membership or officer training camp. It's something much deeper. Some priests get it. Like all the above.