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Title: The Changing Face of the Priesthood: A Reflection on the Priest's Crisis of Soul by Donald B. Cozzens ISBN: 0-8146-2504-5 Publisher: Liturgical Press Pub. Date: February, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.52 (29 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: An excellent study of the good and the bad in the priesthood
Comment: Fr. Cozzens' book is a small one -- only 143 pages -- but in those pages he has put together some of the best and most challenging insights into the Roman Catholic priesthood that I have ever seen. Cozzens' is no stranger to this subject -- he has been a vicar for priests and is currently in charge of a major seminary in Cleveland. This makes him extremely qualified to reflect on what he has seen, heard, and experienced in the priesthood over the past decades. Cozzens obviously has achieved what he calls on all priests to achieve -- a healthy balance between being a representative of the institutional church and being faithful to one's own vision and one's own person. This, at times, means raising uncomfortable issues. Some of the ones faced in this book include the need for emotional and spiritual maturity and integrity in priests today, and how that can be/has been achieved by many priests; serious consideration of celibacy and what is needed to live a healthy life as a celibate (i.e. intimacy); a presentation of the tension between priest-bishop-church and how priests must deal with that tension; and the need for priests to let God's Word speak to them to empower them to be the best preachers they can be. Finally, the most controversial areas Cozzens deals with are around the seeming increasing number of gay men in the priesthood and what that means for the gay priest, the straight priest, and the institution of the priesthoood itself; and the painful reality of clergy sexual abuse of children and the unasked questions about its causes.
The only thing I was disappointed in was Fr. Cozzens' lack of specific suggestions to address some of these issues. My hope is that perhaps he might do a follow-up to this book in which he articulates some to help begin a much needed conversation about the priesthood in our church today.
I am grateful to Fr. Cozzens for his book and for being a model priest who loves the church and the priesthood enough to help it to grow and be transformed and renewed. My own faith has been strengthened by reading "The Changing Face of the Priesthood," and I recommend it to any priest, any relative of a priest, and anyone who has a priest as a friend.
Rating: 5
Summary: The truth will set you free, but first it will make you mad!
Comment: Fr. Cozzens has no axes to grind. He obviously loves The Church. He's the president-rector of a seminary preparing young men for the priesthood. He is not an angry ex-Catholic or an outsider throwing stones through the stained glass windows. He doesn't discuss the shortcomings of priests for the sake of prurient interest or to create scandal. He does speak the truth about some serious issues facing the priesthood in the American Catholic Church. As Jesus said, "The truth shall set you free."
Donald Cozzen's book, "The Changing Face of The Priesthood," is a credible, "must read" for Catholics seeking a greater understanding of their Church and its leaders.
I am a Catholic priest ordained several decades ago and nothing I read in this book surprised or shocked me. That such a prominent Churchman/theolgian took the risk to publish this book is a wake up call to face some painful issues.
With the Church and priesthood suffering from post traumatic shock syndrome from the recent revelations of coverups, this book is even more "required reading" for Catholics than before the scandal broke.
In chapter four, "Facing the Unconcious," Fr. Cozzens applies Freud's theory of the unresolved Oedipal complex to institution of the priesthood. I recommend this chapter to anyone looking to face their own "shadow." I belive that every seminarian in the world should be required to study this chapter and meditate upon how it manifests in his own life. Powerful stuff.
Rating: 4
Summary: An Honest, Loving, yet Critical Look at Priesthood
Comment: When I heard Donald Cozzens speak about a year ago, he started off his talk by saying something to the effect of "Some of you may have heard I wrote a book and you know about chapter 7. There are other chapters as well." Chapter 7 deals with sexual orientation and the priesthood and at the time, it got quite a bit of press coverage. The heart of the book went largely ignored. Interestingly he even included a chapter on clergy sexual abuse, why it needs to be addressed and how it can be remedied, but the interest in this chapter was scant as compared with the chapter on sexual orientation. Many of the issues covered were hardly as sensational. Other reformers had called for optional celibacy. Others studies noted the discontent in priesthood or the identity crisis facing many in the priesthood. Still, many who read this work believed it could not be ignored. Fr. Cozzens was after all, a former seminary rector, charged with the responsibility of training priests. He should know, shouldn't he? Shouldn't his words be acknowledged as accurate? Interestingly, in January 2002, when the clergy sexual abuse crisis hit the front pages of newspapers, and rumors people believed to be malicious turned all too often turned out to be true, many realized that Fr. Cozzens book was not a critical look at ministerial priesthood, but rather prophetic.
Cozzens book is important to the debate on how the priesthood needs to be reformed. His words are impassioned, but not biased. He clearly loves his priesthood, but knows that the ministry of a priest is far more important than clinging to models which may be impractical and ideals which may be impossible to attain. His book is not one that offers simple solutions, but rather challenges a person to examine the priesthood and the Church itself with the goal of saving, and not destroying and institution through which many find Christ.
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Title: Sacred Silence: Denial and the Crisis in the Church by Donald B. Cozzens ISBN: 081462779X Publisher: Liturgical Press Pub. Date: November, 2002 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: The Other Side of the Altar: One Man's Life in the Catholic Priesthood by Paul E. Dinter ISBN: 0374299668 Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux Pub. Date: 31 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
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Title: The Spirituality of the Diocesan Priest by Donald B. Cozzens ISBN: 0814624219 Publisher: Liturgical Press Pub. Date: June, 1997 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: A People Adrift : The Crisis of the Roman Catholic Church in America by Peter Steinfels ISBN: 0684836637 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 05 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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Title: The First Five Years of Priesthood: A Study of Newly Ordained Catholic Priests by Dean R. Hoge, Jackson W. Carroll, Robert J. Silva ISBN: 0814628044 Publisher: Liturgical Press Pub. Date: August, 2002 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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