Scott Hahn [Hahn - Many Are Called: Rediscovering the Glory of the Priesthood

ALSO BY SCOTT HAHN

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Signs of Life: 40 Catholic Customs and the Difference They Make

Understanding the Scriptures: A Complete Course on Bible Study

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Kinship by Covenant: A Canonical Approach to the Fulfillment of Gods Saving Promises

Rome Sweet Home: Our Journey to Catholicism (with Kimberly Hahn)

The Catholic Bible Dictionary (General Editor)

For Monsignor George Yontz, pastor, father, and friend,

in gratitude for a life of priestly service

and your dedication to changing our lives for the better

Foreword
By Archbishop Timothy Dolan

1
Measures of Manhood:
Not Your Average Joe

2
The Priest Common Denominator:
A Review of the Basics

3
Spiritual Paternity:
The Priest as Father

4
Standing in the Gap:
The Priest as Mediator

5
Born to Be Breadwinner:
The Priest as Provider

6
Go, Teach All Nations:
The Priest as Teacher

7
Love Is a Battlefield:
The Priest as Warrior

8
Orders and the Court:
The Priest as Judge

9
Restless Hearts:
The Priest as Bridegroom

10
Providential Paradox:
The Priest as Celibate Father

11
Fraternity Pledged:
The Priest as Brother

12
Mystery Man:
The Priesthood of the New Covenant

E VER SINCE I was a boy, I recognized there was something unique about priests. I knew that they had great responsibilities. I saw that they were always there for the most important moments in lifebaptisms, weddings, funerals, or the side of sickbeds. I figured they were special because they were Jesus men, men who radiated joy in the service of the Church, men set apart for the things of God. I knew that their lives werent easy; neither was Jesus. Yet I also knew that their sacrifices were the stuff that made life worth living, just like Jesus. And from early on, I wanted to be one.

I thank the Lord daily for the Church, for the People of God, and especially for men like Dr. Scott Hahn. In Many Are Called: Rediscovering the Glory of the Priesthood, Scott speaks profoundly about the priesthood. His insights are compelling. As a former Presbyterian minister, now a Catholic theologian, and as a loving husband and the father of six children, Scott looks upon priests from a matchless vantage point. He says, When men really know what the priesthood is, they are instinctively attracted to it. It is instinctively attractive. One of the strong points of Many Are Called is Scotts explanation of the priesthood as a call of Christ to men who come to serve as fathers, protectors, and providers for the People of God.

Throughout the pages of Many Are Called, Scott traces some of the story lines of the history of salvation, plumbs the depths of Sacred Scripture, and outlines Gods plan for the priesthood. For example, he speaks of Adam and Abram as priestly prototypes, the former in his fatherhood of humanity and the latter in terms of his mediation for Sodom; likewise, he reminds us of how priests and mediators like Peter and Paul exercised the role of fatherhood as Gods coworkers. Just as men often are identified by their trades, identified as who they are by what they do, so Scott shows how priests strive to imitate the Word they preach. Each priest is another Christ.

As Church and as priests, said Pope Benedict XVI, when inaugurating June 2009 to June 2010 as the Year for Priests, we proclaim Jesus of Nazareth Lord and Christ, Crucified and Risen, Sovereign of time and of history, in the glad certainty that this truth coincides with the deepest expectations of the human heart. The human heart is, indeed, only satisfied with Christ. As Saint Augustine reminds us in his Confessions, our hearts will ever be restless until they rest in God. Scott, one of our foremost Catholic theologians, helps us to see the priests role in mediating Gods peace to his people.

In this Year for Priests, each of us has an exceptional opportunity to reflect upon the priesthood. It is my fervent prayer that this Year for Priests will bear much fruit: an increase in vocations to the priesthood, a renewal among priests of their own identity, a sense of gratitude among Gods people for the priesthood, and a more profound devotion to Christ the High Priest. It is with a sense of awe and gratitude that I shall reflect not only on my boyhood experiences, but also on my own thirty-three years of priesthood. I invite you, as you read Many Are Called, to join with me in rediscovering the glory of the priesthood.

+ Timothy M. Dolan
Archbishop of New York
November 30, 2009
Year for Priests

J OE F REEDY enjoyed the kind of life my friends and I envied when we were teens. He was starting quarterback for the State University of New York at Buffalo. The Bulls are an NCAA Division I team, so his games were broadcast worldwide on ESPN and other sports networks. As a senior, he finished fourth in his conference in passing yards. Two of the men ahead of him, Ben Roethlisberger and Byron Leftwich, would go on to be superstars in the National Football League. He was on the must invite list for the best parties on campus, and with his linebacker roommate he went from one to the next. He had movie-star good lookseven when he wasnt wearing his helmet and face maskand most of the universitys thousands of young women knew who he was.

My buddies and I dreamed of such a life, with sports to gratify our competitive urges, television cameras to feed our egos, beautiful girls to confirm our sex appealand the promise of prodigious earning power, from a professional contract and endorsements. For us, that all added up to fulfillment. It marked a certain pinnacle of manhood.

Joe Freedy was Catholic, one of five children raised by devout parents, but God was second-string in his life and spent most of the time forgotten on the sidelines. Joe later recalled for a reporter: I was into football and image. Id put in an hour Sunday and as soon as I hit the parking lot I forgot about God until next Sunday.

Football and image remained his preoccupations. What else was there? Old Milwaukee used to advertise its beer with scenes from the sporting and partying life. They ran with the tag line: It doesnt get any better than this. Maybe thats what Joe Freedy believed.