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Beyond Priests

The Future of Ministry in the Catholic Church

Paul Collins Paul Collins

$49.99

Hardback

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English
Sheed & Ward
18 February 2025
Beyond Priests contends that the requirements of the clerical priesthood of the Catholic Church—that all priests must be male, and that all priests must be celibate—is a gross distortion of scripture and the church’s early history that must be changed. While the roots of the modern priesthood go back to the fourth century and even more remotely to the presbyters or elders who advised local bishops in the early church, the contemporary priestly model is very much the product of seventeenth-century French reformers acting to apply a 1563 decree on the priesthood of the Council of Trent. The present-day priestly model has increasingly become harmful, even toxic, not only to priests themselves, but to the ministry and the Catholic community. Based on the historical analysis, Beyond Priests outlines a whole new way of approaching ministry and leadership that is in tune with contemporary needs, is inclusive of women and men, and is more authentically derived from the New Testament and the early church.
By:   ,
Imprint:   Sheed & Ward
Country of Publication:   United States
Dimensions:   Height: 216mm,  Width: 140mm,  Spine: 17mm
Weight:   313g
ISBN:   9798881802608
Pages:   144
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Paul Collins is a broadcaster, historian, and writer with nearly forty years of experience in radio and television. He has worked in various capacities, including as a producer, correspondent, and commentator on TV and radio channels in Australia, the United States, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Collins has contributed to channels such as the BBC, NPR, Sky TV News, and Al-Jazeera network. He covered two papal elections in 2005 and 2013 for ABC, SBS, and the Seven Network. Collins has also taught church history, theology, and ministry in Australia, the United States, and several Pacific countries, having served as director of the Weber Center in Adrian, Michigan, lectured in Australian history at the University of Papua New Guinea, and worked as a parish priest in Sydney, Canberra, Launceston, and Hobart. With seventeen books in print, including Absolute Power: How the Pope Became the Most Influential Man in the World (2018), The Birth of the West: Rome, Germany, France, and the Creation of Europe in the Tenth Century (2013), and Judgment Day: The Struggle for life on Earth (2010) Collins is a prolific writer. He has also contributed articles to many of Australia’s leading newspapers and magazines, as well as to international publications like the London Tablet, the National Catholic Reporter in the US, and magazines across Germany, Austria, and Italy.

Reviews for Beyond Priests: The Future of Ministry in the Catholic Church

Paul Collins has made a compelling case to open the Catholic priesthood to women and married men. Not a new call, but now an urgent one. As the Church grapples for relevancy, Collins calls for a priestly ministry that not only reflects the lives of those it serves but also looks like those lives because it is those lives. The resonance with the challenge of Pope Francis for priests to have the scent of their flock is strong. The potency of Collins comes from his scholarship and authentic pastoral sensitivities. The insight of Collins is that change trumps decay.--Francis Sullivan, AO, chair of Concerned Catholics There is nothing else comparable to this one short volume on the need to rethink and restructure the role of the presider in the Church in light of all the other ministries carried on by the baptized.--Charles E. Curran, PhD, author of Loyal Dissent: Memoir of a Catholic Theologian


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