This resource addresses the practical and pastoral issues in receiving priests, men and women religious, deacons, and lay leaders from other countries to minister in dioceses and parishes in the United States. The booklet contains step-by-step information on making a request for ministers, general qualifications needed, and suggestions for orientation and accountability of newly received ministers. Includes samples and a resource listing.

Diocesan administrators and finance officers, directors of religious institutes, and auditors will find Diocesan Financial Issues an indispensable guide to current church accounting and financial reporting standards. Superceding Accounting Principles and Reporting Practices for Churches and Church Related Organizations, this manual reflects the increasing complexity of today’s accounting principles and practices. Includes sections on annual appeals and special collections; finance officers and finance councils; compensation of priests, religious, and lay employees; record retention; foundations; federal funding; income taxes; sample financial statements; and other important topics and resources.

Includes norms concerning tenure for pastors, general absolution, holy days of obligation, alienation of church property, and lay judges in a collegiate tribunal. Also includes the text of three earlier pastoral statements covering penance and abstinence, mixed marriages, and priests and their third age.

Captures the historical and contemporary contributions of Catholic women to the Church and society.  Closed captioned.

Provides various portraits that show how the search for God takes form in the lives of different women religious.

Pope John Paul II speaks to the need for a fresh enthusiasm for a renewed and revitalized consecrated life.

This important document establishes a context for the collaboration between bishops and religious in light of the Second Vatican Council’s theology of communion. Also included are excerpts from Vita Consecrata and Pastores Gregis.

The national directory addresses the dimensions and perspectives in the formation of deacons and the model standards for the formation, ministry, and life of deacons in the United States. It is intended as a guideline for formation, ministry and life of permanent deacons and a directive to be utilized when preparing or updating a diaconate program in formulating policies for the ministry and life of deacons. Revised by the U.S. bishops’ Committee on the Permanent Diaconate.

From the Congregation for Catholic Education and the Congregation for the Clergy.

A basis for dialogue among priests, deacons, religious, and laity as part of the effort to foster better understanding of how the ongoing ministries in the Church relate to and complement each other.

Explores the deacon’s place within the Church.

Writings on the historical development of the diaconate.

This informative, engaging video chronicles the lives of six extraordinary woman-all wives of deacons. Through a series of interviews, the women discuss the challenges, questions, joys, and unique concerns they faced as deacons’ wives during the course of their husbands’ formation and ministry.

These nine papers, presented at a national theological colloquium, begin to bring form and focus to the phenomenon of ecclesial lay ministry in the United States. Working from a definition of “ecclesial ministers” as lay people who have professionally prepared for ministry, the authors examine a range of issues surrounding the laity’s call to ministry. From sociological and demographic examinations to explorations of the theological basis for lay ministry, from biblical foundations to magisterial teaching, Together in God’s Service is an essential resource for anyone interested in the development of ecclesial lay ministry—and for all to work together in fostering the mission of Jesus Christ.

A must for all active church ministers and for those preparing for such ministry. Presenting a summary of the Leadership for Ecclesial Lay Ministry project, the Subcommittee on Lay Ministry invites the bishops to determine the future course of the project in order to serve the need for leadership at the national level and provide practical assistance at the local level. The report offers conclusions and background information on the following areas: (1) the term “lay ecclesial minister,” (2) toward a theology of lay ecclesial ministry, (3) preparation of lay ecclesial ministers, (4) the relationship between lay ecclesial ministers and ordained ministers, (5) financial and human resource issues, and (6) multicultural issues.

For the 65 million Roman Catholics living in the United States, there is no “typical” day, but a tapestry of ways in which members of the Church live out their faith. Faith Works: Across the USA looks at “typical” days in the lives of several Catholics including an Alaskan priest who pilots his own plane to remote parishes, a New Orleans restaurateur who serves up vital job skills to inner-city youth, and a religious sister who travels the back roads of Appalachia to provide health care to the poor. This is an excellent resource for RCIA as well as youth and young adult faith formation.

Catholic lay men and women are answering the Lord’s call in growing numbers, increasingly employing their gifts in active roles in the Church’s mission. In these reflections, published on the fifteenth anniversary of Called and Gifted, the bishops re-examine and update the four “calls” that impel the laity-the calls to holiness, to community, to mission and ministry, and to Christian maturity-in light of Church teaching and pastoral practice-and the changing conditions in the world. Included in the work are questions for individual and group reflection, inviting all members of the Church to continue the important dialogue with one another and with the bishops.

A collection of all the documentation on the non-admission of women to the priesthood.

This collection of 12 essays addresses themes including the priest in communio; acting in persona Christi; priestly fraternity; and the role of the priest as catechist and chief evangelist. Contributors include Most Rev. Daniel Buechlein, OSB, Cardinal Francis George, OMI, and Cardinal Roger Mahony.

Pope John Paul II reaffirms the Church’s traditional teachings on ordination to the priesthood.

Provides, in question/answer format, a context for understanding and accepting church teaching on this topic.

Organized into three parts, these guidelines are to assist in developing local programs for the ongoing formation of priests. Part one focuses on the elements or dynamics of ongoing formation that are consistently present throughout priests’ lives. Part two is divided into five sections and addresses tasks and dynamics of five key moments of priestly life and ministry-the first years of priesthood, priests in transition, the first pastorate, mid-life, and senior clergy. The final section looks at the formation of an entire presbyterate. The plan is written for bishops, priests, seminary rectors, and those involved in the ongoing formation of priests, some of who were involved as reviewers in the process of developing the plan.

Rooted in the documents of the Second Vatican Council, this edition offers the normative direction for all seminaries in the United States to meet the challenge of priestly formation in the third millennium.

Volume I contains the new edition of the Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis. Included in Volume II are a compendium of official Vatican documents, letters to the bishops of the United States, and the apostolic exhortation I Will Give You Shepherds, companion publications to the Program of Priestly Formation.

Addresses the identity and circumstances of today’s priests.

Inspired by and based on Pope John Paul II’s apostolic exhortation I Will Give You Shepherds (Pastores Dabo Vobis).

Priests, deacons, vocation directors, educators, parents, campus ministers, school chaplains, and leaders of youth and young adult ministry who want to create a “vocation culture” in their local communities will want to unpack the many insights and reflections in Conversion, Discernment, Mission: Creating a Vocation Culture in North America. This synthesis of the work of the Third Continental Congress on Vocations is a practical action guide in two parts. The first part provides thoughtful, foundational material based on the experience and insights of the Congress delegates, vocation leaders, and many speakers. The second part consists of a facilitator’s guide for meetings at the local level. It includes an agenda, focus questions, and an action plan with a worksheet. From the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Two different men, sharing the same faith. Two different styles of ministry, facing the same challenges. Answering God’s Call brings viewers into the daily lives of two priests: Fr. Mitch Rozanski, pastor of two parishes in Baltimore, and Fr. Pat Smith, pastor of a church in rural Maryland. This documentary shows two devoted men bringing God’s love to young and old with humor and sensitivity.  Closed captioned.