Most Important Quality In A Priest

[aalpha1989]

i was torn between humility and wisdom....i chose wisdom....but idk you kinda need both?

[aalpha1989]

i was torn between humility and wisdom....i chose wisdom....but idk you kinda need both?

[johnnydigit]

[quote name='cappie' post='1278928' date='May 21 2007, 10:17 PM']Good Prayer[/quote]

see! oh and eucharistic adoration and the rosary. you get a priest who loves to pray, has adoration at his parish everyday, and does the rosary everyday, and you got one good priest that has some measure of all the qualities in the poll.

oh and definitley *not* boasting. see!

(wait did you say that because you saw me in the vocation forum? hm..)

[Sojourner]

[quote name='johnnydigit' post='1278966' date='May 22 2007, 03:04 AM']see! oh and eucharistic adoration and the rosary. you get a priest who loves to pray, has adoration at his parish everyday, and does the rosary everyday, and you got one good priest that has some measure of all the qualities in the poll.

oh and definitley *not* boasting. see!

(wait did you say that because you saw me in the vocation forum? hm..)[/quote]
um

I think he was saying that the Serenity Prayer is a good prayer


not using it in the sense of pray-er

[LouisvilleFan]

[quote name='The Joey-O' post='1278463' date='May 21 2007, 12:15 PM']I feel like, if I vote "good speaker", I'd be getting a protestant pastor instead of a priest...[/quote]

A truly good speaker is more than just a good presenter, but also provides good content. So if you've got a priest who teaches the Catholic faith and has the public speaking skills to engage his audience, wouldn't this be ideal?

[Jaime]

I'm curious what some of the guys who are planning to enter seminary think

[Knight of the Holy Rosary]

Humility. Humility is the beginning of everyone of the aforementioned qualities.

[God Conquers]

I would say it also depends on what type of ministry the priest does.

For your everyday parish priest I have a tough time choosing between empathy and wisdom (gift of the spirit wisdom).

Empathy in a priest makes them a great confessor and gives them the ability to touch lives more deeply and bring conversion.

Wisdom is the understanding of God's plans and the direction you need to take to fulfill it. Therefore you'd be able to bring your parishioners on the journey to Christ. Also you'd be a good spiritual director.

Both would probably be good speakers.

[goldbug16]

All those mad skillz.

[prose]

Dang I voted other before I read your post.

Okay.. I vote for....

Management skills and wisdom. Can I vote for two??

[johnnydigit]

[quote name='hot stuff' post='1279047' date='May 22 2007, 08:09 AM']I'm curious what some of the guys who are planning to enter seminary think[/quote]

well i've been discerning for about two years and i'd say i'm heading towards the end of the process rather than the beginning, yet i still find it hard to choose any of those, but i'll try..

Knowledge - useful but not necessary to preach. you can have very little of it yet still be successful.
Empathy - useful but not necessary to absolve. you can have almost none of it but still fulfill most of your priestly duties.
Wisdom - good for leading, making decisions, giving advice. a young priest may not have much wisdom, but can still be successful.
Good speaker - useful but not necessary to lead or preach. you can have almost none of it but still fulfill most of your duties.
Management skills - useful for managing the parish, but knowledge and wisdom bring this quality anyways.
Humility - i would think this is a more useful virtue for a follower, like a sister or brother who is mostly called to obedience, rather than a pastor (who of course is called to obey his superiors, but moreso a leader of his flock.)

i guess wisdom would be leading the pack, but i still stand by the marks of a good priest and parish i mentioned - constant if not frequent prayer, daily adoration, and daily rosary. persevere in these, and any of the qualities above can be strengthened, any obstacle can be faced. you can have a priest that just smells of elderberries at all of these qualities, but with faith and perseverence, somehow he can make it through..

maybe i'm biased? i dunno, but i do know they work.

[Jaime]

any other sem hopefuls?

[jeffpugh]

[quote name='hot stuff' post='1278403' date='May 21 2007, 09:27 AM']You'll notice that holiness and orthodoxy are left off the poll choices. I know that some pholks will look at this poll and immediately go for one of those. Let's just presume for the sake of argument that these two are inferred. If you have a holy and orthodox priest, what quality do you think is most important in his vocation of ministering to you and your parish?[/quote]

Without reading any of the other posts... (Yeah, I am bold, aren't I) I have to say that I voted for wisdom. I thought after that Love should have been on the list, but maybe that is inferred from wisdom. Because if one is truly wise, they would work to be loving. It holds all virtue together.

[Socrates]

Wisdom.

Love, prayerfulness, and obedience to the magisterium fall under "holiness" and "orthodoxy," which hot stuff has excluded from this poll as givens. (You can't have true holiness without love and prayer.)

[Norseman82]

Like Theologian in Training said, you need all of them, but to me, I think I would look for knowledge combined with experience, assertiveness (there is an important quality missing in this poll and one sorely needed in today's world!) and tact. I think if you can master all that then the good speaking and management skills, empathy, wisdom, and humility will flow from that at the appropriate times.

[Pontifite 7 of 10]

I would say wisdom because I think it leads into all of the other skills, exept advanced knowledge of hip hop, you have to learn that the hard way

[johnnydigit]

praying in tongues.

[Lil Red]

humility

[isilzha]

I voted for good speaker. We had a priest who embodied all the qualities on the list, but his amazing ability to communicate those was so wonderful. Its a hard list to choose from.

[jckinsman]

What's humility without Wisdom? True Wisdom is a gift of the Holy Spirit. To listen to a truly wise person is to have touched a peice of the Holy Spirit! JC