Title: The Hidden Enemies of the Priesthood: The Contributions of St. Thomas Aquinas  Authors: Basil Cole, OP  ISBN: 0-8189-1226-X  Paperback: xvi + 234 pp.  Price: $22.95 + shipping  To Order call: 1 800-343-ALBA (2522) Please have your Master, Visa or American Express card ready To order online click here.

Anger, Envy, Lust, Pride, Gluttony, Sloth and Covetousness are the seven capital or deadly sins. They -- along with vainglory, ambition, avarice, and an over-reliance on one's own intellect to the detriment of growth in faith -- are among the hidden enemies of the priesthood. Ignorance of them and the subtle ways in which they can eat away at the moral fiber of priests can prove disastrous for the individuals and for the Church they have vowed to serve. St. Thomas Aquinas along with Scripture, the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Code of Canon Law provide invaluable insights into how to recognize and confront these vices when they raise their ugly heads. This study is meant to help priests and seminarians reckon with them in a healthy and faith-filled way so that they will not be taken aback by the trials these hidden enemies bring about.

 

Basil Cole, O.P., S.T.D., is the author of Music and Morals (Alba House, 1993) and (with Paul Conner, O.P.) Christian Totality: A Theology of the Consecrated Life (Alba House, 1997), a comprehensive and scholarly treatise on Christian living as well as several articles in theology and pastoral ministry for such periodicals as Homiletic and Pastoral Review. A member of Western Dominican Preaching, he gives parish missions and retreats and also teaches at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas in Rome and at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. where he is presently stationed. Reviews Beware the lurkers: Fr. Basil Cole, O.P., STD writes from his scholarly treatises and ministry in The Hidden Enemies of the Priesthood: The Contributions of St. Thomas Aquinas. The seven deadly sins -- anger, gluttony, envy, lust, pride, sloth and covetousness -- added to vainglory, ambition, avarice, and an over-reliance on one's intellect to the detriment of growth in faith -- are among the hidden enemies of the priesthood. Fr. Cole says that ignorance of them and the subtle ways in which they can eat away at the moral fiber of priests can prove disastrous for the individual and for the Church they have vowed to serve. St. Thomas Aquinas along with Scripture, the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Code of Canon Law provide invaluable insights into how to recognize and confront these vices when they raise their ugly heads. This study is meant to help priests and seminarians reckon with them in a healthy and faith-filled way so that they will not be taken aback by the trials these hidden enemies bring about. --Crux of the News, June 25, 2007 Top of Page