'The Year of the Priesthood' celebrates the life and mission of priests in the Church throughout the world today. Its aim is to highlight the importance of the priestly calling and to support priests, and those in formation, in their daily life and work.

St John Vianney is invoked by the Holy Father as patron of this Jubilee Year. The year will serve both to encourage those who are priests today and to commemorate the lives of priests who have served God in the past.

This book offers insights, for both ordained and lay people, into priestly life and ministry as experienced by 78 priests from around the world - from the Holy Father to one of the newest assistant priests and from the youngest to the oldest.

Here are men who, writing from the depths of their hearts and in their own style, express what it means to be a priest.

"I am very pleased to commend this book 'Priesthood: A life open to Christ'. Its publication is very timely as we seek to respond to the invitation of Pope Benedict XVI to hold a 'Year of the Priesthood'." Archbishop Vincent Nichols.

"From the outset I was convinced that the hallmark of this book must be sheer authenticity. I wanted the contributors to communicate in that beautiful phrase to be found on the coat of arms of the Venerable John Henry Newman: 'Cor ad cor loquitur', 'Heart speaks to heart'; so that the heart of every reader might be touched by real, lived experiences and not by dry theoretical treatises." Canon Daniel Cronin.


Contributors are:
Fr Cyril Axelrod, Abbot Aidan Bellenger OSB, Pope Benedict XVI, Fr Vivian Boland OP, Cardinal Sean Brady, Fr Jim Brand, Bishop Tom Burns SM, Bishop Michael Campbell OSA, A Carthusian, Archbishop Mark Coleridge, Canon Daniel Cronin, Bishop John Crowley, Mgr John Dale, Cardinal Cahal Daly, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, Fr Brian Doolan, Bishop Terence Drainey, Fr John Farrell OP, Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald M.Afr, Canon Reginald Fuller, Cardinal Francis George OMI, Fr Nick Gosnell, Fr James Hanvey SJ, Archbishop Denis Hart, Fr Michael Hayes, Fr Andrew Henson OSCO, Fr Stefan Hnylycia, Bishop Alan Hopes, Canon David Hopgood, Cardinal George Basil Hume OSB (1923-1999), Fr Paul Hypher, Fr Nicholas James, Pope John Paul II (1920-2005), Mgr Malachy Keegan, Archbishop Patrick Kelly, Mgr Mark Langham, Fr Philip Law, Mgr Christopher Lightbound, Bishop Bernard Longley, Fr Flor McCarthy SDB, Fr Liam McCarthy, Fr Enda McDonagh, Archbishop Kevin McDonald, Bishop Malcolm McMahon OP, Bishop Thomas McMahon OP, Abbot Cuthbert Madden OSB, Archbishop Joseph Marino, Bishop John Mone, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, Bishop Donal Murray, Fr Paul Murphy OP, Archbishop Vincent Nichols, Bishop Brian Noble, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, Fr Gerald O'Collins SJ, Fr John O'Connor, Fr Daniel O'Leary, Mgr Mark O'Toole, Cardinal George Pell, Bishop Michael Putney, Fr Timothy Radcliffe OP, Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, Fr Bill Redmond, Fr David Reilly, Bishop Arthur Roche, Mgr Stephen Rossetti, Archbishop Faustino Sainz Muñoz, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, Fr Peter-Michael Scott, Archbishop Peter Smith, Bishop George Stack, Mgr Tom Stack, Mgr Roderick Strange, Dom Anthony Sutch OSB, Fr Richard Taylor, Dom Henry Wansbrough OSB, Fr Allan White OP and Fr Anthony Wilcox.