Reclaiming Our Priestly Character

In the ever expanding 'to read' file goes the new effort by the associate director of the Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations, Fr. David Toups:

Please discuss your book's timing.
The timing follows Pope John Paul II's pontificate, who certainly was a man who called priests to know who they are and to not be afraid to say that we are called to be different. That doesn't mean we are better. Certainly, following the 2002 outbreak of scandals and in a day and age of fewer priests, this book is meant to be part of the solution, giving us the tools to be renewed in our own lives and also to regenerate the priesthood by joyfully living the vocation that Jesus has called us to.

What is the Roman Catholic Church's view of the unique nature of its priests?
The unique gift of the priesthood in the Catholic Church is the fact that it is an institution which began with Christ and the 12 apostles - his first priests - and through the laying on of hands, or ordination, that unique gift has been transmitted in the Catholic Church for 2,000 years. The priest who participates in the very priesthood of Jesus Christ makes present Jesus to the holy people of God as he celebrates the sacraments for them.

A swing of the thurible to Brad Watkins.