"Know Thyself" by Fr. Anthony Perkins Good Guys Wear Black (AFR Podcast) Fr. Anthony interviews Fr. Gregory Jensen about the need for priests to know themselves. … [Read more...]
Work and the Meaningful Life: Part 2
by Fr. Gregory Jensen In my last post (here), I talked about the search for a meaningful life. The argument I made is that together with marriage and family life, work is the natural context for meaning. Unfortunately many clergy frequently undervalue or dismiss work as valuable for the spiritual … [Read more...]
Work and the Meaningful Life: Part 1
by Fr. Gregory Jensen Frequently I talk to men who envy me for being an Orthodox priest ). While many of those I speak with are Christian of one sort or another, it isn’t uncommon for me to have the same type of conversation with those who aren’t religious believers. In part I think the conv … [Read more...]
Conformed to Christ: Spiritual Formation
by Fr. Gregory Jensen I'm very happy to see more attention being paid to pastoral spiritual formation of clergy. Hopefully, seminaries will, too. For many Orthodox Christians spiritual formation is defined practically, if not intentionally, in functional terms: a daily rule of prayer, keeping … [Read more...]
Charisms and the Priesthood V: Some Final Thoughts
by Fr. Gregory Jensen This is the final installment of Fr. Gregory's series of reflections on the Priesthood. With much thanks to Chrys, I recently read Donald Sheehan lovely and thoughtful essay, “Dostoevksy and Memory Eternal:An Eastern Orthodox Approach to the Brothers Karamazov.” Sheehan offe … [Read more...]
Charisms and the Priesthood IV: More than Technical Mastery
by Fr. Gregory Jensen This is the fourth installment of Fr. Gregory's series of five reflections on the Priesthood. Having outlined the vocation and the work of the priest, I want in these next two posts to sketch out what I see as the foundation of a vocation to the priesthood. As I said in an … [Read more...]
Charisms and the Priesthood II: Discernment
by Fr. Gregory Jensen This is the second installment of Fr. Gregory's series of five reflections on the Priesthood. I argued in my last post that the priest is set aside not for liturgical service but the works of governing, teaching and counseling. All of these are work of prudence or, to use … [Read more...]
