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A Silent Priest is a Dead Priest – A Meditation on a Teaching of St. Gregory the Great By: Msgr. Charles PopeA former Archbishop of Washington was known to often remark, “There’s nothing deader than a dead priest.” Some wondered as to the meaning of this expression, and those who knew him the best explained that it was a sort of version of the old Latin expression Corruptio optime pessima (The corruption of the best is the worst thing of all).Of all the men on the planet who need to be alive, vocal, clear, and active, the priest is...

Pope Gregory the Great: Advice to the Married By: Msgr. Charles PopeEvery now and again when I write on Holy Matrimony, especially the Church’s more staunch biblical teachings (indissolubility, no contraception, etc.), someone will inevitably write in with a kind of sneer and wonder at or even laugh at a celibate man advising married people about marriage. To be sure, inner experience of something has its place, but so does external observance. I remember as a youth that my swimming coach, who was out of the water, would often correct us if our form was wrong, and advise us...