The New Parish Priest's Practical Manual

BEING now thirty years a Parish Priest, although in many things, and even in all, I may be deficient in speculative science, I think I can no longer fail in matters of practical knowledge; and, moreover, having discharged the duties of this office for upwards of seven years in a suburban parish, which embraces both town and country, my experience may prove- of some value for country, town, and city parishes. Beyond this, I put forward no other c1aim. to justify my project of publishing this" Practical Manual". I present it to new Parish Priests with the freedom of an elder brother, who can say to them: You, fresh from your studies, surpass me in theoretical science; but, in practical matters, I must, of necessity, have an advantage over you. Nevertheless, I shall never rely on my own individual judgment. I promise to put forward nothing which has not the approval of persons more intelligent and more experienced than myself; and this resolution, which with God's help I will not change, gives me great ground for hoping that, even should I fail in accomplishing any considerable amount of good, at least there shall be no danger of my doing any harm. I must not omit to mention that, some days after I had conceived the idea of composing this work, and had written barely a few pages of it, one of the brightest lights of our Episcopate was good enough to suggest to me the. identical plan which I have followed in this Manual, exhorting me at the same time to commence it; and this fact, necessarily, encouraged me to complete the task which I had just begun. I shall divide this Manual into Three Parts. In the First, I shall treat of the duties of a Parish Priest, with the exception of those which have reference to the administration of the Sacraments, which will form the subject matter of the Second Part. In the Third Part, I shall speak of. the practice of those virtues which are most necessary to a Parish Priest.