Hans Urs von Balthasar on Priestly Life and Discernment w/ Dr. Jonathan Ciraulo

Are you a priest or discerning a vocation to the priesthood or know somebody who is discerning? Then this is the book for you—“Distributed Like Bread” (pre-order for release at 3.2.26) https://ignatius.com/distributed-like-bread-dlbp/?searchid=0&search_query=distributed

Hans Urs von Balthasar is well known for his great contributions to theology, but few know of his practical thoughts on priesthood and discernment. Therefore, in today’s episode, Dr. Jonathan Ciraulo and Andrew Petiprin discuss Fr. Balthasar and how he integrated his scholarly life and his priestly vocation. Dr. Ciraulo points out that Fr. Balthasar never received any formal education in theology beyond his time at the seminar and he sought to remain a student chaplain instead of an academic position. This kept him grounded in his theology and uniquely fit to guide priests and those in the process of discernment.

Dr. Ciraulo highlights Fr. Balthasar’s humility, his intellectual curiosity, and his openness to God. They also discuss Balthasar’s thoughts on priestly celibacy and donatism—the heresy that claims that validity of the sacraments depends on the virtue of the priest. This insightful discussion and corresponding book “Distributed Like Bread” will truly help give all people a greater appreciation for this supernatural vocation.

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Music from Pexels, Gregor Quendel. https://www.classicals.de/legal