Pastoral Care Quotes

I will be doing a lot of human interest interviews. It involves empathising and listening. Which is a lot of what my day job is about. And, frankly, the priesthood isn't without its element of showbusiness.

Our Holy Father... is very clear that, of course, the teachings of the Church must be preserved and passed on. However, we need to do this in a way that the Holy Father says is creative. We need to do it in a way that we look for new strategies that address the hearts of people.

I think I used to not know if I could be a good pastor because I think I had some things in mind that I thought were part of being a pastor that don't necessarily have to be.

I realized during my time as a chaplain that I didn't want to be a minister.

I want to be a pastor in a high school.

From his first hours as pope, Francis has re-enacted or spoken of the great pastoral transformation of Vatican II as his own agenda.

There are no training courses to make people bishops. You have to learn on the job.

Never was there a more injurous mistake than to say it was thebusiness only of the clergy to care for souls.

Shepherds don't look after sheep because they love them - although I do think some shepherds like their sheep too much. They look after their sheep so they can, first, fleece them and second, turn them into meat. That's much more like the priesthood as I know it.

It is important that the Church of London, which has now lost its ruler, should receive for its new bishop a man whose personal merit, attainments in learning, and prudence in managing public business shall not be unworthy of the dignity of that see.

Yes, I was a parish priest for five years. I was a curate in a large working class parish in Bristol and the Vicar of a village in Kent.

I get asked, 'What do you miss most about being a pastor?' I think it's the intimacy, the incredible gift of intimacy. You go through death with somebody, with their families, and there's an intimacy that comes through that that is just incomparable.

To pastors and leaders who serve faithfully, who work to teach and shepherd those who are in your church or religious institution: thank you for all you do.

I think a good pastor is somebody who is honest and humble and has a really caring heart.

Mending the fence when one loses a sheep is still not too late.

I am very much looking forward to being a parish priest.

Affliction is the best book in a minister's library.

The church’s pastoral ministry cannot be obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed incessantly … We have to find a new balance otherwise even the moral edifice of the church is likely to fall like a house of cards, losing the freshness and the fragrance of the Gospel.

[Pope Francis] is a humble man. He lives the faith out in his own personal life. ... He's here to be a shepherd; he isn't here to be a scold. I think that's a good thing for the church and for the world, frankly.

I would be a pastor. It is something I think about doing when my playing days are over.

Preacher's kids need another consistent voice in their lives over the years.

I debated between law school and divinity.

It is the part of a good shepherd to shear his flock, not to skin it.

I think the hardest questions had to do with suffering. It had to do with all of our church members and friends passing through difficult times. Sometimes it's the global climate: tsunamis, earthquakes, radiation. I think these kinds of questions are absolutely the most difficult, yet we need to be ready to respond to them because we have to be able as pastors to walk people through these valleys, these tough times in their lives.

I think a pastor used to be viewed as the one-stop ministry shop. The pastor served on every committee, volunteered at every event, and made all the hospital visits. I think that is changing and I think that is healthy. Both for the pastor and the congregation.