Long will the summer of 2018 be remembered. It was the summer the Catholic Church seemed to be receiving hit after hit at the hands of prizefighter. McCarrick, the PA Grand Jury Report, Vigano uncovering Vatican secrets. We waited to see if it could get any worse. At the same time, author Kevin Wells was crafting a book like none other. A book that needed to be written and one that we now desperately need. The Priests We Need to Save the Church
There’s a backstory to this book, and it involves Kevin’s Uncle, Monsignor Thomas Wells, affectionately known as Uncle Tommy. A little research beyond this book shows that Monsignor Wells was a very well-respected priest in the Washington DC area. He had a shepherds heart and knew his vocation and mission in life well. He was a model priest, one that we could make great use of in these troubled times. Unfortunately, Monsignor Wells’ life was cut short in June 2000 when he was brutally stabbed multiple times in his rectory, dying a martyrs death.
Then eight years later, a miracle happened. Kevin was quite frankly on death’s doorstep with a brain hemorrhage that surgery was unable to remedy. Visited by a priest, a friend of the family, Kevin was able to make one request. He asked Father Jim Stack, who had begun a healing ministry, to pray for the help of Uncle Tommy. He did, and witnesses in the room still attest to the bright lights that occurred almost immediately in that room. The next day Kevin showed no signs of the hemorrhage. A miracle, indeed!
These two events sent Kevin down a path of discovery. As the summer of 2018 came upon us like a bad dream, Kevin felt called to write a book. Not just any book, however. This book would serve as a beacon of hope in the Church’s dark night. This book would serve as a guide to explain to priests (and laity) precisely what it is we need to bring the Church back from the brink.
I literally could not put this book down. Kevin doesn’t write a hit piece with this book. What he has written is a book that lovingly but sternly addresses the problems in the Church today. While pointing out where the problems lie and what, in turn, needs to be fixed, he guides each of us on how to be a part of the solution. The time for finger-pointing is over. The time for action has arrived.
There is hope, and that hope lies in the current generation of seminarians. Men who realize what is they are entering into and do so willingly to serve their God and His people. Our hope is in them, and they need our support. Our hope is also in the fact that we can rehabilitate those priests who may be lax in their duties. It’s time to sit them down, look them in the eye and tell them where they are falling short. No one is perfect…sometimes we need to hear it to effect positive change, and that includes priests.
The Priests We Need to Save the Church has proven to be the book we need. It is a book that has made priests cry. A book that has led priests to reconsider their daily habits and turn back to the mission they are tasked with. Their mission is much needed….to shepherd a hurting laity that wants nothing more than to be fed.
4 thoughts on “The Priests We Need”
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Impressive book, great thoughts.
I fear that many of us priests cannot reach the high standards this layman expects of priests. Certainly, God and His people deserve the best from us. But often when a someone writes on what they think might know there is a side that they don’t know.
Kevin writes eloquently about his expectations and the “priests we need”, thankfully though he is not the Lord in his judgements. This is a book that has made priests cry, I’m sure, probably because of the harsh judgements made. It is a book that has also made some of us cringe.
Yes, there is a hurting laity, but there are also hurting priests; accused of laxity and laziness by some laity like Kevin and “thrown under the bus” by bishops. What a wonderful place to be stuck in between!
Many of us serve 2-3 parishes. Many of us serve with little or no good help from the laity who are in so busy with their lives; they come to Mass and that is the end of their life in the Lord. We can be overwhelmed with garbage programs and meetings that demand attendance by the Chancery. These are just a few “perks” of our our “comfortable” ministries.
I wonder what Uncle Tommy would think of his nephew’s harsh judgements.
Fortunately, in the end Our Lord will judge us. I hope he is more merciful than Kevin. If not, by gosh, I better die in my collar or cassock!
God knows that we priests are unworthy servants.
Pete, please pass these thoughts on to Kevin or ignore them because he, and maybe you, will take them of as the words of a weak, lazy, comfortable, and whiny priest.
Dear Fr. Khouri,
Thank you for your thoughts; I value them. I’m compassionate to your concerns of a member of the laity proposing his thoughts to priests for what he thirsts.
I would encourage you to take the time to read the book. Several dozens of priests have reached out to me to mention that initially they were dubious/suspicious/doubtful of my book – then read it and changed their mind changed – they were led to its aim.
The book is simple: it is what I had hoped would be an arousing appeal for all priests to take on the burden of their identity. Times are tough in the Church in 2019; this book was written out of love for the priesthood.
My brother is a priest and my uncle, Msgr Thomas Wells, who was murdered in his rectory in 2000, was a faith-filled, joyful priests responsible – with his cooperation with the Holy Spirit – of driving 16 men in seminaries. All are priests today. I count among my closest friends eight priests.
I love the priesthood and understand the many burdens imposed by the inundation of parish life, 2-3 parishes, chancery meetings, bishop-watchdogs, etc. It seems to me a broken system – I wish you, Fr. Khouri, and all priests, could just focus on saving souls through your prophetic voice and hard work.
I encourage that you read Dr. Janet Smith’s review of my book – she has spent a lifetime with seminarians and priests. http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/priests-to-save-the-church-answer-the-call-to-save-souls-and-seek-the-lord
Also this review from a strong priest: https://fatherjerabek.com/2019/10/27/book-review-the-priests-we-need-to-save-the-church/?fbclid=IwAR0lj1d0c0y3RkYXLxgdd7k3Q1uXAHh0lPCwA1rdVveZgQsF9MnoKae63xc
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