Hans Urs von Balthasar's writings have pastoral implications that even now are barely recognized and hardly developed. Here a pastorally experienced theologian, who knew von Balthasar personally, unfolds this pastoral dimension for the first time.

Father Dermot Power demonstrates the paradoxical grandeur and weakness of the Catholic priesthood. He highlights the roles of the Catholic priest as servant, bridegroom, shepherd, victim, teacher, prophet, celebrant, and minister of reconciliation. He explores the relationship between the mission of Christ and the states of life within the Church, including the laity, and that between the universal call to holiness and the priestly vocation. He examines the structures of the Church in relation to the inwardness of love, and the new hope it offers for the renewal of the priesthood in the Catholic Church.