The prevailing perception today of the clerical role within the ecclesiastical establishment and among the circles of the religious is not in line with the understanding that dominates the untainted two-thousand-year tradition of the Church, wherein the clerical role is not ritualistic but pastoral.

It is not pomp but simplicity. It is not formality but familiarity. It is not distance but approach. It is not authority but ministry. It is not type but substance.

This is not design but requires thorough and empirical knowledge of life, human nature, and the teachings of Jesus. Ultimately, the clerical role is to bring to contemporary individuals the love of Christ, who, loving the unlovable, breaks the vicious cycle of human misery.

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]