Why Priests Are Happy: A Study of the Psychological and Spiritual Health of Priests (Ave Maria Press)

This book is an accessible and well-researched look at the general state of mind of the clergy. It should come as no surprise to find a correlation between individual happiness and sense of purpose and prayer life. I must say that the findings in the book echo my observations of the mental health of the religious I have known throughout my life. Most priests and nuns of my acquaintance have been examples of people who have approached life with a regard for others, a strong sense of purpose and a sense of joy in, and appreciation of, the beauties and challenges of daily life. As someone brought up in a traditional Catholic environment, I have perhaps been acquainted with hundreds of religious, and I can point to two in my life of whom I would say that they were not well-suited to their vocation or adjusted in their lives. This flies in the face of popular, modern prejudices, as modern psychobabble would have it that anybody who is not sexually active is a mass of sexual repression and anxieties. This book shows just how much we as a society are brainwashed by the baby boomer sexual consumer culture. Priests are grounded by a faith and a purpose. They are people who are focussed on others. They are people who see the riches of the world not in terms of material possessions. When you look at them, and their belief system, handed down from the apostles, is it any surprise that they are happy? It would be more of a surprise if they were not!

This is a very flawed study which does not show, as the title wants readers to believe, that priests are happy. This reader, who teaches research methodology to graduate students, will point out just a few of the flaws in this study.The first lies in the small sample the claims are based on. Out of more than 40000 U.S. priests, the book is based on research of a convenience sample, not a random sample, of only 6 % of these priests. They came from only 23 dioceses out of nearly 200 dioceses in the country. The sample is not representative of U.S. "priests" in general.Moreover, the participating dioceses "requested" to be included in the survey, entering already bias into the study. Why did the dioceses want to be included? What did they tell their priests about it? Were priests experiencing expectations from the dioceses to make them look good, perhaps compared with other dioceses? For, respondents were asked to write the names of their diocese on the surveys.Secondly, the way the survey purpose was worded to respondents is likely to have led to confounding responses. The priests were told that the purpose of the study is to check how priests' "issues" have affected "their overall wellness." On top of it, the author, a dean at the conservative theological school of the Catholic University of America, shares readily what happens to priests or candidates for the priesthood who admit they have issues: they are seen as not "spiritual" enough. Just think of it: how many priests would readily admit on a survey which has their diocese listed on it and, when completed by postal mail, even their ZIP code (which could identify them), that they, for instance, "have consistent problems getting along with people?" How many would dare to truthfully answer these questions: "Despite its challenges, celibacy has been a grace for me personally," "are thinking of leaving the priesthood," "have been sexually abused as children," have suffered from anxiety or depression (which is seen as a result of lax "spiritual" practice by the author and other candidate screeners), "feel some conflict around my sexuality," etc. Responses will be significantly confounded in such a survey simply because many priests are likely, for a variety of reasons, to give the answers they think are expected. Just imagine a company with many branch offices which were asked to do a survey like this and workers would be asked to write their branch on the survey and they would know that mental health problems could potentially disqualify them from work: would workers not have every incentive to conceal their real difficulties in such a survey?A third flaw is the phrasing of some of the questions. The question about celibacy above, for instance, manipulates the response by leading with "Despite its challenges." Had the question simply read "Celibacy has been a grace for me personally," the average answer would likely have been less positive because priests would have brought up the "challenges" on their own. The survey question neutralizes the "challenges" as expected and thus gets a higher positive response rate!A fourth very significant flaw is that more than 40 % chose not to submit the survey. While the author tries to minimize this fact, chances are high that a significant number were those who are not "happy" as priests or with the church and therefore did not respond - had they responded, the results might have been more bleak.The most significant flaw is, of course, the conclusion the author draws from the slightly lower scores the respondents had on the Brief Symptom Inventory 18. On that test instrument, the overall difference in the mean between the general male population in the U.S. (50) and the priests (49.11) simply does not allow for the loud claims such as "Priesthood consistently measures as perhaps the most fulfilling and satisfying vocation of any." Such statements clearly betray the author's bias and his attempt to buttress through seemingly objective research the desired result: to recruit priests to a profession seen in the public as less credible than ever in the wake of the clergy sex abuse scandal.In terms of research, moreover, the claim to better health based on these scores does not hold up because the author basically compared apples to oranges. Priests differ too much from the "general" population, for instance, in terms of the length of their education that comparing their 49.11 with the general population's 50 skews the results. The author would need to control for education, socio-economic status, sex, and a slew of other factors. To this reader, the way the author (mis)uses statistics to get the results he has already brought to the study from his previous convictions leads to serious questions about the scientific integrity of the book. Because of its (false) claims to scientific status, the book may well have the desired propaganda value for the Church in its effort to make the priestly profession again more palatable without the Church having to revise its inhuman clergy ideal. A more sobering analysis of the impact of the Vatican's clergy ideal on clergy well being is found in the bestselling European book by E. Drewermann on clergy mentality, summarized in chapter 4 of  A Violent God-Image: An Introduction to the Work of Eugen Drewermann .

Msgr. Rossetti shows through extensive research and study of priests across the country many areas of the priest's life and work. The obvious conclusion is that this group of professionals, more than any other on a national scale, live a 'happy and contented life' because of their individual and collective proven spiritual basis. Every serious believer should study "Why Priests are Happy" and adopt Msgr's findings in their own lives. It is truly a timely read and about time someone needed to say it. "Why Priests are Happy" is a Psychological and Spiritual Health of Priests (Ave Maria Press) study.

This book give a complete study of why priests are happy despite so many people thinking they are not with the sex abuse scandals happening across the country. This is thoroughly researched and very professionally written. It would be an excellent book for all Bishops and seminarians to read.

This book is heavy on statistics, but it also contains plenty of narrative discussion and examples to make the findings clear to the reader who may be less familiar with statistical analysis. The author does an excellent job in exploring his subject: Why Priests Are Happy!

Research-based insights into stress and burnout, and into the importance of a sound spirituality in the priest's life.

I read only about first quarter. Seems to say that happy priests are ones who followed the advice of books like "The Young Seminarian" written by Father Marcetteau in 1943 Maybe they were most of the ones who replied. Sad that it had an Imprimater Thought that went out with Vatican II. .

Yet another book in which the title had me think this was an account of several priests telling of how they live their daily lives as priests with some telling of times of jubilation to times of horrible tragedy. But, no. Instead this is an even longer more detailed scientific breakdown of lots of scientific data of stats and such that just kills the reader with more boredom.

Well done research but don't expect too much insight on the challenges that prevent priestly happiness. Nonetheless a book worth reading