The Great Pastoral Imperative of Our Time

This book was written by a parish priest for other parish priests. It addresses the urgent need for pastors to fulfill their mandate from the Second Vatican Council to bring about full, conscious, and active participation in the Mass by all the faithful. The author presents a compelling case that this requires pastors to practice, teach, and promote Eucharistic Self-Offering (ESO) as the necessary pinnacle for such participation and explains why this is needed to bring Christ's saving work to completion.

The book was written by a parish priest for other parish priests. It addresses the urgent need for pastors to fulfill their mandate from the Second Vatican Council to bring about full, conscious, and active participation in the Mass by all the faithful. The author presents a compelling case that this requires pastors to practice, teach, and promote Eucharistic Self-Offering (ESO) as the necessary pinnacle for such participation and explains why this is needed to bring Christ's saving work to completion.

The author is a 70-year old parish priest of 38 years who wishes to share with fellow priests the fruit of some twenty years of prayerful thought, and at times, intense personal study regarding one of the most vital teachings of the Second Vatican Council, namely, that at Mass, the faithful "offer the divine victim to God and themselves along with it." (Lumen Gentium n. 11)