“Love is the greatest strength of the powerless . . . Love is all-powerful and will even overcome hatred. And only love can do this!” ― Václav Havel Forgiveness is a great wellspring of personal healing. It can repair shattered relati … [Read more...]
About Rev. Thomas V. Berg, PhD
Rev. Thomas V. Berg is Professor of Moral Theology and Director of Admissions at St. Joseph’s Seminary (Dunwoodie). He is author most recently of Hurting in the Church: A Way Forward for Wounded Catholics (Our Sunday Visitor, January 2017). In addition to moral theology, his areas of specialization include natural law theory, medical ethics, and philosophical and theological anthropology. He has published or been quoted in Crisis Magazine, the National Catholic Register, The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. He can be reached at: ftb@fatherberg.com
Conformed to a Vulnerable Savior
A Christmas Reflection for Priests
December 30, 2017 by Rev. Thomas V. Berg, PhD
Msgr. Stephen Rossetti’s 2011 study, Why Priests Are Happy,[1. Stephen J. Rossetti, Why Priests are Happy: A Study of the Psychological and Spiritual Health of Priests (Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 2011).] gave the lie to any number of p … [Read more...]
On Vulnerability and Self-Disclosure in Priestly Formation
Thoughts for Seminarians & Formators
November 6, 2017 by Rev. Thomas V. Berg, PhD
By some accounts, millennials—the cultural cohort of young adults born in the early 1980s to the early 2000s—are the “vulnerability generation”, using their struggles, flaws, and personality quirks to their advantage, to connect with others … [Read more...]
Discerning a Call to Priesthood? Some questions you should be asking yourself.
October 13, 2016 by Rev. Thomas V. Berg, PhD
As Catholic seminaries across the country commence a new academic year and re-engage in the crucial work of priestly formation, so too a throng of young Catholic men—some finishing high school, some in college, some into the first years of a … [Read more...]
Conscience, Freedom, and the “Law of Graduality” at the Synod on the Family
September 14, 2015 by Rev. Thomas V. Berg, PhD
Ideas have consequences—we well know. My concern here is a series of problematic and closely related conceptions of conscience, human freedom, the moral qualification of human acts, and progress in moral living that might be operative in t … [Read more...]
What is Moral Conscience?
January 1, 2012 by Rev. Thomas V. Berg, PhD
Refuting four mistaken ideas about conscience in light of the natural law tradition. My experience as a teacher, counselor and confessor has repeatedly confirmed that there is a tremendous amount of confusion, especially among Catholics, … [Read more...]
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