Father Toups: Spiritual fatherhood in the priesthood flows from the understanding of being a chaste spouse of the Church.

Just as an earthly father feeds, comforts and nurtures his family, so too do our spiritual fathers feed us in the Eucharist, comfort us in reconciliation and the anointing of the sick, and nurture us throughout our lives of faith.

For me, spiritual fatherhood is one of the great joys of my vocation -- to be invited into the hearts and homes of people is such a place of privilege and great responsibility.

Think about your own life. Priests have -- hopefully -- played an important role in all of the key moments of life: birth, death, triumphs, struggles, graduations and marriage.

By living out spiritual fatherhood, the priest experiences the great fruitfulness and generative fecundity of his vocation. For the priest, this should be life-giving; just as parents will make incredible sacrifices for their children, so too priests do radical things -- renounce family and possessions -- to be available to their family of faith.

Where there is love, sacrifice is easy.

Benedict XVI, speaking of the kind of mature manhood needed to be a spiritual father, said: “In reality, we grow in affective maturity when our hearts adhere to God. Christ needs priests who are mature, virile, and capable of cultivating an authentic spiritual paternity. For this to happen, priests need to be honest with themselves, open with their spiritual director and trusting in divine mercy.”

We need to move beyond the fear of being “politically incorrect” to being more worried about embracing the truth of who we are; hence the title of my book focuses on reclaiming our priestly character.