Catholic Priesthood Through the Ages

In this Year for Priests, I can't recommend highly enough a resource from the EWTN archives. Fr. Charles Connor has got to be one of the treasures of the Church for his popularization of history. He turned his talents to the subject of the priesthood in the series Catholic Priesthood Through the Ages.

The series is designed to give priests and especially catholic laity a deeper insight into the scriptural, theological, historical and spiritual richness of the Sacrament of Holy Orders.

The are 13 Episodes available from the EWTN audio archive:

Episode 1: What is the priesthood?
Episode 2: The priesthood of Jesus Christ
Episode 3: The Priesthood in the Mind of St. Paul and the Early Church
Episode 4: The Fathers of the Church on the Priesthood
Episode 5: The Medeival, Reformation And Counter-Reformation Mind on the Priesthood
Episode 6: The Eucharist and the Priesthood
Episode 7: Prayer and Suffering: Essential Ingredients of the Priesthood
Episode 8: The Priest as Preacher of the Word
Episode 9: The Gift of Priestly Celibacy
Episode 10: Priesthood in the Third Millennium
Episode 11: Priestly Theology of Pope John Paul II – Part I
Episode 12: Priestly Theology of Pope John Paul II – Part II
Episode 13: The Blessed Virgin Mary And The Priesthood

I've listened to the whole series several times now, and probably will listen to it several more times before the Year for Priests comes to an end next year. Fr. Connor presents the views of Pope John Paul II, Joseph Ratzinger (before he became Pope Benedict XVI), Archbishop Fulton Sheen, John Cardinal O'Conner, and others in this inspiring series. Each episode is approximately 27 minutes in length and is available as a 3.15 MB mp3 file.