When the Shepherd Grows Weary: A Catholic-Clinical Manual for Preventing, Understanding, and Healing Ministerial Burnout - Softcover

Vargas-Grajales, Fr. David

Softcover

ISBN 13: 9798182951074

Publisher: CorUnum, 2026

Synopsis

Some weariness is easy to see. Other weariness hides behind a smile, a homily, or a full calendar. When the Shepherd Grows Weary is a Catholic-clinical manual for priests, deacons, religious sisters and brothers, seminarians, catechists, and pastoral ministers who serve the People of God and are sometimes running out of strength in silence.

Drawing on Sacred Scripture, the Magisterium, the Catholic spiritual tradition, and the insights of mental health care, this book helps readers:

• Distinguish ministerial burnout from ordinary fatigue, depression, anxiety, acedia, and vocational crisis.
• Recognize the roots of exhaustion: activism, loneliness, an unintegrated affective life, expectations, vicarious trauma, guilt, and shame.
• Ask for help without shame, and know when to refer to a professional.
• Recover rest, healthy boundaries, a rule of life, and the joy of ministry.
• Build parishes, presbyterates, and pastoral teams that care for those who care.

The book includes 24 chapters, 17 pastoral vignettes for formation and support groups, inventories, exercises, prayers, a protocol for grave warning signs, and the Caring for the Shepherd Program, with an eight-session itinerary and a facilitator's guide.

It can be read in prayer, in spiritual direction, in ongoing formation, or in community. The Church needs holy shepherds, not broken ones.

In Christ the Good Shepherd, we care and we let ourselves be cared for.

Fr. David Vargas-Grajales is a Catholic priest of the Diocese of Orlando and pastor of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Lakeland, Florida. He holds an M.S. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and is an author, speaker, and formator in pastoral counseling and mental health.

Edition details

• Publisher: CorUnum
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 13: 9798182951074
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 366