Reviewing Priesthood in Reality in 'The Tablet', Mgr Paul Hypher wrote:

'Fr Tony has set himself an awe­some task - to sum up the particular flavour and taste of the vocation and spiritu­ality of the diocesan priest, so that a priest can say, “Yes, that's how it is, I recognise myself in that picture.” On page after page I found myself saying that “Yes”. I suspect that many others will too, as indeed will many lay women and men.'

Thousands of priests did find them­­selves saying 'Yes' and Priesthood in Reality has pride of place on the book­shelves of many presbyteries around the world.

Mgr Philpot's aim in writing this book was 'to hold up to the diocesan priest an accurate, rather than simply edi­fy­ing, mirror of how he feels about him­self, his vocation and his place in the Church and society, and to suggest ways of making spiritual sense of what he sees'. The areas covered include prayer, liturgy, voca­tion, celibacy, collabora­tive ministry, lone­­li­ness, authority, the expectations of the parish­ioners, and the priest's own expectations of himself.

'What I found particularly attractive about Philpot's approach to the life and times of the priest, was the fresh theology and spirituality that under­pinned it.'
Fr Donal O'Leary in 'The Furrow'