After a number of decades during which any idea of authority was identified with limitation, the misappropriation of power, and the suppression of creativity, there is in contemporary Europe evidence of a new awakening to the essential positive role that authority might play in family, community, workplace, social, and, indeed, ecclesial life. This transition to a more positive understanding of authority is indicative of a change in our culture that has important consequences for an ecclesial ministry that would seek to nurture the Gospel in the European context, a context that has a specificity that is not evident elsewhere. The change has to do with authority, with power, with leadership, and with trust. This short essay is an initial attempt to understand the changing dynamics in our culture, and to suggest how leaders in ministry, particularly priests, might begin to re-imagine leadership in this emerging context.