Society priest maybe pursuing Esther? (4,4)
I believe the answer is:
book club
'society' is the definition.
(as in a literary society)
'priest maybe pursuing esther?' is the wordplay.
'priest maybe' becomes 'club' (a priest is a fishing tool resembling a club).
'pursuing' says to put letters next to each other.
'esther?' becomes 'book' (Esther is a book of the Bible).
'club' put after 'book' is 'BOOK CLUB'.
(Other definitions for book club that I've seen before include "Society giving members cheaper access to reading material" , "literary gathering" , "group of readers" , "Literary group" , "Society for readers" .)