Vocations to the priesthood.  We need them, and they are fortunately growing in numbers, but we have a long way to go to get where we need to be.  I want to take some time in the coming weeks to share some ideas about why there are simply not enough priests in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati to pastor our parishes, and that we are dealing with an aging priesthood where many or our current priests are close to retirement.

 

There is a temptation as with most things in life to avoid taking some responsibility for the shortage of priests and instead point our fingers at someone else, blaming others for the situation that we find ourselves in today.  The question is what are we doing to foster and encourage vocations in our busy lives and daily routines, and what have we done in the past to support and celebrate the priesthood?  I would like to think that if we would take some time and reflect on those questions we would remember some life experiences and situations where we have intentionally encouraged family members, friends, and people from our community to consider the priesthood and perhaps be surprised to find that we are taking some responsibility.  There are some moments in life when we do encourage vocations without even realizing that we are.

 

That being said, we can also think of things that we do or say or more importantly actions that we don’t do or say, that are negative towards the priesthood and could potentially discourage young men from considering a religious vocation and hold them back from entering the seminary.

 

What are some practical ways that we can support vocations to the priesthood?  Do we have attitudes that need to be adjusted?  How can we support vocations in our own families?  These questions and more I will try to answer and attempt to provide practical examples that we can incorporate into our lives in order to join together in evangelizing our families, friends, and communities and most importantly our church.  God is raising up vocations to the priesthood.  He is answering our prayers.  United in faith, we have the potential to foster and encourage an abundance of future priests that can serve our parishes for future generations to come, for our children, our grandchildren, and our great grandchildren.