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August 25, 2023I will be flying to New York today (Sunday afternoon) where I will attend the annual convention of the NCDVD (The National Conference of Diocesan Vocation Directors). There are over 200 Catholic dioceses in the United States and most of the priests who serve as vocation directors for these dioceses will be present. The convention consists of many workshops on topics such as: how to build a culture of vocations in your diocese, how to do a more thorough screening of our future seminarians and priests, doing better psychological exams, the changes in seminary programs due to the new Ratio Fundamentalis instituted by Pope Francis, new books, videos, discernment groups, etc. It is also a wonderful opportunity to meet many of the finest young priests in the country, and to hear about their work for vocations.
Every year, in the 200 U.S. dioceses, there is a 25% turnover of priest vocation directors. Thus, ¼ of the priests present will have just been appointed by their bishops and will be just beginning their first year as vocation director. They will be trying to learn the system and make decisions on direction for their specific diocesan situation. Although many of the strategies for building a true vocations culture in a diocese are the same, there are also many differences between dioceses. For example, to run a retreat in downtown Boston where everyone can take a bus and arrive Friday night by 6:00 is different than running a retreat in Wyoming where many of the men will have a five-hour drive!
There are currently around 4,000 seminarians studying to be priests in the U.S., and we ordain around 500 new priests every year. Of course, these statistics include not just diocesan priests, but also priests ordained for religious orders, many of whom will not staff parishes. For example, a newly ordained Franciscan priest will likely be assigned to care for the poor or teach in a high school. Here in the diocese of Savannah, we ordained one new priest this year. We have one next year and two the following. Although 500 new priests per year in the U.S. may sound like a lot, it is far from sufficient to take care of the nearly 17,000 Catholic parishes! What an amazing statistic. St. Michael’s parish is one of 17,000 parishes in the U.S. alone. We are not talking about how many there are in the 200 countries in the world! And every one of those parishes throughout the world offers holy mass for God’s people, baptizes, teaches, visits the sick, cares for the poor and buries the dead. The Catholic Church is doing great good in this world!
As you know, I am the Vicar for Priestly Life and Vocations for the Diocese of Savannah, and vocation director falls under that title! But for me, this is the second time I have had this job. I was vocation director for Savannah for ten years from 1994-2004, before going to work at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Maryland. Here at St. Michael’s, I am so grateful that we pray the diocesan prayer for vocations at every mass, and this has been a practice for many years. Sometimes I think, with many of the prayers at Mass, we can fall into just reciting the words of memorized prayers, but please believe that these prayers do make a difference! “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” (Mt 9:37-38)
As the priest-father of this family, I will always try to tell you where I am, when I am not here. We are so blessed to have retired priests living here on Tybee! I want to thank Fr. John Lyons for celebrating the masses here while I am away. If you have a medical emergency and are in urgent need of a priest, we will get one to you. I will return late Wednesday night.
Please pray for our diocesan vocation program. Without priests, we will not have the Eucharist. And the Eucharist is our life!
Fr. Brett Brannen
Pastor
