Each year it is an increasing challenge to find priests to fill the vacancies across the Archdiocese of Los Angeles created by retirements and ill health. Our Clergy Personnel Board must spend countless hours reviewing all of the many openings alongside the ever diminishing numbers of priests.
Where are we to find the replacement priests and religious now and for the future? I certainly don't have a complete answer to the question, but there are some obvious possible avenues to lead us forward. I fully believe that Jesus Christ, our Risen Good Shepherd, is with the Church throughout time, but especially now.
The following avenues offer us some glimmer of hope for the future:
Prayer
We cannot underestimate fervent prayer for priestly and religious vocations. We are presently in a special Year of Prayer for Priestly Vocations, and I strongly encourage all of our parishes and schools to pray the special Prayer for Priestly Vocations frequently.
Special Holy Hours for Vocations, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Novenas and Votive Masses for Priestly Vocations will all be most beneficial. Recall Christ's heartening words: "Jesus said to them, 'The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest'" (Luke 10:2).
Immigrant Vocations
Since the late 1770s, most of the priests ordained for priestly service here in our country have come from immigrant families up to about the third generation --- and then there is a steep drop-off in vocations from those groups.
Consequently, our greatest hope for the future will be priestly vocations from our more recent immigrant groups: Hispanics, Filipinos, Vietnamese, Koreans and other Catholic immigrants. We must reach out to these groups with a new fervor and sense of urgency since they are today's immigrants, the ones more likely to encourage their sons to become priests.
I encourage the members of these immigrant communities to understand their important role in providing priests for our times, and to be generous in encouraging their children to consider priestly or religious life.
Today's Secular Society
It is enormously challenging for today's young men and women to respond to Christ's call to serve as a priest or religious. The values so vital for priestly or religious service are in direct contrast to what the society holds as valuable:
---Poverty: Every form of communication in our country stresses the importance of making money and acquiring possessions. The acquiring, use, and possession of wealth is society's symbol of success. A person's worth and esteem is thus measured by such wealth.
Contrast those values with a priestly or religious vocation. A priest or religious adopts a different model --- the life and example of Jesus Christ who possessed practically nothing, and spent his time and energies in the service of others, especially the poor and the sick. A far different measure of worth!
---Chastity: In a similar fashion, total sexual freedom is the norm presented in movies, on television, and on so many internet sites. People are encouraged to see themselves as their "own gods" in deciding what is right or wrong, abandoning objective norms of moral conduct as found in God's Word. Contrast that sense of personal license with the example and call of Jesus to live lives of chastity for the good of the kingdom of God, the call for priests and religious throughout the Ages --- a spirit of self-control and sacrifice!
---Obedience: Today's society emphasizes personal rights, personal freedom, personal choice --- creating a certain self-centeredness that focuses on "what's good for me, personally." The notion of living in service for others or the common good of society is looked upon as a weakness.
Again, contrast that self-concern with the example of Jesus who came not to be served, but to serve others totally and generously --- setting aside personal preferences and desires.
I have met many fine men and women across the Archdiocese who are eager to live a life in contrast to the secular values of our time, and in harmony with the values of Jesus and the Gospel. Help identify those people, encourage them, and invite them to consider following Christ as a priest or religious.
What Next?
Our Catholic Church continues to grow and flourish across the Archdiocese --- a great blessing, indeed. Through our Baptism we all share in the work of Jesus Christ to build up the Church in every possible way, especially in providing shepherds and ministers for the present and the future. Each Catholic in the Archdiocese needs to understand that the challenge to provide shepherds and religious after the heart of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, belongs to us all.
Visit our Archdiocesan website, and link to the Vocations' Office for more information: www.archdiocese.la.
Please join me in responding with prayer, with confidence, and with a keen awareness of our needs --- but also our concerted actions to provide ministers for the Church! |