Possessing a charismatic smile and the demeanor of a priest who is pleased with the path he has chosen, Father Brian Atienza, the diocese’s vocations director, is on a mission to encourage more men and women to consider religious life.

A native of the Philippines, Father Atienza, 32, was appointed vocations director in June.

He was ordained to the priesthood at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in 2002. He served as parochial vicar of St. Joseph Parish in Elk Grove from 2002 to 2004 and then for one year in the same position at St. Philomene Parish in Sacramento.

The timing of his appointment to vocations, coming as it did just months after the recent diocesan synod, positioned Father Atienza to be one of the architects of the synod’s Pastoral Initiative 2, focusing on vocations.

Mercy Sister Susan McCarthy, director of synod implementation, said that the vocations initiative’s placement second only to evangelization speaks volumes about the significance of encouraging vocations.

Pastoral Initiative 2 “expresses a reflection of what synod members feel is a sign of the times — a shortage of priests and religious,” said Sister McCarthy, who pointed out that the Catholic population in the diocese is growing and vocations have declined.

“All parishioners need to be very proactive in promoting and encouraging men and women to consider a vocation to the priesthood and religious life,” she said.

Pastoral Initiative 2 calls for forming parish-based vocation committees; encouraging prayer for vocations through regional collaboration and encouraging the vocation cross program; supporting parents, church groups and programs promoting vocations; and providing opportunities for priests and religious to share their personal stories.

Father Atienza said sharing personal stories can go a long way toward inspiring others to consider following a similar path.

“We are so much fulfilled, so much at peace, so much blessed. There is such a rich experience of God being in this ministry,” he said. “If we are happy, we need to share it.”

Father Atienza’s own story goes a long way in making that point.

The eldest of four children, he grew up singing in the church choir and, like his parents, actively participating in the life of his parish.

When asked at what point he started considering a vocation to the priesthood, Father Atienza recalled an incident that occurred when he was 19, “hanging out” with a friend who was a seminarian.

“He told me he thought I was good seminary material and I asked him what he meant by that,” Father Atienza said, still amused by the event. “He told me I had a way of entertaining myself and would survive confined spaces.”

That conversation as well as his experiences accompanying a parish priest on visits to the poor and homebound led him to begin discernment toward a vocation to the priesthood.

As it happened, Father Atienza entered the seminary just as his family completed the process to immigrate to the United States, moving to Elk Grove.

It was there the Atienzas met Father James Murphy, then diocesan vocations director. Upon learning the couple had a son in the seminary in the Philippines, Father Murphy met and recruited Father Atienza for the diocese on his next trip to the country.

Now in the position of recruiting candidates for the priesthood himself, Father Atienza knows well what he is looking for and where he is looking.

The good news is the diocese now has 43 men studying for the priesthood, many of them from the Philippines and some from Colombia, Mexico and Honduras.

Father Atienza would like to mine what he sees as a rich resource of future vocations already living in the diocese.

“One of my goals is to be open to anyone who has questions and to answer them,” he said. “I’m a firm believer we have a lot of vocations at the parish level and have just not had avenues to address the issue.”

An effective tool “to initiate that conversation” on vocations within parishes, he noted, is forming vocation committees in parishes.

“People in the parish recognize potential candidates, because they know their own community, can approach them and connect them to me,” he said.

Father Atienza said the Internet is one increasingly effective way to attract and provide information to candidates to the priesthood and religious life. He is encouraging parish Web sites being linked to the diocese’s Web site.

Since June, four of eight potential candidates have made inquiries via e-mail to the vocations office, Father Atienza said.

Parish vocation committees may also be effective in providing opportunities for priests and religious to share their personal vocation stories with youth, he said.

A case in point occurred last March at St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Vallejo.

Seeing the need to focus on promoting vocation awareness within the diocese, Father Vicente Teneza, parochial vicar of St. Catherine of Siena, organized a vocations day for students at St. Patrick-St. Vincent Catholic High School. Priests, women religious and seminarians were present for the event.

“Visiting schools is an awesome thing because it gives faces to the vocations we’re trying to promote,” Father Atienza said.

Principal Mary Ellen Ryan said students are still talking about the vocations day.

“It was an opportunity (for the participants) to tell their stories about how choosing religious life happened in their own world,” said Ryan, who plans to make the vocations day an annual event. “Freshmen and sophomores really responded to it.”

Father Atienza said many parishes are supporting vocations with the vocation cross program. Each week a family is given the cross to carry to their homes and pray for vocations.

Mercy Sister Hannah O’Donoghue, director of religious education at St. John the Evangelist Parish in Carmichael, said the vocation cross program, which began several years ago, provides vital opportunities to develop vocations awareness within families.

“The families that do it love to do it,” she said.

She added that one of the most positive aspects of the program is that it frequently prompts people to ask about it and then become involved in praying for vocations.

Synod delegates will have an opportunity to discuss progress in the implementation of all eight Pastoral Initiatives during a second session of the synod on Jan. 16 in Sacramento.

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