May 2 was Good Shepherd Sunday and a day of prayer for vocations to the priesthood and the religious life throughout the Church. Vocations is a perennial concern of the universal Church and a major topic for the Diocesan Synod in October.

From time to time, I receive a letter from a concerned parishioner suggesting that a second priest be assigned to their parish because they feel their pastor is overworked. Parishioners of mission communities have written to ask that a priest be assigned full-time to their community. Parents of Catholic school students have written to ask that sisters be sent to their school. I have received letters from parishioners requesting that Mass be celebrated more often in Spanish, and so forth.

Catholics throughout the Diocese want the services of priests and religious and there is a hunger to receive God’s grace in the Mass and the sacraments. This desire translates into a need for more priests to be available to celebrate Mass, hear confessions, visit the classrooms in our schools, etc. This desire for growth in the spiritual life also is manifested in a great esteem that our people have for the religious (sisters, priests and brothers) who minister in the Diocese. These desires are an indication of a spiritually healthy Diocese. Yet, it remains a paradox that we struggle to encourage children and young people of our parishes to study for the priesthood or to consider religious life.

The need for priests and religious will become increasingly acute in our Diocese over the next 5 and 10 years. This for two reasons: 1) the continuing rapid growth of our population; 2) the large number of our priests and religious who are 60 years of age and older, and whose remaining years of ministry are limited.

Over the last 10 years, most of our seminarians have come from other countries. Of the 32 priests ordained for the Diocese of Sacramento over the last 10 years, 11 (34%) were living in the Diocese of Sacramento for a substantial period of time before entering the seminary. The other 20 came as candidates from Mexico, the Philippines, Colombia and elsewhere. Of the 24 priests ordained over the last five years, only 5 (21%) were living in the Diocese for a substantial period of time before beginning studies for the priesthood.

We are most grateful to the young men who have come from other countries to serve as priests in the Sacramento Diocese. There is good rationale for this, too, in that many of our people come from Mexico, the Philippines, and elsewhere. It seems clear, however, that many young men who live in the Diocese are called to the priesthood, but have not yet discerned and responded to God’s call. The dearth of local vocations must be of concern to all of us. And, indeed, it appears that it is: so many of you voiced your wish that the theme of vocations to the priesthood and religious life be one of the topics of the upcoming Diocesan Synod.

We all know that vocations to the priesthood and religious life do not come out of thin air. God calls many young people from the thousands of families in our Diocese. How eager are families to have one or more of their children be a priest or religious? How much are youth and children encouraged to consider the priesthood or religious life? This encouragement should begin early on in their development. Pope John Paul II has noted that parents ought to give their children “solid spiritual and catechetical formation that will show that marriage is a true vocation and mission, without excluding the possibility of the total gift of self to God in the vocation to the priestly or religious life.” (“On the Role of the Christian Family,” 1981, No. 66)

We must pray and do all we can to encourage parents to teach their children to esteem the “possibility of the total gift of self to God in the vocation to the priestly or religious life.” The spiritual welfare of our Diocese depends on this greatly. In his “Letter to Priests for Holy Thursday 2004,” Pope John Paul II noted: “There can be no Eucharist without the priesthood, just as there can be no priesthood without the Eucharist.” (No. 2) Moreover, the Holy Father stated: “Vocations are indeed a gift from God for which we must pray unceasingly. Following the invitation of Jesus, we need to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest (cf. Mt 9:37). Prayer, enriched by the silent offering of suffering, remains the first and most effective means of pastoral work for vocations.”

We need to heed Pope John Paul II’s exhortation. But we also need to reinforce our prayer with practical pastoral strategies. This is why, for example, I have asked all our parishes to have a vocation committee to give leadership to this critical pastoral effort.

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