IN THE WEEK ahead, the Catholic Church in the United States is celebrating National Vocation Awareness Week. It is a celebration that is dedicated to promoting vocations to priesthood, religious life, the permanent diaconate and married life through prayer and education.
THE PARISHES THAT make up the Diocese of Brooklyn are at the forefront of praying for vocations. Praying for vocations cannot be a one-day event, but a constant commitment for the entire parish community. Therefore, as a new pastoral year begins, let us address what we can do in our parishes so that everyone becomes actively involved in creating a greater awareness for vocations.
This summer, I made a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal along with eight of my brother seminarians and one priest faculty member from St. Joseph’s Seminary in Dunwoodie. We spent nine days – or just about 130 miles – on El Camino in Spain, walking the traditional Camino Frances route from Ponferrada to Santiago de Compostela.
My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,
This week, on the Feast of St. John Vianney, Aug. 4, the Diocese initiated the Year of Vocations: Reawakening the Call. In my letter to the priests announcing this year, I began by saying, “Pray to the Lord of the Harvest so that He may send laborers into His harvest.”
Where have my five years of priesthood gone? I always saw myself as a “baby priest,” but the reality is quickly fading away as 50 of my younger brothers have been ordained after me.
DURING HIS HOMILY at the Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio announced a Year of Prayer for Vocations. I am sure that we can all understand the need for more priests, deacons and religious men and women. Our dwindling numbers have been a cause of concern for many years.
My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, This week, we celebrate the 54th World Day of Prayer for Vocations. Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, has chosen the theme, “The Missionary Dimension of Our Christian Calling.” He describes the theme in this way, “It is the summons to ‘go out from ourselves’ to hear the Lord’s voice, and the importance of the ecclesial community as the privileged place where God’s call is born, nourished and expressed.”
My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,
This is the complete text of Bishop DiMarzio’s homily at the Chrism Mass celebrated April 11 at St. Joseph’s Co-Cathedral in Prospect Heights.
Seven decades of faith, education and love – that is the legacy the Holy Union Sisters have left to the people of Astoria as their ministry at Immaculate Conception parish came to a close this spring.
I’ve written too many priests’ obituaries and attended too many priests’ funerals in the first 10 weeks of this year. We’ve already lost eight diocesan priests due to death in this calendar year. In 2016, it wasn’t until Sept. 24 that we reached that same total for the year.
