'Many are called:' Let's all be vocations directors

By Bishop David A. Zubik

	Bishop David Zubik

On Oct. 10, when I came to Green Bay for the announcement that our Holy Father was appointing me the 11th bishop of the Diocese, one of the priorities which I addressed was a need to support our priests. As the numbers of our priests decrease, their responsibilities increase. While there are fewer priests, most are working harder to meet the needs of our faithful.

Increase efforts

One of the important ways that you and I together can support our priests is by increasing our efforts for the vocation program of the Diocese. For the past seven years, Fr. Doug LeCaptain has served well as our diocesan Vocations Director. I am happy that he continues to serve in this capacity. But the efforts on vocations cannot be the responsibility of one person. It is a challenge that we all face as Church.

More 'out there'

During the week when I had the opportunity to travel to various parts of our Diocese for the regional celebrations, I was so thoroughly impressed by the faith of our people. I came away from those visits with my own faith growing stronger. I also came away from my visits with the belief that there are more potential candidates for the priesthood "out there."

	S p e c i a l   S e c t i o n : Vocations Awareness Week 2004
	• Profiles of the men who became priests last year     Just what kind of men become priests today?  • Angels in the 'Hood'     Chicago outreach changes lives for inner city people  • How one person made a difference for a seminarian     Support can make all the difference for those     discerning a vocation  • Deacon candidates should show background of service     'Deacons are not simply created by ordination'     • Sidebar: Deacon eligibility  • Joining a religious community is a process     Years of discernment follow a gentle invitation     • Sidebar: Signs of a call  • Norbertine finds that God is always there     God comes to us in many ways, including in the flesh  • Things have changed since the days of veils     Formation for community life has adapted more     for individuality  • Editorial -- Our vocations     One of our callings as Catholics is to look for and     encourage call to the priesthood

That belief was bolstered by a Project Andrew luncheon which I hosted at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral rectory on Dec. 23rd. At that luncheon nearly 30 young men accepted the invitation to join with me and some of our priests to learn more about the call to priesthood.

Moreover, on Dec. 26th, I had the opportunity to meet with all 14 of our seminarians. During that meeting, they too expressed their belief that there are more potential candidates for priesthood in our Diocese "out there." They offered me some wonderful suggestions on how we might be instrumental in helping other men "hear" the call to priesthood.

At this time, I invite all of you, my brother priests and deacons, parish leaders, sisters and brothers in consecrated life, and all the faithful, to mount an energetic effort to support vocations to the priesthood. It is my firm belief that there are three ways that we can renew this effort together.

• First, a vocation program can only succeed with prayer - daily prayer for vocations. At the reception following my installation and during the regional visits, greeters from our parishes distributed prayer cards, the focus of which was for happy vocations in our local Church. The need for such is great. I invite and urge you to make the prayer for vocations a part of your daily prayer.

• Second, one of the most convincing invitations to those who consider a call to priesthood are happy priests. I believe each of us in the priesthood is called to be a "walking billboard" for priesthood. Toward that end, I know that I can depend on my brother priests to continue to share the joy of our call by convincing words and deeds spoken and done with much enthusiasm for Christ. At the same time, I know that you, the faithful of the Diocese, will do all that you can to support the work of our priests.

• And, finally, I believe that each of us has the capacity to be God's voice to invite men in our local Church to give consideration to the call to priesthood. A number of young men to whom I have spoken since my arrival have shared with me how much they appreciate a word of encouragement and an invitation to give consideration to becoming a priest.

Walking billboard

In the Gospels, Jesus gave us the wonderful example of how each of us can become effective vocations directors. He prayed to the Father for happy vocations. He was a walking billboard of his deep love for the Father. He invited others to accept the call, roll up their sleeves and get on the "bandwagon of the good news."

I hope that we, as the Church of Green Bay, can imitate Jesus again and again and again and be good "vocation directors" in support of priestly ministry. Jesus himself said, "Many are called." How special that each of us can be a part of the call to the "many" Jesus has in mind.