Detroit — All Catholics have a role to play in promoting vocations to the priesthood and religious life, in the view of the archdiocesan vocations director, who is hoping a forthcoming handbook will help more people get involved in the effort.
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“For a diocese our size, we should have about double the number of seminarians we have,” said Fr. Timothy Birney, director of the Office of Priestly Vocations.
Given the extent of archdiocesan programs to welcome and counsel all who enquire about a vocation to the priesthood, Fr. Birney said he suspects the explanation for the shortfall could be that the more successful dioceses have more people encouraging vocation awareness.
Currently, there are 44 seminarians studying for the Archdiocese of Detroit, from First-year College through Fourth-year Theology, which is not enough to produce annual ordination classes sufficient to replace priests who retire or die (not to mention that some seminarians drop out along the way).
The publication, “Do What He Tells You — A Pastoral Plan for Vocation Awareness in the Archdiocese of Detroit,” will be released Wednesday, Feb. 1, at first only on the Office of Priestly Vocations’ website.
Printed copies should arrive at each parish and school in the archdiocese by about a week later, along with a compact disc containing a digital file of the manual so that more copies may be run off as needed.
The manual contains original content written by Fr. Birney and Jan DeFour, archdiocesan vocations coordinator, as well as a compilation of resources that are available over the Internet or in printed form.
“We basically shared all the content that is available to our office,” Fr. Birney said.
Readers will find suggestions on how they can increase vocations awareness whether they be pastors, principals, teachers, members of parish staffs, or just Catholic lay people in their roles as parents, relatives, friends or fellow parishioners.
The manual takes the approach that all persons, as children of God, have a purpose, and that they should seek to fulfill that purpose — whether their individual vocation is to the priesthood, vowed religious life, permanent diaconate or to be faithful married or single lay persons.
One of the ways the archdiocese helps that process for men exploring a priestly vocation is through events such as the Day of Discernment with Archbishop Vigneron, a half-day retreat at Sacred Heart Major Seminary, coming up on Feb. 25.
More information about the event is available by calling (313) 237-5875.
