On Vocation to the Priesthood

Dear Friends,

“Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life within you”...Then many said, “This saying is hard, who can accept it?”...Many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.” (John 6:53, 60, 66)  What Jesus taught was hard to grasp, not only because our minds need faith to surpass their finite limits, but because Jesus’ words were almost too good to be true.  Even when, at the Last Supper, they saw it done, they must have been no less astounded:  That He should be with us—body, blood, soul and divinity—under the simple appearances of bread and wine!

The Body and Blood of Christ

The Eucharist is not mere symbol.  It is sacramental sign, making real what it signifies.  It is Jesus’ sacrifice re-presented, and as sacrifice demands priesthood, instituted by Jesus in His apostles (CCC 1577) and continued in the sacraments of Holy Orders.  In Orders the priest is not merely assigned a new activity; he is changed in his very being.  He is a priest not only in what he does, but in what he is.  At the altar he represents—“stands in for”—Jesus Christ.  Through the priest’s hands and prayers—the sacramental words and deeds—the Holy Spirit descends to transform bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ.  Jesus’ words come true.  He dwells with us.  He is our food.  We have His life within.

Christ is the Redeemer, willing to lay down His life for us, willing to offer His body and blood in sacrifice for sin and to continue that offering in love for our nourishment.  The words and deeds of Jesus leave no doubt of our essential need for the Eucharist, and so too, for the priesthood that brings it into existence.

The Vocation Office provides the necessary work of helping young men discern their vocation and take steps toward the priesthood.  Please keep them in your prayers as together we strive to live in the love of Christ and His Church.

With blessings and good wishes, I remain

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Most Reverend Harry J. Flynn, D.D.
Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis
Spring, 2003

The Archdiocesan Vocation Office: Creating a Culture for Vocations

The Vocation Office is working diligently to make our Archdiocese the land of 10,000 vocations.

Father Tom Wilson

In order to make that a reality, the staff helps to educate young people on what distinguishes a vocation from a career or job. “There’s a big difference,” noted Father Tom Wilson, Director of the Vocation Office.  “A vocation is a permanent life choice as a response to a call from God.  A career is a chosen field of employment—it is a job. In a job or career, we do something.  In a call or vocation, we are something, no matter what we are doing.”

The mission of the Archdiocesan Vocation Office is threefold:

  1. To educate young people, making them aware of the options of priesthood and religious life.
  2. To help interested men and women through the discernment process.
  3. To assess candidates who present themselves as possible diocesan priests. (Religious communities conduct their own assessments.)

The Saint Paul and Minneapolis Archdiocese is unique, in that it has people dedicated to help men and women in their discernment.  Father Wilson assesses candidates for the diocesan priesthood, while Claire Roufs, Religious Life Liaison, works with women discerning a vocation to a religious community.

Wilson and Roufs are dedicated to increasing the visibility of religious vocation opportunities through a variety of methods:

  • 10000vocations.org:  the Vocation Office web site
  • Vocation Day:  priests/religious share stories of their calling with high school classes, allowing their students to ask any question they like
  • Vocation Retreats:  Archbishop Flynn conducts a vocation retreat for men each December, and in March, a team of priests conducts a vocation retreat for women

Claire Roufs

Fine work is being done, but there is still more to do.  “Clearly, our weakness is connecting with young adults and college students,” said Wilson.  “We need to tap into that population.  We are working closely with Catholic Studies and Campus Ministry at St. Thomas to reach that age bracket,” he said.  “My dream is to get something serious going at the University of Minnesota—a house of discernment.”

“Secular university campuses have been some of the most fruitful places for vocations work throughout the country in the last decade,” Wilson explained.  “Young people thirst for truth and desire community—college is a time when they make lifetime decisions.  A house of discernment would provide ongoing contact with a priest, a regular prayer life, and an opportunity to taste seminary community life while pursuing studies at the U.”

“I realize that this is down the road a way,” Wilson noted, “but since the notion of seminary is so remote for many men, giving them an opportunity to see what it’s like for a year or so would be abundantly helpful.  I believe it would increase our success rate when they enter seminary.”

In the meantime, Father Wilson has four suggestions to increase vocations:

  • Pray for your priests and seminarians—by name.
  • Pray for an increase in vocations.
  • Live your own vocation fully:  sacramental marriage, the generous single life, priesthood, or the consecrated life.
  • Ask, ask, and ask the men and women you believe have the skills and temperament to be priests and religious to consider the life.

Vocation Office Wish List

The Need

The Rationale

The Investment

House of Discernment on U of M campus

To provide young men at a secular university a sense of seminary community life—to discern their vocation

$250,000

CD ROM for young people

To get testimonials and discernment questions into the hands of teens/young

$13,000

Prayer card for teens

To provide a personal prayer for discernment

$7,500

Retreat sponsorships

To subsidize retreat costs and provide sponsorships for those desiring to attend

$4,000
40 @ $100 each

Promotional items

To promote the web site and get it into the hands of teens

$3,500