May 15, 2008

Bishop's Appeal 2008

Serving Those Who Will Serve Us All

By Father Keith Stewart

Diocesan Director of Vocations

The Diocese of Memphis will celebrate Deacon Dennis Schenkel's Presbyteral Ordination on Saturday, June 7 at 11 a.m. at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. The Evening Prayer Vigil Service will be on Friday, June 6 at 7 p.m. at the Cathedral. His chalice and paten will be blessed by the Bishop during this Evening Prayer Service, and Father David Graham will be the homilist.

We will celebrate Seminarian Robbie Favazza's Diaconal Ordination at the Church of the Resurrection on Saturday, May 24 at 4 p.m. Seminarians Jacek Kowal and Kevin Stockbridge will be ordained to the Diaconate at St. Ann Church in Bartlett on Saturday, August 9 at 4 p.m. Seminarian Adam Rust will be ordained to the Diaconate on Thursday, October 9 at 10 a.m. at St. Peter Basilica at the Altar of the Chair in Rome. Seminarians Enrique Granados Garcia and Miguel Angel Espadas will be ordained to the Diaconate in January of 2009 at the Cathedral Basilica in Mexico City.

We will be celebrating the Rite of Admission to Candidacy for Ordination as Deacon and Priest for Patrick Gallagher and Krzysztof Pelczar on Thursday, August 7 of this year within the context of a simple liturgy attended by the priests and the bishop.

Those being ordained deacon this year will be ordained priests next year. On June 6, 2009, we will ordain six men to the priesthood for our diocese _ the largest class in our history as a diocese.

As you can see, there is quite a bit going on in the Office of Vocations as we work to recruit and prepare men to be ordained as priests for our diocese. Currently we have 18 men studying for our diocese and by August of this year, that number is expected to be 25 _ the largest number of men we have ever had studying for the priesthood in the history of our diocese.

As the Bishop told the people of the Diocese of Memphis in his Bishop's Appeal video this year, this is a great blessing for our diocese indeed.

"What we are experiencing in our diocese regarding the growing number of seminarians studying for the priesthood for our local church," said Bishop Steib. "But with these answered prayers, comes great responsibilities. A large part of the expense of educating and forming our seminarians is covered by donations to the Bishop's Appeal."

The formation of seminarians in our country is divided into four components _ academic, spiritual, pastoral and human development.

Academically, seminarians study sacramental theology, scripture, church history, liturgy, homiletics, dogmatic theology, canon law, moral theology, and pastoral studies. In addition, electives are offered to allow the sminarian to concentrate his theological studies within a particular area if he wishes.

The spiritual formation centers on developing a discipline of prayer to sustain the priestly vocation of service and leadership.

Pastoral formation offers seminarians experience in the ministerial mission of the Church to give them an appreciation for the work that a priest does. This formation also trains and evaluates the candidate as he progresses toward ordination.

Finally, human development helps the seminarian to learn to discipline himself and develop a sense of responsibility, to follow the leadership and vision of his bishop, and to develop a commitment to maintain a chaste celibate life, and to understand the interdependence of married life and the celibate state. He needs to develop the skills necessary to work collaboratively in pastoral ministry and exercise his pastoral leadership as a servant to the people _ to imitate Christ who came to serve and not be served.

Various programs supplement the seminary formation our seminarians receive. Due to the ever-increasing influx of Latinos in our diocese and the pastoral challenge that comes with it, non-Spanish speaking seminarians of our diocese must now participate in an Immersion Course in the Spanish language and Hispanic Culture. This program takes place over the course of the summer and enables the future priest to prepare to minister to the needs of the growing Latino population of our diocese.

Over the past few years, a growing number of Latinos have become seminarians studying for our diocese. Most of them do not speak English and must take ESL (English as a Second Language) courses during formation. Non-English speaking seminarians must be able to pass the TOEFL (Test Of English as a Foreign Language) test before beginning their studies in seminaries here in the United States. This is the minimum requirement that colleges in the United States will allow for non-English speaking students to achieve in order to take classes in the English speaking environment of our American seminaries. A multilingual presbyterate provides our diocese with the ministerial flexibility it needs to serve the growing cultural diversity of our diocese.

Our seminarians also attend the Institute for Priestly Formation at Creighton University in Omaha, NE. The Institute assists in the spiritual formation of diocesan priests within the Roman Catholic Church. Working as a complement to existing programs of seminary formation, the Institute responds to the need for a more concentrated and integrated spiritual formation. Inspired by the biblical-evangelical spirituality of Ignatius Loyola, the Institute's programs present a spirituality that inspire, motivate and thus sustain the busy daily lives of contemporary diocesan priests in our country.

Much is involved in the formation of seminarians for their preparation for ordination as priests in the Catholic Church. With all that is involved in the formation of our seminarians, it costs our diocese between $32,000 and $35,000 per year for each seminarian studying for our local Church.

The Office of Vocations is responsible for the recruitment and formation of seminarians for our diocese. It is a collaborative effort that seeks to bring together persons in the diocese _ lay and clerical _ who are attentive to the ministerial needs of our church and who share a love for the ministerial priesthood. It is my hope that as a diocese, we will continue to be generous in our support as we work together to insure that men who hear God's call to the priesthood will have what is needed to give it an honest discernment and have the programs necessary to ensure a quality formation that will serve the needs of our church.

As I have said before, there is quite a bit going on in the Office of Vocations. None of it would be possible, however, except through the generosity of the people of our diocese. Through funds generated by the Bishop's Appeal, we are able to allow men to study and work towards becoming priests that will serve us in the future.

The Serra Club, the Knights of Columbus, the lay persons and priests who help with the interviewing process, the support of all our priests, our bishop, and individuals and groups who have stepped forward with their prayers _ all need to be singled out in gratitude for all that is done to advance the work of the office.

Jesus went around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness. At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest." (Matthew 9:35-38)