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Bishop’s Appeal For Vocations Looks to Our Spiritual Future
Each St. Peter household has received a special envelope for the Bishop’s Appeal for Vocations. When we return that envelope with our contribution, we are not only helping to support the formation of future priests, but we also are acting to foster vocations.
The Bishop’s Appeal for Vocations is a tangible way we can help to support our 42 seminarians who have answered God’s call and are studying to become the priests who will guide us in the future. The cost for each seminarian’s education is nearly $40,000. This support goes hand-in-hand with the prayers we offer for these young men.
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One of the seminarians we are assisting is one of our parishioners, Peter Foley. He grew up in St. Peter Catholic Church and attended St. Peter School, as well as Pius X High School. During his time at St. Peter School, he had the opportunity to attend daily Mass.
“This, I would say, is where God placed the seed of a priestly vocation on my heart,” Peter says. “When the time came for me to begin serving Mass during the school days and at Sunday Masses, I became interested in the Mass, and especially what the priest was doing during Mass.
“I remember also that when at school, the school’s Sisters of Christ the King would always tell us to say a short prayer after receiving Communion,” he adds. “This prayer, ‘Jesus, please tell me what you want me to do with my life, and I will do it,’ I remember that I would often pray this prayer after receiving Communion, and then look up at the priest who was still distributing the Body of Christ to other students, and wonder if that was what God was calling me to do.”
Peter had another important moment in his vocational discernment at St. Peter’s Leadership Camp during the summer after his seventh grade. This was a weeklong camp for boys held at Camp Kateri. While he enjoyed the whole camp experience, the most important moment for him took place during Eucharistic Adoration.
“The priest had just exposed Jesus in the Eucharist and was giving a short meditation, and he finished by asking us all to consider if God was calling us to give seminary a try,” Peter says. “During that hour I really began to consider it as a real option for my life, and continued to pray about it throughout high school, especially after receiving Holy Communion.”
During the close of his high school years, Peter once again encountered the question that had long been resting in his mind — was God calling him to go to seminary? Although he pondered this off and on during his junior and senior years, it was further time spent in Eucharistic Adoration that sealed his decision to enter the seminary.
“My Godteen parents had set up for each of us Godteens to take a holy hour individually, and my time slot was 2 a.m. to 3 a.m.,” Peter says. “During that holy hour alone with Jesus in the large St. Peter Church, I reflected on the consistent call I had felt throughout my life to the priesthood and realized that I need to at least give seminary a try.”
Our prayers and support to our seminarians like Peter do make a difference as they make this spiritual journey.
“One of my favorite quotes by St. John Vianney, the patron of priests is, ‘If we truly understood the priesthood, we would die of joy,’” Peter says. “However, alongside this great gift comes a struggle. From talking to my brother seminarians and my own experience, it is clear that the devil continually tries to put up obstacles and excuses especially in front of seminarians to prevent them from becoming effective ministers of the graces that flow from the altar. Your prayers are vital to our perseverance in the long, but fruitful, journey of seminary formation.”
Peter and his brother seminarians are very grateful for the support we give the Bishop’s Appeal for Vocations, citing the freedom it gives them to enter formation more completely, without worry about tuition costs.
“The seminarians of the diocese differ widely in our background, age, and financial situations, and I know that several of us would be unable to continue pursuing the priesthood if we were not supported so generously by the Bishop’s Appeal,” Peter says. “While the most important assistance you can give the seminarians is your prayers, we also are very grateful for the financial assistance you are able to provide through the Bishop’s Appeal for Vocations.”
Fr. Clark notes that vocations are affected in several ways by the appeal.
“This appeal not only supports the formation of our future priests, but it also is a way to foster vocations,” Fr. Clark says. “Here at St. Peter, I have determined that we will set up our own fund to support not only current seminarians but also support vocations from the youth in our Catholic schools and CCD programs. This will ensure that we have resources available for any person in the parish who would like to participate in vocation retreats and visits.
“The Bishop’s Appeal for Vocations is important to us because each person is called to promote pray, and support vocations,” he adds. “The BAV gives every person in the parish a chance to participate in a direct way in the future of the Church.”
Along with giving to the Bishop’s Appeal for Vocations via envelope, you can also donate online on our parish website at www.saintpeterslincoln.com.
