Bulletin for June 4

Dear friends in Christ,

On the Feast of Pentecost this weekend we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit as promised by Jesus and what has come to be known as the “birthday of the Church.” Gathered together in Jerusalem the followers of Jesus, who were comprised of every race and tongue, soon discovered themselves to be “filled with the Holy Spirit.” It was a microcosm of what the Church would become: faithful believers in the saving work of Jesus Christ who are empowered by the Spirit to go and spread the Good News. That work continues today. We, too, come from different backgrounds and ways of life but yet we are united by the Spirit of God to build up the Body of Christ in all we say and do.

Pentecost is also the close of the 50 days of Easter. For the past 90 days – 40 days of Lent and now 50 days of Easter –we have walked with the Lord. We were marked with ashes, shouted “crucify him” on the way to the Garden of Gethsemane, waited at the empty tomb, rejoiced in the resurrection, and witnessed His ascension. What a journey these days have been for us spiritually. I love how the rhythm of the Church’s liturgical seasons frames our lives. Emboldened by the Spirit at Pentecost, we resolve to live as “intentional disciples!”

Yesterday on Saturday, June 3, the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston welcomed four new priests into its presbyterate. We send our congratulations to the new priests, and look forward to their service in our Archdiocese. The most recent Texas Catholic Herald has a story that gives the background of these four new priests. I’m not as connected with the seminary as I once was when I was teaching there, so I don’t know these men personally, but everything I’ve heard about them from my brother priests tells me they will be good servants for the people of God. Let’s keep them in our prayers.

Each year, the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), a Georgetown University-based research center, compiles a snapshot of the men who are being ordained as priests this spring for U.S. dioceses and religious orders. The report is commissioned by the Secretariat for Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). About 75 percent of an estimated 590 ordinands in the United States responded to the survey. 

Among the findings of this year’s class is the following: The average age for the Class of 2017 is 34. Since 1999, the average age of responding ordinands has decreased by approximately two months each year, from an average of 36 in 1999 to the current average age of 34. Seven in 10 ordinands are Caucasian and three in four were born in the United States. One in four respondents were born outside the United States, with the largest numbers coming from Colombia, Mexico, the Philippines, Poland and Vietnam. On average, respondents born in another country have lived in the U.S. for 12 years.

Most ordinands have been Catholic since infancy, and 80 percent report that both of their parents are Catholic and more than a third (35 percent) have a relative who is a priest or a religious. The average age of conversion was 21, among those who became Catholic later in life. Nearly half completed college (43 percent) before entering the seminary to study for the priesthood. One in six (18 percent) entered the seminary with a graduate degree. The most common fields of study for ordinands before entering the seminary are theology or philosophy, liberal arts, and business.

Nearly half of responding ordinands (between 40 and 50 percent) attended a Catholic school for at least some part of their schooling, and 59 percent participated in a religious education program in their parish for an average of seven years. About six in 10 ordinands (57 percent) report some type of full-time work experience prior to entering the seminary, most often in education. One in 20 ordinands report prior service in the U.S. Armed Forces. About one in eight ordinands (12 percent) report that either parent had a military career in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Ordinands of the Class of 2017 have been active in parish ministries. Four in five (75 percent) indicate they served as altar servers and about half (52 percent) report service as a lector. Forty-seven percent of responding ordinands reported participating in "Come and See" weekends at their seminary or religious institute. (We have those in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston and they are very popular. In fact, I attended one myself way back in 1992!) About seven in 10 report regularly praying the rosary (73 percent) and participating in Eucharistic adoration (77 percent) before entering the seminary.

That shows the power of prayer, but here’s a number that stuns me: almost about half (51 percent) indicated that they were discouraged from considering the priesthood, most commonly by a friend, classmate or family member other than parents. You read that right: Discouraged from even merely considering the priesthood. Who would do such a thing, and why? Our work is to encourage young men to at least consider the fact that God may be calling them to this wonderful life. God will make the final determination, but our work is to support and encourage those to “come and see” what the life is about. Let’s make that a priority for us at CtR in this coming year.

Here’s what I think is the most important finding – 82 percent were encouraged by about four people in their lives including parish priests, friends or other parishioners.

Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, CSsR, of Newark, chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations, notes that the CCLV Committee has commissioned this annual study since 1998 (I was part of the first survey that year.) It remains part of the ongoing work of the CCLV to highlight various ways that vocations to the priesthood have been and can be encouraged. “A staggering number of the 2017 ordination class report to have been encouraged by others to consider a priestly vocation,” Cardinal Tobin said. “That statistic should motivate all the faithful to be sensitive to the work of the Holy Spirit, who may wish to use them to extend the invitation to ordained ministry.”

On this Feast of Pentecost, let us call upon the Holy Spirit to use us to encourage others to consider the priesthood. It really does work, and here is an example. Angelo Luna, a CtR parishioner who graduated from Tomball Memorial High School yesterday, has been accepted into seminary formation for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. He starts this fall at Holy Trinity Seminary at the University of Dallas, where another student of CtR, Matthew Najvar, attends. Angelo says one of the reasons he answered the call is because a parishioner of CtR, Cherrie Cavestany, who he had never met before in his life, told him at Mass that she saw in him the qualities of a priest (she had been watching him in prayer and service). That unprompted encouragement was just the thing he needed to apply. Brothers and sisters, that’s the power of the Holy Spirit!

Peace, Fr. Sean