Pray for more Priests

Pray for Vocations to the Priesthood

As you would notice, a lot of the sacramental life of a Catholic parish depends on the ministry of priests. One of the reasons why we can't do more as a church to serve the community is the lack of men willing to sacrifice their own personal goals in order to commit themselves to serving God's people in the ministry of priesthood.  With the investigations into pedophilia likely to lead to the movement out of the Church of many priests, in coming years it will be necessary to merge parishes or even close them entirely and less Masses will be available if we are not able to find more priests. Rather than accept this inevitability, we have decided to pray for more priests! Every parish should take this initiative on and offer a Holy Hour every Friday after the Mass to pray for Vocations to the Priesthood.  I remember Bishop Manning (of bad memory) imposing it as an obligation on all parishes when he was Diocesan Bishop of Parramatta. Not surprisingly most chose to ignore his mandate. Well now we need to do it again as a true sign of your desire for more priests. The absence of a special Holy Hour devoted to praying for Vocations to the Priesthood is an obvious sign of a lack of desire for more celibate priests. If you want to have a priestly vocation to come from your parish for the future of our Catholic faith, please pray for someone in your parish to decide to hear the call to Priesthood.  If your parish doesn't offer a Holy Hour for Vocations, insist that your parish priest provides one. If he refuses, then insist that he step aside as he surely does not have the best interests of your parish in his heart. Start a movement to see more priests and more holy men offering themselves as leaders in the Church for the future. Please pray this prayer daily for this intention: PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS Lord Jesus Christ, You said “The harvest is great but the labourers are few.  So pray to the Lord of the harvest to send workers into the harvest”. I pray to You now Lord, at this Holy Hour of Prayer for Vocations:  In Your gracious goodness, gift our community with worthy Priests and Religious. May those You choose recognize Your call and respond with a generous heart.  And may they always remain true to Your name. Fill with Your strength those who serve us now.  And remind us to encourage them so that by their happy lives, they will inspire others to follow them.  Amen