Where do Priests come from?

Eques


Where do priests come from? In the not so distant paste there seemed to be more than enough priests to go around. Those who are old enough to recall immediate post World War II America can remember dioceses building more and bigger seminaries to accommodate the seemingly vast number of men seeking the priesthood. It seemed to diocesan authorities at the time that the swelling river would never run dry. We entered the 60’s and the bountiful vocational rains ended. The river dried up. The Church in the United States began to experience a prolonged drought, and a vocational dust bowl. The great harvest of vocations failed. Is this the beginning of the end of the Church in the USA or is there hope?

What is the eternal fountainhead for the inspiration and nurturing of priestly vocations?

The latest statistical study by CARA concerning the sources of priestly vocations provides us with valuable statistical information. CARA, the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate based at Georgetown University, Washington DC, has produced a “2007Survey of Ordinands to the Priesthood A Report to the Secretariat for Vocations and Priestly Formation, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.” This survey concerns Ordinands of the USA only; the study was initially developed in 1998 by the U.S. bishops' Secretariat for Vocations and Priestly Formation.

The following highly significant statistics concerning the ordination class of 2007 in the USA are harvested form this survey. The statistics are not age specific unless otherwise indicated. 282 Ordinands responded to the survey. This represents a response rate of approximately 60 percent of the 475 potential Ordinands reported by theologates and houses of formation. These 282 Ordinands include 221 Ordinands to the diocesan priesthood and 60 to the religious priesthood.

80% of all those ordained were encouraged to consider the priesthood by a priest.

76% had been Altar Servers

78% had attended some type of vocation programs (offered by their diocese or religious orders)

70% received encouragement from one or more parent

20% were discouraged by family members (mother, father, or other)

7% were discouraged by priest or other clergy

77% reported they were Caucasian (of some European descent)

77% were United State citizens by birth

94% were Roman Catholic since infant Baptism

83% had parents who were both Roman Catholic

35% entered the Seminary from High School

64% entered the Seminary after some College

19% entered the Seminary with post Graduate Degrees

89% achieved Academic Honors in High School

37% achieved Academic Honors in College

35% graduated form College with honors (Magna or Summa Cum Laude)

51% attended Catholic Elementary School

36% attended Catholic High School (64% Public or other private schools)

44% attended Catholic College

68% had some full time work experience before seminary

20% had some Military Experience in the US armed forces.

72% listed Reading as a hobby or extra-curricular activity

57% listed Music as a hobby or extra-curricular activity

50% listed Exercise as a hobby or extra-curricular activity

44% listed Sports as a hobby or extra-curricular activity


It would be fair, given this report and other previous surveys, to conclude that the parents of most diocesan priests in the USA are both practicing Roman Catholics. The ordained mostly received Baptism as infants, attended Catholic School at some point in their education, were Altar Servers, and were involved in several other parish ministries or programs. They were encouraged to become priests by some significant person in their lives especially by priests and family members. They are intelligent and enjoy reading, music, and some sport. They also had some sort of work experience before entering the seminary. They are likely to have entered the seminary after some college education, while about a third entered immediately after high school.
(1% attended High School Seminaries).

Catholics throughout the United States are presently experiencing the shortage of priests at the parish level. They observe fewer and fewer priests are available to provide the services to which they have become accustomed. Parents and grandparents know that fewer young men are entering the seminary than when they were young. Some worry about the future of their local parish, because of the perceived priest shortage. They wonder where the priests they need come from will. Some hope older men that are more experienced will fill the void.

What about “delayed vocations” or second career vocations, will single men either widowed or never married answer the call? Will they perhaps retire from one profession or leave a profession to follow the call to priesthood they hear in the later hours? Certainly, there are such men, these vocations are to be sought out and encouraged. Blessed John XXIII National Seminary (BJNS), in Weston MA, is dedicated to the formation and education of these men leading to priestly ordination. The above survey includes these Ordinands as it includes all Ordinands in the USA in 2007. They are not an alternate source of priestly vocations beyond the scope of this survey. Richard Cardinal Cushing of Boston founded this seminary in 1964, today 526 alumni priests serve in 94 dioceses across the United States. There are approximately 46,000 Catholic Priests in the USA. The active alumni of BJNS comprise about .011% of the total number of Priests serving in the USA.

In 2007, 476 priests were ordained in the USA. For example, seven priests were ordained for the Archdiocese of Boston in May 2007 one of these attended BJNS. The total ordination class of 2007 for BJNS was 16 priests for 13 dioceses and 1 religious congregation. These 16 Ordinands are .034% of the class of 2007. It is clear that the priests provided by “delayed vocations” are important for those dioceses and that religious congregation. Although, the number of priests ordained from this source for the United States is statistically tiny. Presently, “delayed vocations” do not provide large numbers of priests for the USA, nor are they likely to in the future, however this source deserves the full support of the Church.

The statistics of this survey do provide some useful information, that assists us to answer our question “where do priest come form” and what is the fountainhead for priestly vocations. We find priestly vocations among the Altar Servers of our parishes. They are among the intelligent active boys who are involved in this ministry. They are among those attending mass regularly, and having at least one supportive Catholic parent. The richest mine for vocations is where it has always been, among the Catholic families of our parishes whose sons are Altar Servers. Unfortunately, it is increasingly more difficult to mine for these vocations among fewer and fewer male Altar Servers.

Vocation directors and those interested in fostering priestly vocations have known for a very longtime that most priests were former Altar Servers. However, some current factors have almost closed this mine. The sexual abuse scandal and crisis in our church in the USA has created particular problems for the promotion of vocations. Reportedly, parish priests no longer feel free to mentor a promising young man in his vocational discernment.

Encouraging the participation of boys in the life of the church certainly remains possible, but it requires a specific charism. Not all parents, priests, teachers, coaches, and activity directors, have an ability to work with or understand the unique needs of young males. William Pollack, PhD in his New York Times bestseller, Real Boys (RB), and Dan Kindlon and Michael Thompson, PhDs in their book Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys argue that boys have their own particular emotional and spiritual challenges and needs. They convincingly demonstrate that not all educators or systems are conducive to their healthy psychological, spiritual, emotional, and educational development. In light of these needs and realities, it appears the Roman Catholic Church in the United States has made some decisions with the best of intentions that already and will continue to affect the number of young men entering the seminary.

US Catholic Bishops prior to the sexual abuse crisis had for years acted very much like all other institutional administrators, when faced with members, or employees, who were accused of sexually abusing young in their care. They minimized the effects the abuse would have on the victimized youth and maximized their efforts to protect the institution. This is exactly how one would expect bureaucracies to respond. The Church bureaucracies reacted like other bureaucracies. However, the Church holds itself to a different standard of perfection based on humility and truth incarnated in Jesus Christ the Lord, which it failed here to achieve.

The result of the sex abuse scandal, significant for a bountiful harvest of priestly vocations, is that parents are far less willingly to encourage their sons to become Altar Servers. They are less likely to entrust the spiritual growth and development of their boys to priests. The Cara Survey leads us to anticipate greater challenges promoting and developing vocations to the priesthood. This is of course compounded by the culture milieu in the USA with its exaggerated materialism and moral relativism already affecting the spiritual and religious lives of the young and their families.

To recapitulate, statistics confirm that the fountainhead of vocations to the priesthood is the Catholic family, which actively participates in the faith community, and which encourages the involvement of their sons in the ministries and activities of the parish especially the ministry of Altar Server. Fewer Catholic families are attending the Lord’s Day Eucharist and participating in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and fewer of these are encouraging their sons to be Altar Servers. Therefore, there are fewer Altar Servers. Unfortunately, this means fewer priests.

Although the numbers of priests being ordained seemed to have bottomed out and even in some places begun a slow but steady recovery, it is far from replacement levels. Fewer priests are being stretched further and further. This has unfortunately led to the clericalization of the laity as necessity forces them to fill in the gaps created by the lack of available priests, impacting negatively on the lives and mission of the laity.

Vatican II identified the proper role of the laity in the life of the Church. The church calls on her people to bear the light of Christ in those places and areas of responsibility that are not properly that of the clergy, such as within the family, civic community, work place, the realms of arts and sciences, and the athletic field. As St Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer would say, it is the vocation of the laity to preach the gospel in the “street.” The involvement of the laity in appropriate apostolates for their particular call to holiness is essential to the mission of the Church as the introduction to Apostolicam Actuositatem (AA) states “In this decree the Council seeks to describe the nature, character, and diversity of the lay apostolate, to state its basic principles, and to give pastoral directives for its more effective exercise. All these should be regarded as norms when the canon law, as it pertains to the lay apostolate, is revised.” In chapter, 1 the document quickly defines the apostolate of the ordained and the laity in its diversity and origins.
#2, c-d, “In the Church there is a diversity of ministry but an oneness of mission. Christ conferred on the Apostles and their successors the duty of teaching, sanctifying, and ruling in His name and power. However, the laity likewise shares in the priestly, prophetic, and royal office of Christ and therefore has their own share in the mission of the whole people of God in the Church and in the world.
They exercise the apostolate in fact by their activity directed to the evangelization and sanctification of men and to the penetrating and perfecting of the temporal order through the spirit of the Gospel. In this way, their temporal activity openly bears witness to Christ and promotes the salvation of men. Since the laity, in accordance with their state of life, lives in the midst of the world and its concerns, they are called by God to exercise their apostolate in the world like leaven, with the ardor of the spirit of Christ.”
Consequently, the assumption of those roles proper to the ordained by the laity is not a desirable outcome, such as presiding at “Communion Service” in the absence of priests. This has the undesirable effect of providing a false witness, that priests are not essential to the Celebration of the Eucharistic Liturgy. Nor should the ordained assume roles, proper to the laity, distracting priests form their apostolate “the duty of teaching, sanctifying, and ruling in His name and power.” (AA, 2, c) It results in a confusion not only of the roles of the laity and ordained, but provides a disincentive for young men of generous hearts to offer themselves to the Lord in the priesthood. The priest shortage appropriately calls the local community to pray, work for, and encourage priestly vocations in their midst.

Now arises another serious difficulty, one that never before existed prior to 1995 in the Catholic Church. Its nature is different from the response of the Church to the sexual abuse of its children. However, it is a real disincentive to participation of boys in the ministry of Altar Server a spiritual and vocational gold mine. Introducing girls into this ministry, an exclusively male ministry predating the third century martyrdom of the boy Acolyte St. Tarsicius, has curtailed the number of boys willing or able to serve at the Lord’s Altar. Although this is not a zero sum problem, this reality requires a delicate balance, between the participation of girls in this ministry and the needs of the Church.

Some believe that the boys should be firmly corrected for their hesitancy or discomfiture. They should be encouraged to accept the participation of their sisters as Altar Servers. Yes, they should. Yet, there are very real reasons for these feelings among the boys and for loss of boys to this ministry.

The practical problem of numbers of Altar Servers is limited only by the organizational skills of the adults in charge. Therefore, the number of girls participating in the ministry does not necessarily mean that fewer boys can participate unless an artificial number is imposed on the program. There are deeper and more difficult obstacles for the boys to overcome.

Most males perceive religion and participation in church as feminine. They have a very deep spirituality, it is however, more difficult to get at than that of females who generally tend to be more openly spiritual. Boys require more encouragement and support in the habits of religion. They thrive on affirmation and wither on shame. It follows from Real Boys by William Pollack, PhD that the “Boy Code” of the USA and Western Culture in general is in part responsible. They are encouraged by this code to be tough and not to show their sensitive side. Pollack writes that pre-adolescent or adolescent “boys begin to harden themselves and to avoid any person or situation that might bring them shame. Perhaps an adolescent boy suffers the greatest humiliation when he violates the ‘Boy Code.’” (RB p.158) The same dynamics would apply to boys participating and competing with girls as Altar Servers.

As long as the ministry of Altar Server was a male prerogative, it was easier for a boy to participate in this ministry. It was a boy thing. This provided them with the necessary protection from their less religious peers. Altar Servers programs were developed by some priest to stress the sacrifice and service that this ministry required. Priests could even encourage the boys with titles such as Knights of the Altar or Knights of Christ. As demonstrated by the Boy Scouts boys love titles, visible signs of rank and reward. It became far more difficult to do this for the boys with the advent of girls as Altar Servers. Now their less religious peers who already doubted how masculine it was to attend church could harass them and shame them for being, shall we say, less than masculine. The language of their peers would be far more graphic and designed to cut deep. The temperature in the “peer pressure cooker” as Pollack refers to it could be turned way up. He writes, “Peers will (also) reproach or reject them if boys act in ways that appear feminine or that could possibly suggest homosexuality.” (RB p.158)

It is true that these harassments were hurled at boys before the scandal and before girl Altar Servers. However, some boys withstood the onslaught because the ministry of Altar Servers was something that they could do for God in a safe boys’ only club, similar to the Boy Scouts, but only church related. They had the support of their fellow Altar Servers. As an Altar Server, they could climb the ranks to positions of leadership and responsibility among their peers.

In addition, the findings of these psychological experts verify these observations.
Doctors Pollack, Kindlon, and Thompson all point out that the lower academic achievement of many boys of this age is due in part to their fear of competing for academic honors with or against girls. If they succeed, their peers will immediately ridicule them for being “girly boys.” It is not cool for boys in co-educational settings to try too hard to excel academically. All three doctors maintain that the co-educational public school system sets boys up for academic failure. They agree that boys perform academically better in an all boy educational environment. Many parents and teachers fail to consider this, when wondering why their intelligent son or student will not give school his best effort. It is safer for him to stay below the radar academically in middle school and high school. “’Once you’re thirteen or older, you can’t be the same person at school as you are at home. It’s not considered cool’” (RB p.158) There is a less shameful price to pay at the hands of disappointed parents and teachers than form the cruel enforcers of the “Boy Code.”

The result of all this is very predictable and understandable. There are fewer and fewer boy Altar Servers and hence a statistically shrinking pool of candidates for the seminary and the priesthood. Here is an illustrative example. Recently, an extremely fine priest celebrated a mass of thanksgiving for his sixtieth anniversary of ordination. Nearly seventy priests, two bishops and perhaps one thousand parishioners, family, and friends packed the church. The worthy Monsignor at the end of his homily told the assembly that he had hoped for three things during his 26 years as pastor. He hoped the Red Sox would win the World Series. Monsignor is a life long fan. They did win in 2004. He hoped to pay off the $3,300,000.00 debt on the new church. They still owed $900,000.00. Finally, he hoped that some young man from the parish would enter the seminary. In the long history of the parish no one had entered the seminary or been ordained form that parish. There still is none. Not one young man from that parish entered the Seminary during the 26 years of his pastorate. As Monsignor related this sad truth, the 5 Altar Servers sat and politely listened, four girls, and one boy.

Meanwhile, in another parish, with very similar demographics, during the recent six-year term of that pastor, two Altar Servers answered the call. One is already in seminary and one who will enter in September. They are from a parish that had not had a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Boston in its existence since 1855. Remember that the two Altar Servers who entered the seminary from this parish did so after and despite the “scandal” and the introduction of girl Altar Servers. Which indicates it can still be achieved. What made the difference? The Altar Servers’ program at this parish played an essential role in the development and discernment of the vocations of these two young men. It was a well-structured, disciplined, uniformed, spit and polish organization and the boys relished and thrived in it.

The task for priests and others interested in promoting vocations have been greatly compromised by the “scandal” and complicated by the introduction of girl Altar Servers. Girls began serving in the mid-nineties after the US bishops had received “permission” form Rome. The bishops, however, did not consider the affect it would have on the boys and the future of the priesthood. It was in their eyes a matter of fairness. It was un-American to discriminate against the girls. There were unintended effects.

In the USA, it is becoming ever more common to see only girls serving mass. Perhaps anecdotally, but also illustrative, St Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican has only boy Altar Servers, in Italian Chierechetti or Piccolo Clero, both meaning “little cleric.” As they have for centuries, some of these boys will one day become priests. (Inside the Vatican, by Bart McDowell, National Geographic Society, Book Division, 1991, pages 18-21) No doubt, well intentioned bishops and chanceries wanted to include girls in this important ministry. Many Americans saw their exclusion as another example of the insensitivity of the Catholic Church towards girls and women. Traditions become such because over time they are seen to be meaningful and effective. They stand the test of time and experience. At least some traditions are in place for very good reasons. The tradition of male Altar Servers in the church grew out of its proximity to the priesthood. Boys and young men for centuries served mass for the ordained and frequently they were later ordained. Long before there were seminaries to educate and prepare young men for ordination, there were priests and altar servers. This rich vocational source is now seriously compromised.

The argument could be made that although there are fewer boy Altar Servers it does not necessarily follow that there will be fewer priests, because there will remain other points of contact with the boys and young men for vocation directors and the promoters of priestly vocations. For example, about 43% of all diocesan priests surveyed had some Catholic education on some level. This is true. However, it is made clear by the report that the respondents had multiple contacts with the church via family, mass attendance, serving mass, parish priest, and school. There is one place where multiple statistics intersect. That is at church. If a family faithfully attends Sunday Eucharist, and their son serves the liturgy the parish priest is much more likely to know him and his family. The priest is more able to recognize the possibility of a priestly vocation in that young man. This is certainly the experience of many priests as priests and as servers. Interestingly, young men who enter religious congregations and are ordained probably did so because that particular religious congregation taught at one of his schools. He would become familiar with it and with the Brothers and/or Priests teaching and administering the school. The statistics support this, 13% more Religious priests report having attended Catholic high school. However, 12% fewer attended Catholic colleges. The overall percentages are a statistical dead heat.

Attendance at Catholic School*
All Priests Diocesan Priests Religious Priests
Elementary 50% 51% 50%
High School 36 33 46
College 42 44 32
*Percentages sum to more that 100 because respondents could select more than one category.

It remains fair to say that the statistics support the conclusion that the real locus for vocational development and nurture remains the family and the local parish, and particularly the interaction of the Altar Servers with their priests. Conclusion, the advent of girl Altar Servers and the sexual abuse scandal- admittedly in very different ways- leaves the Roman Catholic Church in the USA vocationally challenged. The fewer families attending mass results in fewer boy Altar Servers and logically leads to fewer priests. While, girl Altar Servers tends to depress the number of boy Altar Servers and makes it more difficult for priests to encourage priestly vocations among them.

What are we the Church to do? In regards to girl Altar Servers, returning to the status quo ante is “politically” volatile. A few pockets of resistance exist here in the USA. (Two dioceses in the USA maintain the tradition of male only Altar Servers.) Those interested in promoting vocations to the priesthood will have to develop parish based Altar Server programs that take the nature, spirituality, and reality of the life of boys into consideration. At the same time, ministering to the spiritual needs of the girls and assisting them to find roles in the Church that take into consideration their femininity and their particular gifts and individual abilities.
“In the name of liberation from male "domination,” women must not appropriate to themselves male characteristics contrary to their own feminine "originality.” There is a well-founded fear that if they take this path, women will not "reach fulfillment,” but instead will deform and lose what constitutes their essential richness. It is indeed an enormous richness. In the biblical description, the words of the first man at the sight of the woman who had been created are words of admiration and enchantment, words which fill the whole history of man on earth.” (Emphasis in original)
Thus writes the great John Paul II in his Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem, (MD) chapter IV, section 10. What might this look like? What might a program that will encourage priestly vocations among the boys and at the same time include girls according to “their essential richness” look like?

Borrowing form the Boy Scouts and Girls Scouts there would be a definite course of advancement in rank and responsibilities. An Altar Server might first be taught how to be crucifer (Cross bearer), then acolyte (candle bearer), book bearer, how to set the altar and how to assist the priest or deacon with the water and wine and the hand washing ritual. As the Altar Servers learned these elements of ministry, they would be recognized and given appropriate rank and title, e.g. Crucifer, Acolyte, Second Server, First Server. The servers in consultation with the priest or other adult coordinator could have input in choosing the head Altar Server, usually titled the Master of Ceremonies, or as at the Vatican the Dean of the Altar Servers. The girls would be included in this, which will cause some boys to hang back. However, structures like these appeal to boys and may assist them in overcoming their hesitancy. They will require constant and intentional affirmation by adult males. The priest and other involved laymen can provide this effectively for the boys. Older boys who have achieved the higher ranks and honors can in turn encourage and teach the younger ones. This is exactly what Baden Powell the founder of the Boy Scouts intended and how St John Bosco organized his “boys’ town” in Turin, Italy, which he referred to as the “Oratory,” a place for prayer.

The role of Dean or Master of Ceremonies could be reserved for one of the older boys. The vesture of the girl and boy Altar Server could be distinctive. The cassock (and surplice for liturgy) the traditional vesture for clerics and by extension of Altar Servers (Chierechetti, little clerics) could be retained as the church intends. The girls could be vested in albs or other vesture that they themselves would find more appealing and of similar appropriateness and quality.

All of this would be very much in line with the ancient traditions of the Church.
Redemptionis Sacramentum states the following:
“[44.] Apart from the duly instituted ministries of acolyte and lector, the most important of these ministries are those of acolyte and lector by temporary deputation.”
“47.] It is altogether laudable to maintain the noble custom by which boys or youths, customarily termed servers, provide service of the altar after the manner of acolytes, and receive catechesis regarding their function in accordance with their power of comprehension. Nor should it be forgotten that a great number of sacred ministers over the course of the centuries have come from among boys such as these. Associations for them, including also the participation and assistance of their parents, should be established or promoted, and in such a way, greater pastoral care will be provided for the ministers. (Emphasis mine) Whenever such associations are international in nature, it pertains to the competence of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments to establish them or to approve and revise their statutes. Girls or women may also be admitted to this service of the altar, at the discretion of the diocesan Bishop and in observance of the established norms.”
“This Instruction, prepared by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments by mandate of the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II in collaboration with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, was approved by the same Pontiff on the Solemnity of St. Joseph, 19 March 2004, and he ordered it to be published and to be observed immediately by all concerned. From the offices of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Rome, on the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, 25 March 2004.” (Emphasis mine)
Remptionis Sacramentum encourages the preservation of the tradition of boys or young men serving at the altar and it recognizes the “acolytes” or “servers” as an ancient source of priestly vocations.
Let us reiterate what we are attempting to achieve, the promotion of priestly vocations among the boys of our parishes, while including girls in the ministry of Altar Server. The chief concern of those wishing to cultivate vocations to the priesthood should be both natural and supernatural solicitude for the human growth and development of the boys, among whom vocations to the priesthood will be found. Care for their human well-being precedes and is the foundation for the development of their universal call to holiness.
Remember as St Thomas Aquinas teaches grace builds on nature. Assisting the youth, male, and female, of our parishes to recognize and live out their universal call to holiness is one of the major responsibilities of the pastor and his collaborators. A fortiori how eager should the parish be in fostering priestly vocations among its boys and young men? Those among them who recognize their universal call to holiness will become the good soil in which the seeds of a priestly vocation can germinate. These can in turn be transplanted to the seminary, literally a place for seedlings.
The parish priests and their collaborators for the good of the Church will also be sensitive to the special needs of the girls and encourage them to follow their particular vocations. Encouraging them to be faithful to the teaching Magisterium of Church, which will lead them to find their proper roles in the Church, modeled on the indispensable role of Mary the mother of God. We can do no better than consider the words of the late great John Paul II in Mulieris Dignitatem.

“7. We must (now) focus our meditation on virginity and motherhood as two particular dimensions of the fulfillment of the female personality. In the light of the Gospel, they acquire their full meaning and value in Mary, who as a Virgin became the Mother of the Son of God. These two dimensions of the female vocation were united in her in an exceptional manner, in such a way that one did not exclude the other but wonderfully complemented it…
“Man cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of self… Motherhood… brings about - on the woman's part - a special "gift of self “
“20. In the teaching of Christ, motherhood is connected with virginity, but also distinct from it… On the basis of the Gospel, the meaning of virginity was developed and better understood as a vocation for women too, one in which their dignity, like that of the Virgin of Nazareth, finds confirmation. The Gospel puts forward the ideal of the consecration of the person, that is, the person's exclusive dedication to God by virtue of the evangelical counsels: in particular, chastity, poverty, and obedience.”

It would be of incalculable value to families, civil society, and the Church, for girls and young women to receive catechesis, concerning their singular and necessary vocation as future mothers or consecrated religious. Integrating their lives into the spiritual and sacramental life of the Church will also open up for them the rich possibilities of lay apostolate. Religious Education, Youth Ministry, along with Sacramental preparation, for First Communion, Reconciliation, and Confirmation all have a place in the spiritual development of the youth of the parish, therefore also in the promotion of vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

Boys need encouragement, form older males, and their peers who are already Altar Servers, to dare to serve the Lord at His Altar. If they are convinced, they are being brave and are fighting a spiritual battle against evil they will respond. Boys love uniforms, pomp, and circumstance the church has plenty to offer them in this regard. St John Bosco always stressed frequent Holy Communion and Confession with his boys, we should not be afraid to do the same. Catechizing the all Altar Servers concerning the Eucharist and Liturgy will enhance their understanding and participation. The encouragement and good example of frequent confession will enrich their lives of grace, assist them in developing a Catholic conscience, and is essential for their vocational discernment and salvation.
Although the promotion of priestly vocations is far more difficult today for all the reasons argued above, it is still by God’s grace possible. It is needed now as much as at anytime in the history of the Church. Some parishes are producing good vocational fruit; they are the branches vitally connected to Christ the vine. These faith communities pray constantly for priestly and religious vocations, at liturgy and in private devotions.
There is an opportunity here to reestablish the dignity and reverence that were once important characteristics of the ministry of Altar Servers. This in itself will benefit all of the young people involved. It will also produce the harvest of vocations promised by our Lord himself, who has asked us to pray to the master of the harvest, to send workers into His vineyard. There is reason to hope, God will not abandon His church.
Where do priest come from? They come from good Catholic families and especially from their sons who are dedicated Altar Servers, involved in faithful and prayerful parish communities. Although statistics demonstrate that most Altar Servers will not enter Seminary College, the spiritual and religious formation provided for them during the years of ministry will enable them to navigate more successfully their college years. It will assist them in the discernment of God’s loving plan for them and prepare them to accept the grace of a priestly or religious vocation if it has been placed on their hearts by the Lord. Let us continually entreat the Lord of the harvest to provide us all with the grace to achieve His will. The Lord continues to call generous young men to follow Him as priests. Let us do what we can to support and encourage them. As Don Bosco would say to his boys “Corragio,” take courage.