To say there’s a vocations crisis in the Diocese of Columbus would not be an exaggeration.
And that might be putting the problem mildly. With no seminarians ordained in 2022, and only one scheduled for ordination in 2023, it’s not a surprise that Bishop Earl Fernandes has listed vocations and evangelization as his top two priorities for the 23-county diocese.
Like any good recruiter, the bishop has begun beating the bushes for young men – and women – willing to at least consider religious life.
Columbus Bishop Watterson students gathered along with nearly 200 others for a vocations luncheon for young men sponsored by the Serra Club of North Columbus on Nov. 8 at the Pontifical College Josephinum’s Jessing Center. Photo courtesy Amanda Mahle
During the recently concluded National Vocations Awareness Week, Bishop Fernandes seized several opportunities to promote vocations.
On Sunday, Nov. 6, he led a holy hour for vocations at Columbus St. Joseph Cathedral that was livestreamed and included priests and religious sisters of the diocese.
Two days later, on Tuesday, Nov. 8, the bishop spoke to young men in middle school and high school at a Serra Club vocation luncheon in the Jessing Center at the Pontifical College Josephinum.
The following day, he spoke at the annual Marian Dinner for women’s vocations at Columbus St. Andrew Church attended by young women ranging in age from middle school through college who were given an opportunity to meet representatives from religious orders.
The bishop concluded his week with Mass and a presentation at the Diocesan Evangelization Conference at Ohio Dominican University on Saturday, Nov. 12.
An additional vocations event for high school juniors and seniors and college-age men was offered at the Josephinum as part of a come-and-see weekend on Nov. 11-13.
At the vocations luncheon for young men on Tuesday, Nov. 8, Bishop Fernandes began his talk by defining the meaning of a calling.
“St. John Paul II said a vocation is a gift whose purpose is to build up the Church and increase the kingdom of God in the world,” he said. “So, the question we need to ask ourselves is: How am I supposed to build up the Church?
“Sometimes finding your path in life is not always that easy, but the important thing is to persevere, to keep asking God not just, ‘What do I want to do with my life’ but, ‘God, what do You want from me? What are You asking me for my life for Your Church?’”
Bishop Fernandes spoke specifically to 200 young men and chaperones in attendance at the Josephinum from six diocesan high schools, five parish schools and homeschoolers.
Schools represented included Columbus Bishop Hartley, Bishop Watterson, St. Francis DeSales, Bishop Ready, St. Charles Preparatory and Newark Catholic high schools; and Columbus Immaculate Conception, Worthington St. Michael, Westerville St. Paul, Dublin St. Brigid of Kildare and Columbus Trinity Catholic parish schools.
The bishop shared his vocation story, saying he began to get a sense in high school that God might be calling him. Instead, he listened to family members and others. He went to college and then spent two years in medical school.
“I wasn’t asking God, ‘What do You ask of me? What do You want me to be?’” he said. “We can all give in to peer pressure and be who someone else tells us to be. St. Francis de Sales writes, ‘Be who you are, and be that well.’”
The bishop went on to say that the qualities that make a good priest resemble those of men who become good husbands and fathers.
“Being a husband, being a father requires sacrifice and it requires a desire to generate life,” Bishop Fernandes said. “And, in fact, we priests generate life from the Father through baptism.
“We can be spiritual fathers to young people and old people and be present the way my father was present in my life, and be a man of prayer and be able to lead a community. And that’s what we really need today amidst all the challenges are men willing to sacrifice their lives for others and are willing to lead.”
He went on to explain in more detail the desperate need for men willing to listen to God’s call to serve the Church.
“We simply don’t have enough priests these days,” the bishop said. “We can’t afford to be weak anymore. We have too many weak men, too many who lack courage. All we need are men who would be willing to sacrifice themselves for something greater than themselves.
“In the military, they say you need boots on the ground. We need lots of boots on the ground in the Diocese of Columbus. … We need people to bring the sacraments to the people of God, who are counting on you to respond generously to the Lord’s call to be a priest or religious.”
While acknowledging that young people in school still are unsure about their direction in life, the bishop advised them not to rely solely on others to determine their path but rather to listen to God.
“We always want to say ‘yes’ to God. Saying ‘no’ to God never brings anything good into our lives,” he said. “You don’t have to be rich. I grew up poor. You don’t have to be the smartest guy in the world. St. John Vianney wasn’t very good in school.
“You can do a lot of things. Pope Benedict XVI, who is now almost 96 years old, said God did not make you for mediocrity, he made you for greatness.
“The priesthood is the greatness of God’s love for his people.”
The greatest gift of the priesthood, the bishop said, is celebrating the Eucharist.
“God answered my question when I received my First Holy Communion – that He loves me as much as anybody else,” Bishop Fernandes said. “And that love for me has never diminished. No matter what I’ve done, His love for me is unfailing.”
The bishop recalled the priests and nuns who helped the Fernandes family over the years and said he considers his priesthood in a sense a payback to the Lord for that assistance.
“I thought at the time of my decision to enter the seminary – five boys in our family who’ve been blessed by the Lord – ‘How can I give back?’ Bishop Fernandes said. “As it says in the Psalms, ‘What thanks shall I render the Lord for all the good things He has rendered to me? I shall take the chalice of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.’
“This is the greatness of the life of being a priest. And I would invite you all to discern whether God is calling you to His greatness.”