On this Fourth Sunday of Easter – Good Shepherd Sunday – the Church calls us to reflect on Christ the Good Shepherd, and to pray especially for vocations to the priesthood. I think we all know we are facing a catastrophic shortage of priests. As older priests retire or go to their eternal reward, no one replaces them. Many churches are left without Sunday Mass and the Sacraments then gradually disappear. We know in this very Deanery how many parishes have recently had to amalgamate. And God is not pleased with this shortage of priests. Some say, “God is giving the laity a bigger role.” But the laity already have a vitally important role: sanctifying the world from within – in the family, at work, in politics, through apostolic works and evangelising by word and example. The priest, on the other hand, sanctifies the world primarily through the Sacraments.

Our Lord founded the Catholic Priesthood at the Last Supper on Holy Thursday when He said to the Apostles, “Do this in memory of Me.”  He gave them the power to celebrate Mass and to make Him truly present under the appearance of bread and wine. Only a validly ordained priest can celebrate Mass. So if there are no priests, there is no Mass. If there are no priests, there is no confession. If there are no priests, there is no anointing of the sick and Last Rites, and the life of grace dries up. The Good Shepherd continues to call as He has always called. He says in today’s Gospel (John 10:27-30), “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” So God still calls men to the priesthood, but too few are listening, and too many are afraid to respond.

So this is why I’m turning now to parents and grandparents. If the Church is to have priests tomorrow, the seed has to be sown today in the home. It begins when a child is taught to pray, to listen to the Lord’s voice and to be open to His Will. Have you ever asked God to call one of your sons or grandsons to the priesthood? Have you ever spoken of a priestly vocation as being something beautiful and heroic?  In many Catholic homes it’s never mentioned.

A lady in this country in the nineteenth century made an hour of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament every day for twenty years asking for vocations for her children. She knew that if she persisted, God would grant her request. Five of her daughters became Sisters of Charity, six of her sons became priests, two of those became bishops, one of whom was the future Cardinal Herbert Vaughan, Archbishop of Westminster who built Westminster Cathedral.

So I ask parents to encourage your children to listen for the voice of the Good Shepherd. Pray with them and speak lovingly of the priesthood, and don’t be afraid to ask God to call one of your sons.  Ask for the grace to be able to support that call. As we pray in our Prayer for Vocations, “Choose from our homes those who are needed for Your work.”

So let us all pray hard for more labourers in the vineyard, and also for anybody in this parish who may be discerning a priestly or religious vocation. May Our Lady, Queen of Vocations gently guide them and help them to say “yes” to that call.

Fr Paul Gillham, IC