The Holy Spirit continues to do good things in the South! I had to add this news article from CNS on the promising vocational signs coming from Little Rock, Arkansas. We have 2 young men in our own Salesian formation program this year from Arkansas as well:
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (CNS) -- The Diocese of Little Rock is emerging from a 41-year priest vocations slump, with 29 seminarians currently studying in seven different schools in the United States, Italy and Mexico. The diocese has not seen numbers that high since 1966, the last full school year before St. John Home Mission Seminary closed in Little Rock. The workload of Msgr. Scott Friend, diocesan vocations director, has increased significantly compared to vocation directors in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s who oversaw as few as seven seminarians. He keeps busy meeting prospective seminarians, helping the men complete entrance paperwork and visiting each seminary or college to check on the men. This year the diocese accepted eight new seminarians. Msgr. Friend attributed the increase to a variety of factors, some of them interrelated. Among the factors cited by Msgr. Friend are: family support, Catholic schools and parish religious education, peer-to-peer youth ministry, good priest role models, the Knights of Columbus, the Serra Club and lots of prayers.
Vocations are clearly a team effort and if we all do our part God will bless us for sure! Let's keep praying and working for vocations!
2 comments:
I love articles like this but they also depress me. I don't understand why if it can occur in Little Rock while it is not happening everywhere. I just wished DIocese would look at successful models and try to implement what works
I know what you mean... You would think every Bishop would follow the same formula that works. Let's continue to pray for them and for more young men and women to say yes to the call to follow Christ as Religious and Priests.
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