Bishop Kevin Farrell

The Chief Shepherd of the Catholic Diocese of Dallas

Connect

Priesthood Sunday

By

Next Sunday is Priesthood Sunday and I am not just going to remind you to thank your priests for giving their lives to serve you and all of our parishioners, I am going to join you in saluting our wonderful priests.

As bishop I am in a unique position to understand the contribution that priests make to our Church. By God’s grace, I am your bishop, but it is our priests who, in the words of Vatican II, “gather together God’s family…all of one mind and lead them in the Spirit, through Christ, to God the Father.”

I am grateful to our priests for their commitment to Christ in His Church, for their service to Christ in his people, and for making my ministry possible. We might say that Sunday is a special kind of Fathers’ Day, a day, not for honoring our natural fathers, but our spiritual fathers.

They are Fathers who bring Jesus’ presence to the passages of our lives. They baptize us, they reconcile us, they teach us, they marry us, they are with us on our journey to the Heavenly Father, and they are with us when we leave for the final passage home.

Sunday, when you tell Father how much you appreciate him, please also give him a pat on the back from me.

Good news, bad news on vocations

By

When the annual statistical report was released by the Vatican this week it turned out to be one of those good news, bad news stories.

On the good news side is the fact that worldwide vocations to the priesthood are up 1.4 percent over the last decade (1999-2009). Vocations to the diocesan priesthood increased 4 percent but vocations to religious communities decreased 3.5 percent.

The bad news is that in North America priestly vocations continued to decline. Diocesan clergy declined 7 percent and religious clergy 21 percent.

Not surprisingly the data confirms the new springtime of the Church in those parts of the world that we once considered missionary territory. In Africa priestly vocations among diocesan clergy increased a whopping 38.5 percent while in Asia the increase was 30.5 percent.

All Christian groups are growing in Africa as they compete with Islam to win over those Africans abandoning tribal religions. An evangelizing church is a vigorous and growing church. It doesn’t have time for internal squabbles. The polarization we have in the United States does not exist in Africa.

Happily we are enjoying an increase in seminarians in the Diocese of Dallas and will be ordaining three diocesan priests this year. I am convinced that this wonderful news is due to continued prayers for vocations, parents encouraging their children to consider priestly and religious vocations and the example of our priests.

We must continue to work and pray for a new springtime in the Church in North America and in the Church of Dallas.

Vocation Awareness Week…A Time of Thanksgiving and Hope

By

Next week (Jan. 9-17) is National Vocation Awareness Week, a time of thanksgiving and of hope. Thanksgiving for the priests, deacons and religious with which our Diocese has been blessed. I continue to be amazed at the selfless service of the priests and those in consecrated life who staff our parishes, schools and institutions. I pray for them constantly and ask that you do the same.

We are especially thankful for the 44 seminarians in formation for the priesthood in our Diocese. It is the largest number in many years, a tribute to the work of Vocations Director Father Rudy Garcia and his staff.

And we are thankful for the fathers and mothers, who have nurtured vocations by creating a true Catholic culture in their homes, no easy task in the midst of our secular society.

It is also a time of hope, hope that an increasing number of young men and women will hear and respond to God’s call to serve not be served. Young people today are responding with faith, courage and generous hearts.

Take time next week to show your gratitude to our priests and religious who serve your parish. If you have a seminarian in your parish, encourage him and support him in his response to God’s call.

Finally, please pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life.