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Signs of the vocation boom are everywhere. Perhaps nowhere more so than in Washington, D.C., where the Eastern Province of the Dominican Friars is located. This fall they will welcome twenty one new men to their community. Twenty one! While I have no way of knowing for sure, that would seem to represent one of the largest groups to enter priestly formation for any diocese or religious congregation’s province in a very long time.

What made the Dominican Province of St. Joseph so attractive to these twenty one men? The same things that are attracting other young men to enter formation all over the world. Many factors could be named, but I’ll focus here on two that stand out for these men who have requested to follow in the footsteps of St. Dominic.

First - and this appears to be universal wherever vocations are increasing - men are looking for a formation and ministry environment that is unwaveringly faithful to the teaching authority of the Church. Second, in the case of these young Dominican aspirants, they recognize how the order has remained loyal to the charisms of its founder, and they, too, wish to embrace lives of poverty within community, as well as lives of intellectual formation, all for the purpose of preaching the gospel in both word and action.

The Dominican habit has always been one of my favorites among religious communities. I’m thrilled that so many new ones have to be made for this year’s class of novices in the Eastern Province!

I’m writing this blog post in a very familiar place for me: aboard an airplane at about 37,000 feet. And as I tried to patiently sit through the rebooting of my laptop, the subject I had chosen for this post was driven home to me even more.

We’re all painfully aware that we live in an age of instant gratification. I want something, and I want it now. One can see a great deal of frustration in all areas of society today on the part of people who have to wait even a short amount of time for what it is they are desiring or seeking.

I guess one possible antidote to that mindset is the old saying, “Good things take time.” I think that will be the case with the renewal of priestly vocations in the Church. I’ve noted before the blessed reality that the Church around the world is seeing a boom in vocations, one that is filling up seminaries everywhere, and keeping vocation directors busy.

Yet, it’s likely going to be another generation or two before we enjoy the benefit of parishes that are once again staffed by several priests (as was the case a few decades ago), schools where priests and religious are again highly visible as teachers and administrators, and so on.

We’ve been caught in a long, downward spiral when it comes to the number of men leaving the priesthood, and the number of men presenting themselves as candidates for holy orders. But with the current positive trends being experienced throughout the Church, there is every reason to be not only hopeful, but genuinely excited about the future of the priesthood.

Like me, you may wish that it were happening at an accelerated pace. However, we must keep in mind that God “is never late,” as many people say, and the Holy Spirit is bringing about this “new springtime” of vocations at this time in history for a reason – maybe many reasons.

Let us remember that while the vocation boom is well underway, it must be supported by our prayers, sacrifices, and efforts to promote and foster vocations to the priesthood. The Lord can act alone if He chooses to do so, but history shows us that He allows us the opportunity to partner with Him in many important endeavors. When it comes to the future of the Church, what could be more important than an increase in faithful, devout priests?

(Posted by guest blogger Dr. Matthew Bunson)

For those who may not be familiar with it, the Annuario Pontificio, or Pontifical Yearbook, is an annual publication of the Central Office of Church Statistics in the Vatican that offers remarkable details on the Holy See, the Roman Curia (or central government of the Church), bishops and dioceses all around the world, and even a listing of every monsignor currently in service. For those of us who follow the Church’s bureaucratic life, it is one of the year’s must have books, along with the Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae, the statistical book published every year by the Vatican Secretariat of State, that crunches the Catholic numbers for literally every region and country in the world.

The Annuario for 2010 was just published, and while you may be wondering what this has to do with vocations, the answer is quite a bit actually.

First, the Annuario for 2010 tells us that the number of Catholics has increased worldwide, (up 1.7%) to 1.166 billion baptized Catholics worldwide; there is also an increase in the percentage of Catholics who make up the global population (from 17.33% to 17.40%). 

And here is the really relevant part: There was a slight increase (around 1% between 2000 and 2008) in the number of diocesan and religious priests, from 405,178 in 2000 to 409,166 in 2008.

Europe still has the most priests; nearly half of the world’s priests serve there (47.1%), followed by the Americas (30%), Asia (13.2%), Africa (8.7%), and then Oceania (1.2%).

This is essentially unchanged from the previous years, but what is important to note is that the percentage in Europe has declined from 51.5% to 47.1%, while the percentages have increased in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. This is not a big surprise as we have been hearing for years about the overall drop in the numbers of priests from Europe, just as we have seen similar declines in North America compared to Latin America. This has as much to do with the demographic deterioration of Western Europe as anything else, although vocations to the priesthood are still remarkably healthy in Eastern Europe.

The really good news, however, is the world’s numbers of candidates for the priesthood. We have heard about and even seen slight upticks in the number of new seminarians over the last years, but the 2010 Annuario helps to confirm the increase. It may not seem a huge bump (rising from 115,919 in 2007 to 117,024 in 2008, or an increase of 1%), but it demonstrates that the new vocations that are exploding in such areas as Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Eastern Europe are now overcoming the declines in Western Europe and North America. In the United States, of course, vocations are also on the rise (again, not by leaps and bounds, but slowly and visibly), but we have a long way to go. Overall, there are increased vocations in Africa (3.6%), Asia (4.4%), and Oceania (up 6.5%), while declines were recorded in Europe (down 4.3%). In the Americas collectively, the numbers have stayed about the same.

The 2010 Annuario brings great news for all of us, and it is a useful reminder that the Church’s vital enterprise of fostering new vocations must be looked at globally.

Which brings me to the remarkable speech I wanted to mention by the papal nuncio (or ambassador) to the United States, Archbishop Pietro Sambi. For those not familiar with him, Archbishop Sambi is a long-time Vatican diplomat who has served all over the world, including as the papal representative to Israel. He was named nuncio to the U.S. in 2005.

On September 28^th last year, Archbishop Sambi gave an address to the 46th annual National Conference of Diocesan Vocation Directors (NCDVD). His speech was memorable and worth studying both this month and next. The nuncio places the responsibility for fostering vocations squarely within the context of the Church. He declared, “It is true that the priestly vocation is a mysterious gift. It is a gift from God; it is a gift to the Church.” He then quoted Pope John Paul II’s famed Apostolic Exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis:

The Church therefore is called to safeguard this gift, to esteem it, and love it. She is responsible for the birth and the development of priestly vocations. Consequently, the pastoral work of promoting vocations has as its active agents, as its protagonists, the ecclesial community as such, in its various expressions.

The Archbishop extended his thoughts to the opportunity we have to foster vocations in our daily lives. While he was speaking to vocation directors, his words are very germane to all of us:

I am deeply convinced that today like yesterday the Lord gives the needed vocation to his church. Maybe today differently from yesterday it’s changing the way to discover vocations and to propose in the name of Jesus Christ vocation to the youth today…Many young people of today, they don’t know what to do with their life. They suffer a great sense of emptiness. They are terribly unsure about their future. Don’t be ashamed to call people openly to priesthood or to religious vocation in the name of Jesus Christ. This is a small problem that I can understand that can deceive you and your enthusiasm…If you love your priesthood, if you love your priesthood, you want to speak about your love. You don’t speak about what you don’t love. But if you love your vocation, you speak with even enthusiasm of your vocation. So before saying there are no vocations today, try to convince yourself and to convince the priests of your diocese to speak more frequently and more openly about vocation today.

Archbishop Sambi noted that there are six areas in the Church named in Pastores Dabo Vobis that are responsible for fostering vocations: the bishop, the presbyterate, the Christian family, the lay faithful, groups, movements, and associations of lay faithful, and diocesan and parish communities. Archbishop Sambi placed particular stress on the family, declaring, “A very special responsibility falls upon the Christian family, which by virtue of the sacrament of matrimony shares in its own unique way in the educational mission of the Church - teacher and mother…. The Christian family, which is truly a ‘domestic Church’ has always offered and continues to offer favorable conditions for the birth of vocations.”

In effect, the job for fostering vocations is not only the responsibility of bishop, priests, and vocation directors. It is a task for all of us. And reading the newest Annuario Pontificio, it is a universal task as well.

Next month, I will look at Archbishop Sambi’s meditation on the vocation of the young Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II.

Links: Pastores Dabo Vobis  Archbishop Sambi’s Address

Like most of those who choose to seriously discern a call to the priesthood, I remember well the interior tug-of-war I went through before taking that giant leap and entering the official formation process. One of the biggest obstacles for me was the choice to leave the most enjoyable job I had ever had up to that point in my life, one that I believed would take me on a professional path that would prove to be both fruitful and satisfying in the long run.

But as much as I have always loved sports, and wished with all my heart growing up that I would eventually make it to the “big time,” that prospect was not at all part of the picture in my situation.

For Grant Desme, however, that’s precisely what he is walking away from in order to enter priestly formation with the Norbertine Fathers of St. Michael’s Abbey in Southern California. Desme, a second-round draft choice of Major League Baseball’s Oakland Athletics in 2007, was considered one of the organization’s top young prospects, meaning that he had an excellent chance of making it to the big leagues, which, of course, is the highest level a baseball player can attain.

Instead, he has opted to pursue what is referred to as the Church’s “highest objective calling,” the Catholic priesthood. His decision manifests a triumph of God’s grace over the longings of the human heart. I’m sure Grant would say he’s only doing what he believes God is calling him to do. And that’s what’s most important with a choice like this. But it still sends a powerful message to both the world and to other young men who are grappling with giving up their own dreams and aspirations.

As for the “world,” there are countless people who are already saying, “What a waste!” But that just shows a lack of understanding of God’s ways, and of what the priesthood is all about.

When it comes to young men who will learn of Grant’s decision, the message will be just the opposite. They’ll immediately think, “If he can walk away from potential Major League stardom – not to mention potential piles of money – then what can possibly keep me from saying “Yes” to God and getting started on my own journey toward the priesthood?”

At the end of the day, nothing matters more than doing the will of God. And while, as Paul Harvey used to say, “The rest of the story” remains to unfold, Grant Desme’s decision to leave baseball behind to pursue a vocation to the priesthood should inspire many young men to follow in his footsteps. It’s a story not unlike that of Mother Dolores Hart, the famous actress who in the 1960s left the bright lights of Hollywood behind to become a nun.

For some people, God matters more than fame and fortune. Let us keep Grant Desme in our prayers.