Vocation Boom! Roadshow 2010 - Episode 1

Vocation Boom! is the new multi-media initiative which will play a role in encouraging many young — and not so young — men to consider a priestly vocation, or to persevere in their current pursuit of the priesthood.

Many tremendous projects have been unveiled during this Year for Priests. May God grant that they all bear much fruit. As for Vocation Boom!, it really is much more than a response to the Year for Priests. In fact, I view the Year for Priests as more of a confirmation of a vision that’s been on my heart for almost twenty years.

For nearly twenty years, this vision to creatively and aggressively promote and nourish vocations to the priesthood has been growing in my heart, to the point where it can no longer be contained. For the last couple of years, I have been assembling a team of colleagues who I knew could help it become a reality. We have been actively working on the multi-media initiative for quite some time, and as I noted above, Pope Benedict’s proclamation of the Year for Priests served as a concrete sign from God that the time has come for Vocation Boom!

I don’t know about you, but I have a real sense of urgency in my heart for helping more and more men discover God’s call to the priesthood in their lives. Let’s face it, the Lord isn’t calling fewer men today than he did, say, twenty years ago, thirty years ago, even five hundred years ago. What we’ve had has been a crisis in hearing or answering God’s call to the priesthood. I truly believe those days are quickly coming to an end. For now, suffice it to say, the “vocation boom” is underway. I just ask Almighty God to grant that our humble efforts to assist what the Holy Spirit is doing will help to bring about blessed results. Please join us as we work to facilitate this much-needed Vocation Boom!

First Guest: Fr. Todd Lajiness – Academic Dean at SHMS and Weekend Ministry at Holy Family in Novi, ordained 14 years, parish priest , theology professor, secretary to His Eminence Edmund Cardinal Szoka, Director of Undergraduate Studies at S. H. Seminary and, since 2003, Academic Dean at the seminary

• Discuss academic rigors of becoming a priest
• A candidate for holy orders is required to gain a solid grounding in philosophy before diving into a study of the Church’s rich theological subjects, talk about why that’s a crucial component of formation.
• Discuss his involvement with the Catholic Youth Organization (board of trustees and priest task force

Second Guest: Agnes Fedewa – Mother of Eric Fedewa, 3^rd Year Theology Student at SHMS

• You’ve said that your son Eric “always had the call to the priesthood.” Tell us what you saw or witnessed in him at a young age that gave you that impression. Discussion follows of what it is like to be the mother of a seminarian, what she has learned about her faith, how she feels about her son taking his final vows and giving her sacraments…

Third Guest: Eric Fedewa – 3^rd Year Theology Student at SHMS

• third year of theology studies, ordination to the transitional diaconate is fast approaching…discussion of how he feels about his ordination
• discussion of his life as a seminarian, when he knew he had a vocation, what he looks forward to about being a priest