Word to the Wise
Thursday, October 18, 2007 - St. Luke, Evangelist
[2 Timothy 4:10-17B and Luke 10:1-9]The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.
As I write this, I am at a retreat facility outside Lake Charles, LA, conducting the second of two retreats for diocesan priests of the Lafayette and Lake Charles dioceses. It is always a privilege for me to preach one of these retreats. I learn much of the vocation of the diocesan priests who work very hard for the Lord's harvest. I also learn that the laborers are getting fewer and fewer. Many priests cover more than one parish. Vocations are not overly plentiful although there has been some slow improvement in the picture. There have been many surveys done of diocesan priests that uniformly show them to be very satisfied with their vocation. Despite media efforts to show the contrary, these surveys do not report great troubles with celibacy. The greater burden appears to be the crush of work, especially administrative work that seems to accompany the pastoral ministry. The lack of clergy personnel means that few pastors have associates. The growth of Lay Ecclesial Ministers is helping many of them respond to this challenge, but it is still a new thing. Yes, there are some "mega-questions" in the air about the whole nature of ordained ministry. However, I wouldn't put a lot of money on a bet that the priesthood as commonly understood for diocesan priests in this country will disappear anytime soon. They need a lot of encouragement and support. The irony that a group of men happy in their vocation are not getting the message out to other men remains as a problem. Perhaps we can help by making that fact known to possible candidates. That abundant harvest needs workers. AMEN
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