Priestly Sunday – Holy Trinity Church

Dear Brothers and Sisters.

The peace of Our Lord Jesus Christ be with you always!

Next Sunday, September 28, is Priesthood Sunday. This is a great opportunity to pray for all deacons, priests, and bishops around the world. Let us also pray for more vocations to the priestly and religious life. We need more men who want to serve the Lord through their service in the Church. Pope Saint John Paul II, in the Apostolic Exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis written in 1992, says, “Without priests the Church would not be able to live that fundamental obedience which is at the very heart of her existence and her mission in history, an obedience in response to the command of Christ: ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations’ (Mt. 28:19) and ‘Do this in remembrance of me’ (Lk. 22:19; cf. 1 Cor. 11.24), i.e:, an obedience to the command to announce the Gospel and to renew daily the sacrifice of the giving of his body and the shedding of his blood for the life of the world.” (PDV 1).

Lacking priests is a reality that now the Church is facing, and our diocese is living in this situation. We have different churches and parishes under the pastoral work of only one priest, for example. Many priests are retiring, and others are dying. We need more vocations. We need more priests. Our Diocese has only 10 seminarians, but… is this enough to cover our Diocese? I don’t believe so. Let us pray for more priests. Like Mother Teresa of Calcutta said, “Without priests, we have no Jesus. Without priests, we have no absolution. Without priests, we cannot receive Holy Communion.” I do not get tired of saying this… let us pray for more priests… let us pray for our seminarians who are preparing themselves to serve our Diocese of Rochester. These are our seminarians: