Bishop of Shrewsbury to open house of discernment for men considering vocation to priesthood

Apr 16th, 2014

Bishop Mark Davies

The Rt Rev Mark Davies, Bishop of Shrewsbury has announced plans to open a house of discernment for men considering a vocation to the priesthood. The house at Shrewsbury Cathedral will open in September 2015 and will offer men a place where they will be able to carefully discern, over a period of a year, if they are being called by God to become priests.

Bishop Davies made the announcement during the Chrism Mass, on Wednesday evening, 16 April, at St Anthony’s Church in Wythenshawe, Manchester.

At the Mass, the Bishop also made available prayer cards for vocations – including a prayer he has composed himself - which will be sent out to all parishes in the Diocese over the coming weeks. “If we truly open our hearts in prayer within our families and parishes, I have no doubt this gift of new vocations will be given us,” the Bishop said.“If we truly open our hearts in prayer within our families and parishes, I have no doubt this gift of new vocations will be given us,” said the Bishop.

The full text of Bishop Davies' homily follows:

In the course of my journey round the Diocese I have become aware of many priests now passed from living memory, whose faithful lives shaped our present and, indeed, our future. Some of these priests came from our own parishes and families and many others came from overseas. Today we give thanks for every priest who has faithfully accompanied us along the path of our Christian lives bringing us the word of truth, the grace of the Sacraments and, above all, the supreme gift of the Holy Eucharist.

This evening every priest could tell his own story of how he came in different places and times to the same conviction expressed in Isaiah’s prophecy: “the Lord has sent me” (Isaiah 61:2). Pope Francis describes how this call comes not from our own plans and calculations but in the Holy Father’s words: “God surprises us!” when we “listen to Him in silence before the tabernacle and deep within ourselves, to speak with Him, to draw near to the Sacraments” (Meeting with the Young People of Umbria 4th October 2013). In each generation: from among the people He “has made His own” as the Liturgy beautifully expresses it, Christ Himself chooses men “with a brother’s kindness ... to become sharers in his sacred ministry” (Preface of the Chrism Mass). “The priestly vocation,” Blessed John Paul II declared “is a gift from God” serving the whole of the Church’s life and mission. (Pastores Dabo Vobis n.41). The vocation to the Priesthood supports every Christian vocation because in St. John Vianney’s memorable phrase a priest: “is not for himself, he is for you.”

In our lifetimes we have witnessed one of the greatest springtimes in priestly vocations in the Church’s history. More young men have offered their lives in the Priesthood than at any moment in the Church’s long story. The Priesthood in 2014 is truly young! However, it is a springtime in which the Church in countries like our own has not shared. We have seen a long decline in the Christian vocations of marriage, the consecrated life of Sisters and Brothers as well as the ministerial Priesthood.

In the natural world when we notice life disappearing we are alert to the problems of the environment: the state of the water, the soil or the air. Likewise in the supernatural order if these vital signs of life in the vocations of marriage, consecrated life and the priesthood die away in a local church we also must be alert to the environment. Half a century ago the Second Vatican Council recognised the link between how you and I live our vocations and how new vocations are encouraged in the Church. The Council declared the responsibility for fostering vocations rests with the whole Christian community. We promote vocations, above all, the Council taught by “living fully Christian lives” (Optatam Totius n.2). It is where faith is put first, where commitment, sacrifice and generous self-giving are valued an environment is created where vocations can flourish. We must in this way make our own “climate change” in order to encourage a new generation of vocations in the Church! Today when we are often reminded of our responsibility for the natural world we must also recognise our part in looking after the supernatural environment of faith and love within which each new generation grows. Each of us has a part in making an environment where vocations can flourish.

This crisis of vocation is neither inexplicable nor irreversible. I want to suggest three ways in which this crisis can be resolved: by prayer, by encouragement and by a renewed love for the priestly vocation. In the face of a harvest which was great and labourers too few Jesus Himself commanded us to pray the Lord of the Harvest to send labourers to his harvest (Mt.9:37). He taught us to pray not as a last resort but as the first and irreplaceable means towards receiving this gift from God. If we truly open our hearts in prayer within our families and parishes, I have no doubt this gift of new vocations will be given us. At this Mass we are sending out prayer cards across the Diocese with the invitation to pray for the priests of the future. Please, be part of this great prayer of intercession.

Many young people have told me how they were discouraged from pursuing their calling not by hostile influences outside the Church but by members of the Church!! It is a sad reflection, because the Second Vatican Council reminded us we each have a role in encouraging, offering courage to the young in responding to their calling. At Shrewsbury Cathedral we are going to establish as a diocese a “house for discernment” for men considering a vocation to the priesthood. This house will formally open its doors in September 2015 creating a community at the heart of our diocese where the vocation to priesthood can be actively discerned and supported within a year long programme. I entrust this venture to your prayers and to the prayer and protection of Our Lady, Help of Christians and of St. John Vianney. Finally, we today need a renewed love for the priesthood. A love based firmly on Catholic faith not on any passing sentiment. “It is beautiful” Pope Francis says “to find priests who have given their lives as priests. Priests of whom the people say: “but yes, he has a bit of a temper, he’s got this and that, but he is a priest! And the people,” the Holy Father observed “have a nose about these things!” (11th January 2014).

In a few moments I will ask the priests to renew in powerful and moving words the promises of their priestly life. I will ask you to pray that they be faithful to their calling. Let us all be willing then to pray, to encourage and to truly love this calling which brings men to the Priesthood in each generation. A genuine love for the Priesthood has nothing to do with human adulation but is a faith-filled appreciation of the gift God gives in every man called to share in Christ’s Priesthood. It is a life and a ministry in which a man seeks nothing for himself but, as St. Luke recounts in the Synagogue of Nazareth, to draw all eyes to Christ the Lord (Lk.4:21). It must be “to him, then,” in the words of the Book of Apocalypse this evening “be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen” (Rev. 1:7).

+ Mark Bishop of Shrewsbury

The Diocese of Shrewsbury covers the parts of Merseyside south of the River Mersey, the southern parts of Greater Manchester, parts of Derbyshire, almost all of the county of Cheshire and all of Shropshire. At present, the Diocese has eight seminarians, 111 priests (including 28 retired), 98 parishes, 121 churches.