One of the great blessings of my ministry as the Archbishop of Denver is the presence of our two seminaries, St. John Vianney Theological Seminary and Redemptoris Mater Seminary. As a spiritual father, I enjoy spending time with the young men in the seminary, sharing meals, and watching them mature and grow into their vocational callings. Admittedly, I am fonder than most of the seminary experience because I had the privilege of helping establish St. John Vianney and was named its founding rector.
The goal of the seminary is to prepare men to be ordained holy priests. Holy priests are one of the greatest gifts God can offer his people and the seminary plays a key role in their growth in holiness. The seminary first teaches men to pray, grow, and abide in a personal relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In a letter to priests, Pope Francis wrote, “At the heart of our life is not even the frenzy of activity but remaining in the Lord to bear fruit (Jn 15). He is our refreshment.” At St. John Vianney, the first year is spent building up the spiritual lives of the men to help them grow in charity and discern God’s will for their lives.
The pursuit of priestly holiness is seen clearly in the life of St. John Vianney himself. As patron of both priests and our specific seminary, St. John Vianney serves as an example to which our formation is directed. It is said that when he was first assigned to Ars, he got lost along the way and was guided by a local shepherd boy to the village. When they arrived at the church, St. John Vianney said to the boy, “Thank you for showing me the way to Ars… I will show you the way to Heaven.”
Priests are not formed to lord authority over parishes and communities of the faithful, but like Jesus, we have come not to be served but to serve (Mt 20:28). The ministry of a priest, in a unique way, shepherds the faithful to encounter Jesus Christ to reach eternal life in Heaven. We do this through falling in love with the Trinity, then flowing from this relationship, living a life of charity and devotion, through celebrating the sacrifice of the Mass and the other sacraments, through preaching, and many other means.
I often hear from people that we are blessed in the Archdiocese of Denver because we have so many priests. I am incredibly grateful for every man who has said yes to the call to the priesthood and for every man who has honestly discerned that call. While we may be in a better position than some other dioceses, we are still experiencing a shortage, especially when we consider where all the priests who serve in the Archdiocese come from.
Less than 40% of priests currently serving in the Archdiocese of Denver entered seminary to be ordained here as diocesan priests. Many of our active priests are from religious orders, the Neocatechumenal Way, priests who have incardinated here from other religious communities or dioceses, and priests who are sent from other countries to serve. I am deeply thankful for these priests, but we must acknowledge that many of them could be sent to other locations for ministry at any moment.
It is my desire to promote more vocations to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Denver. St. John Vianney was born in and grew up in the Diocese of Lyons in France. He was ordained a priest of the diocese and spent his life in service to the people of his parish. The Church thrives and is most herself when she has an abundance of holy priests. We will never see that if we do not vigorously promote vocations and earnestly pursue the highest quality of formation for our seminarians.
On a more practical level, the operation and continual improvement of the seminary costs money. Please consider donating to our annual seminary appeal, for it is through your generosity that we can educate and form our seminarians locally. The work of the seminary is close to my heart as the archbishop, and I hope close to yours. Many of the priests serving in our parishes have been powerfully impacted by the ministry of our seminaries. I appreciate your generosity and ongoing support.
Let us follow the Lord’s invitation to us: “The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few; ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest” (Mt 9: 37-38). Let us fervently pray that the Lord would call more young men from northern Colorado to priestly ministry and that our seminaries would continue to form men to lead others into an encounter with Jesus Christ, who alone shows us the way to Heaven.