If, proportionate to its size, Detroit had as many seminarians as Bismarck, it would have about 500 men in priestly formation, says Fr. Tim Birney.
“We’re not the worst (among U.S. dioceses); we’re dead in the middle, but we should be much, much higher,” said Fr. Birney, director of the archdiocesan Office of Priestly Vocations for the past six years.
And it’s not for lack of vocation-promoting programs, he said.
“The majority of what I do is, more or less, Johnny Appleseeding,” he said, referring to the example of John Chapman, who introduced apple trees to much of the early United States by spreading seeds.
Most vocations-promotion programs yield no discernible immediate effect, though there is hope that seeds planted now will bear fruit sometime in the future.
Fr. Birney said one thing seminarians have cited as a major influence on their decision has been the opportunity to attend a live-in seminary weekend during their discernment process (or a seminary overnight during high school).
Another major influence is out of the archdiocese’s control: Many seminarians have known a priest whom they said served as a model of holiness and priestly life and who invited them to consider a vocation.
But for any of the seeds to take root, what’s needed is an overall environment that promotes virtue and encourages discipleship, Fr. Birney said.
“Truth be told, what is most needed is for every Catholic man or woman to become a vocations director. If we don’t see to this ourselves, we have nobody to blame but ourselves,” he said.
Becoming a priest or religious brother or sister is a small step — instead of a great leap — for the person who has undergone a conversion and developed a sense of discipleship, according to Fr. Birney. When he gives presentations to young audiences, he says he starts by telling them: “Remember who you are — a child of God — and that you have a vocation to be holy. And there are a variety of ways you can live that out: married, single, priesthood or religious life.”
If a sense of discipleship is not inculcated in the family, it usually comes from a conversion experience arising out of a retreat or a pilgrimage such as World Youth Day or the planned “El Camino” trip, he said.
While most men entering seminary these days have already graduated college and even have some secular work experience, some still enter right after high school.
In the case of younger vocations, a supportive family is almost always a major factor, Fr. Birney said, adding that parental opposition can often prove too much for a seminarian to hold out against.
Once a man has entered seminary, the emphasis on discipleship continues, said Msgr. Todd Lajiness, rector of Detroit’s Sacred Heart Major Seminary.
“From early on, we strive to form and shape an identity as a disciple. We want to make sure the seminarian understands what it means to be and live as a disciple of Jesus,” he said.
And the seminary seeks to help clarify the nature of that discipleship, he said. “He needs to discern, early on, what the Lord is calling him to — not just to being a disciple, but specifically to the priesthood,” Msgr. Lajiness said.
He added that, in his experience, the faithful Catholic family — the “domestic Church” — plays a tremendous role, along with the example of priests who are happy in their priesthood.
“When a diocese is blessed with a real strong domestic Church and also happy priests, you almost don’t need a vocations program,” Msgr. Lajiness said.
He praised Archbishop Allen Vigneron for his strong support encouraging vocations to the priesthood.
“At Sacred Heart,” he said, “we are blessed with an archbishop who is so committed to vocations and who sees so clearly that vocations are necessary to our future.”
