My Dear Friends in Christ:

“Come, Follow Me.” (Mark 1:16-17) With these simple words Jesus called forth His first Apostles. St. Mark tells us that “…they immediately left their nets and followed Him.” (Mark 1:18) And so Simon, Andrew, James and John followed Jesus and their lives were changed forever. Through their commitment to Jesus they would be a part of the great mission to change the world, to bring the world to the Lord!

We hear a good deal today about a vocation crisis. Is the Lord not calling forth others to follow Him, to follow in the footsteps of His first Apostles? The Lord is calling but His call is oftentimes drowned out by so many voices that are contrary to His. And yet there are young men who, with the same enthusiasm, the same commitment, the same fervor of those first Apostles are answering that call.

We are blessed in our Diocese of Covington to have more than 20 candidates preparing for the priesthood. This is a 700 percent increase in the past four years. These young men have heard the Lord’s summons: Come, Follow Me. And they have responded, they have answered the call. They are willing to discern the Lord’s call by entering into a program of priestly formation and education. They have cast their lot in with the Lord. We are grateful that the Lord has summoned them and we are grateful that they have responded!

I am grateful to all who have been praying for an increase in vocations to the priesthood and urge you to continue doing so. I am also grateful for the generous support so many of our parishioners provide for the education and formation of our seminarians, the future priests of our Diocese. Our seminarians join me in this gratitude.

I ask once again for your generosity in this annual collection for the education and formation of our seminarians. We want to provide our parishioners with the very best priests possible. Your generosity will go a long way in helping us to do so.

Be assured of my prayers as well as those of our seminarians. Please, pray for us.