It is intimidating to promote vocations. It is difficult to encourage groups of young men and women to think about something that perhaps they’ve never thought about before, or even considered. It is easy to get discouraged and become timid. In prayer the other day I was reassured that even the saints had their doubts. As the Lord is asking Moses to go back to Egypt and free the Israelites from bondage, Moses exclaims “O my Lord, please send someone else!” (Ex. 4:13b) This feeling of fear must be acknowledged and then fought. It is based on a false notion of what we are on this earth to do.
We are not called to be comfortable all the time or to never put ourselves out there in vulnerability. By our baptism and confirmation, we are called to “go, make disciples.” (Mt. 28:19) Calling forth young men and women and encouraging them to consider religious life is a vital part of that mandate and it is one that will bear fruit if we are stubbornly, doggedly and courageously persistent.

The first week in November was Vocation Awareness Week. I had a wonderful time with our Springfield Dominicans who hosted a social for vocations at their house at St. Dominic. I played dodgeball with sixth graders at St. Richard School. I spoke to the youth group at St. Jude Pearl. I attended and assisted at a “Come and See” retreat at St. Joseph Seminary College. I don’t know which of those young people that I interacted with has a call within his or her heart to dedicate themselves to the Lord in Holy Orders or consecrated life, but all I have to know is that my call is to ask and encourage and accompany. I ask for your prayers in this effort. I ask you to encourage young men and women in your parishes and schools and tell them to contact me if they have any questions or just want to talk about vocations. Again, we have a brand new website www.jacksonpriests.com with tons of information and opportunities for discernment. For me, it is not Vocations Awareness Week, it is Vocations Awareness Life! May it be the same for all priests and religious in our diocese, that we fearlessly promote a life that reminds the world that God is real and that literally brings His grace into the world.

Vocations Events

Friday, Jan. 31-Feb. 2, 2020 – Annual Notre Dame Pre-Discernment trip. Open to men of any age who are open to a call to priesthood, we will spend three days on the campus of Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans.

Friday, Feb. 7-9, 2020 – Nashville Dominicans’ Jesu Caritas Retreat. Retreat is open to single, Catholic women, ages 17-30. These weekend retreats explore different topics, offering spiritual insight for those who love the Church. There are opportunities to speak with the sisters and to meet others who have an earnest desire for God.

Contact the Office of Vocations if interested in attending any of these events.
vocations@jacksondiocese.org
www.jacksonpriests.com

What is the seminary like? The reality might surprise you. If you are like I was growing up, you may think that a house of priestly formation resembles a silent monastery, filled with monk-like figures trying to discern God’s call in isolation. Well, that’s not the reality. The reality is that while a diocesan seminary certainly is a house of prayer, it’s also a house full of activity, excitement and men who bring different gifts to the table and are seeking to use them to glorify the Lord.

My favorite thing about seminary was the fraternity. Yes, there was class. Yes, there was prayer. But there were also apostolic opportunities, social events, community events, community fundraisers and other “regular stuff” that helped us to build a brotherhood. And that brotherhood becomes so strong because it is rooted in a love of Jesus Christ. We were all a bunch of normal guys who were considering whether to do what the world has come to see as abnormal, to live a life for God alone. And we loved it. And we supported one another and challenged one another and now we still support and challenge one another.

This summer myself and several of my classmates made a five-day retreat together at a house of Benedictine nuns in Northern Missouri. It reminded me of the great bond that we still have, a bond for which I am so grateful. Have you ever wanted to see what a seminary is like? The Office of Vocations offers trips throughout the year, including visits to seminaries. If you are interested please contact me at vocations@jacksondiocese.org. You can also visit www.jacksonpriests.com/come-and-see to check out the trips we have coming up this fall and winter.
– Father Nick Adam

Vocations Events

Friday, Nov. 8-11 – Saint Joseph Seminary College offers a retreat for high school men (juniors and seniors) who are interested in learning more about seminary life. The retreat lasts from Friday evening through Sunday lunch and gives discerners a chance to get a feel for the seminary routine and meet seminarians and professors.

Contact the Office of Vocations if interested in attending any of these events.
vocations@jacksondiocese.org
www.jacksonpriests.com

On Oct. 24, I invited leaders from around the diocese to St. Richard Parish to help me launch a Serra Club. Named in honor of the recently canonized St. Junipero Serra, who brought the Catholic faith to mission territories throughout the Southwest, Serrans are supporting vocations across the country through prayer, time, talent and in many other ways.

I have been positively impacted by the ministry of Serrans and I believe that a Serra Club could immediately help the Vocations Office accomplish two tasks:

1) To provide a base of lay support for vocation promotion initiatives (such as helping with discernment retreats, diocesan events, etc.) and
2) To provide a base of pray-ers, dedicated to praying for an increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

I hope to develop even more ways to use the Serrans to spark vocations and support our mission. A representative from the Archdiocese of New Orleans traveled to Jackson to run the meeting since this will be the first Serra Club established in the State of Mississippi. If you are interested in becoming a Serran, please contact the Office of Vocations and for more information on what Serrans do, visit www.serraus.org. Father Nick Adam

Vocations Events

Friday, Nov. 8-10, – “Come and See” Weekend, This is a helpful discernment retreat for young men considering a call to the priesthood. They get to see a seminary in a low-pressure environment with dozens of other men considering their own future. St. Joseph Seminary College, Covington, Louisiana

In late September, I took a group of young women on a tour of several different religious communities in our region. We visited sisters who are nurses that care for the sickest of the sick, and who pray with families through the night as they prepare to commend their loved ones to the Lord. (Servants of Mary, Ministers to the Sick, New Orleans) We visited sisters who work in publishing and are dedicated to increasing the visibility of the Gospel on social media platforms. (Daughters of St. Paul, Metairie, La.) We visited sisters who are catechists and philosophy professors, (Daughters of Divine Providence, Covington, La.) and we ended our trip visiting cloistered nuns dedicated to praying for the Church and the world. (Carmelite Monastery, Covington, La.)

It was an eye-opening experience for the discerners and also for this priest. I heard vocation stories that sounded a lot like mine, calls that came from the Lord in the same mysterious way that my call to priesthood had come. It was an incredible trip.

As we seek to inspire disciples and create a culture of vocations, women religious must play a vital role. The young women were joined by supportive mothers who were excited to see what religious life was about and they were all blown away at the joyful hearts that they connected with over the weekend. If you are interested in visiting a religious community or learning more about male or female religious life, contact me in the Office of Vocations.
– Father Nick Adam

Vocations Events

Thursday, Oct. 24, 6:30 p.m – St. Richard Catholic Church (Glynn Hall). This is a meeting for anyone interested in helping to launch a Serra Club in the Diocese of Jackson. The Serrans are lay men and women dedicated to supporting priestly vocations in their diocese. Please contact the Office of Vocations if you are interested in attending this meeting.

Friday, Nov. 8-11 – Saint Joseph Seminary College offers a retreat for high school men (juniors and seniors) who are interested in learning more about seminary life. The retreat lasts from Friday evening through Sunday lunch and gives discerners a chance to get a feel for the seminary routine and meet seminarians and professors.

Friday, Nov. 22 – Bonfire Football Game – St. Joseph Seminary, Covington, La.
Contact the Office of Vocations if interested in attending any of these events.

vocations@jacksondiocese.org
www.jacksonpriests.com

How old should one be to enter the seminary or to start formation in a religious house of discernment? This question is as old as the church. I have heard many different opinions and my own opinion has been molded and refined as the years have gone on. A popular viewpoint that I have heard is that we need men and women who have “real world” experience prior to entering into religious discernment. This way they know the “basics” of living as an adult and they might avoid some pitfalls in religious life. They also have a chance to experience a “normal life” and perhaps this will make them more ready to embrace a call from the Lord because they know what else is out there. I had worked for four and a half years and lived on my own prior to joining the seminary. I had to learn to scrape together enough money week to week to pay for essentials, I learned what things cost and I matured a great deal during those years on my own.

But as I progressed through the seminary, I was formed to be a priest alongside men with a variety of personal and professional backgrounds. Some had been highly successful business leaders; some were fresh out of high school and had never had a paying job. Some were grandfathers who had been widowed, others had never dated. What I came to understand during my six years of seminary was that formation works. No matter our background, no matter our life experience, it was our dedication and faithfulness to what the Church demanded of us in priestly formation that dictated our success or our failure. Every man and woman is different, some young men know they have a call to the priesthood from an early age, it is all they have ever wanted to do. Should we really say: “no, do this other thing first or you will not be happy?” I did not experience that call early on, the Lord apparently saw fit to put a desire for priesthood on my heart at a later date, but that did not change the fact that it would be my dedication to formation and to the Lord that would dictate my success or failure.

Earlier this month I shared my vocation story with students at Ole Miss and I spoke with the wonderful youth group at St. John Oxford as well. I hope that any young person, at any age, who manifests a desire to explore religious life is not brushed aside until they are “old enough” to make that decision. Every disciple is different, God calls us all at different times and that is the answer to the question, how old should one be to enter the seminary or religious formation? It depends on the person and that is how God intended it. –Father Nick Adam

Vocations Events

Friday, Oct. 4 – Sunday Oct. 6 – Jesu Caritas Retreat with Dominican Sisters of Nashville, Tennessee.

Friday, Nov. 22 – Bonfire Football Game – St. Joseph Seminary, Covington, Louisiana.

Contact the Office of Vocations if interested – vocations@jacksondiocese.org