A couple of our seminarians and I recently watched a documentary called “The Social Dilemma” (streaming now on Netflix). The filmmaker interviews former Silicon Valley developers who helped to create the majority of the social media platforms that exist today. Most of the subjects left their posts due to ethical concerns about the effect that social media is having on humanity as a whole. This is not a new concern, but the documentary is a helpful source to understand just how addictive our phones and devices can become, and the way that the psychology-based advertising strategy of some social networks can basically break our brain. People stare at their phones, refresh, and stare some more. While “The Social Dilemma” focused much more on the effect that this is having on our youngest generations, we all know that every generation is susceptible to this threat: the threat of having our primary source of truth, goodness and beauty be a plastic rectangle that we hold in our hands.

It was interesting that I watched this film in one of the places in our country where screens do not have such a stranglehold: the seminary. The community life and brotherhood of priestly formation is a great antidote to the addiction of the virtually connected. The men at the seminary are actually connected, in prayer to and worship of the Lord, in common purpose, in conversation, and in challenging one another. This is a great gift that houses of formation provide, and it is something that I advertise to those who I bring to visit the seminary.
I think our younger generations are waking up to the lie of our “plugged-in” society faster than the rest of the population. They know that they will not find truth, goodness or beauty from any social network because ultimately all of these platforms are only seeking eyes and ears and clicks to sell to advertisers. Younger people have seen the destruction that this causes in the alarming rise in depression, self-harm and suicide among youth that the documentary details. This terrible reality, however, is also the reason I believe that these generations are ready to turn to something deeper, something greater, because they know the answer does not lie on their phone, they know that the meaning of life is not how many “likes” they get, but how many real relationships they can develop, and how they develop in relationship with the God who made them. They have spent their childhood in digital spaces that might care about their eyes and ears, but not about their immortal souls.
The Lord is certainly breaking in and speaking loudly and clearly on college campuses that provide access to exposition and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and have thriving Catholic Student Centers because the students just want to grow in relationship with actual people, and with the Lord who actually loves them. I am impressed and inspired by the young men and women who are members of the Catholic Student Associations at the universities and colleges in our state, and I appreciate the pastors, like Father Jason Johnston in Starkville and Father Joe Tonos in Oxford, who support the students who are members of their flocks and hire excellent campus ministry staff to support them.
I encourage all of us this Advent to take a long look at what we are spending our time looking at and listening to. We all need more time with the Lord who loves us, and less time with devices that have made us objects of advertisers’ affection. I wish you all a Blessed Advent and a Merry Christmas.

I hope you have enjoyed getting to know our seminarians over the past several issues of the Mississippi Catholic, we still have two more men to feature, starting with Will Foggo this week. Our seminarians are getting back to their academic commitments this month as they return to study at St. Joseph Seminary College and Notre Dame Seminary. St. Joseph is where most of our men start out their studies and then everyone goes to Notre Dame for their graduate work in Theology.

But this summer our men were spread throughout the diocese engaging in pastoral work and getting to know priests around the area. This was one of the greatest gifts of the “Tour de Priest.” I was able to spend time with a few of our men as they engaged in a different part of their formation. I spent a good while in Starkville with Carlisle Beggerly and listened as he delivered a very impressive reflection in the context of evening prayer and did the same in Jackson with Andrew Bowden.

Prior to their return to the seminary, our seminarians and I gathered in Natchez for some time to build community amongst ourselves. I am so pleased with the men who are in formation for our diocese as I believe they are authentically seeking God’s will in their lives and only that. In my mind now the calendar turns over and I look to the future. Who is the next young man who wants to respond to the mysterious call the Lord has placed on his heart? That call that says: “you need to see if priesthood is for you, I want you to go and see.” I’m in the midst of scheduling out the rest of my year. I’ll be visiting schools in person and via Zoom/YouTube/WhateverElseINeedToUse and traveling to parishes and campuses around the diocese. But I could always use more help. The best thing you can do is pray for more vocations, but if you want to do one more thing, tell a young man you admire that they would make a good priest, and encourage them to get in touch with me. They can go to www.jacksonpriests.com to find out all they need to know and send me an email or give me a phone call.

We have six men in the seminary, and they are a great gift, let’s continue to call forth more men to consider this path, a path that leads to answers, a path that leads to challenge, a path that the Lord could be calling them to take.

Vocations Events

Friday, October 9, 2020 – First annual Homegrown Harvest Gala and Fundraiser (virtual)

Email nick.adam@jacksondiocese.org if interested in attending this event.

The theological virtue of hope played a big part in my Tour de Priest excursion this past month. At our baptism we are infused with faith, hope and love through the sacramental grace gifted to us by the Lord, and hope is the recognition that this world is not the end, that even through the sufferings and challenges of earthly life we can live with joy and confidence that God accompanies us through suffering and will bring us to everlasting life.

I must say, I thought about this often during my 270 miles or so biking down the Natchez Trace. After my first day of riding (a 60-mile jaunt between Tupelo and Starkville), I sat in pain in an easy chair at the rectory in Starkville, wondering how I would feel in the morning, and wondering honestly whether I had bitten off more than I could chew. But that was the whole point of the Tour de Priest, to be a joyful witness to the hope we have in the Lord and to radically trust that he is with us in our need.

I did complete the journey. I rode into Natchez tired but invigorated because during my bike ride I met with so many supporters of vocations, either virtually or at Mass or prayer, and it gave me great hope as vocation director. I want to thank the clergy and parish leadership in Tupelo, Starkville, Kosciusko, Jackson and Natchez for their collaboration.

The Lord’s work continues in our diocese, and he is calling laborers to his harvest. Our job is to pray for them and encourage them, and I thank the many parishioners and priests who supported this bike tour. The event rose about $8,000 for seminarian education, and it helped to publicize our website, www.jacksonpriests.com and our Facebook and Instagram feeds @jacksonpriests. It also served as a great precursor to our first annual Homegrown Harvest Gala and Fundraiser. This event, scheduled for Oct. 9 at 6:30 p.m., will be live-streamed this year and will connect parishioners to our seminarians and those who form them to be the best priests they can be. This year’s keynote speaker is Father Jim Wehner, the Rector of Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans. Father Jim is a dynamic speaker and a great ally for all those who desire to bring forth more vocations in their diocese.

The department of vocations has partnered with “One Cause,” an online platform that makes virtual gatherings easy to participate in, and so we are developing our giving center as we speak and will have much more information on sponsoring the event and buying tickets very soon. Thank you for your support of the Tour de Priest, there is so much hope to be found in our diocese, and I was filled with it during my ride, thanks to your prayers.

Vocations Events

Vocations Events

Friday, October 9, 2020 – First annual Homegrown Harvest Gala and Fundraiser (virtual)

Email nick.adam@jacksondiocese.org if interested in attending this event.

(The following text is from a homily I gave at St. James Catholic Church in Tupelo on the 15th Sunday or Ordinary Time. This was the first day of the Tour de Priest, a 300+ mile cycling journey that I took to build awareness for vocations to the priesthood and religious life.)

What if each one of us simply sought to do what God wanted us to do, and nothing else? What if we made no excuses, had no other motives, felt no outside pressure, and just did the will of God. If we all did that, there would not be a shortage of priests and nuns, and the priests and nuns that we had would all be faithful and fruitful and joyful in their ministry. If we all sought God’s will, not just in word, but in practice, in habit, by every day entering into prayer, by seeking out the sacraments as taught by the church, and by seeking to stop sinning not because we are terrible but because we need to allow space for God’s mercy to reign, the we wouldn’t have to think about churches closing, or the future of the faith in this country. What if each of us simply sought to do what God wanted us to do, and nothing else?

Loving God is an art. There are parts to it that come naturally to us: We intuit that God is there, but we need help reaching out to him. St. Francis de Sales says that the first thing we must keep in mind is the assurance of God’s mercy. So much of our avoidance of God comes down to the things that we believe are wrong with us or the things that indeed we have done wrong. But this is the whole point of God, to wrap us in his mercy and assure us of his love. But do we seek that out? Or are we too afraid? Too embarrassed to go to confession, too used to avoiding the difficult parts of our life to trust that God will bring healing and peace?

That was me at 23. I knew that there was more to life than what the world could offer, but I didn’t want to admit it to myself. It was easier to be steeped in my sin, to seek peace in relationships or experiences that were always passing. Then I entered a Catholic church for the first time after many years away, and I had an experience of God’s presence that could not be mistaken. It was transcendent, it gave me a peace that I could not produce on my own. This is the love that God can give us if only we open ourselves to it.

The world will tell us that this is impossible. The world will say that it is slavery to abandon yourself to the will of another, but remember, the will we are giving ourselves over to is love itself, how in the world is that slavery? So, we need priests and nuns, and I think specifically the Lord has called me to seek out priests and nuns from this soil, from Mississippi. With all our diversity and beauty, and all our baggage and eccentricities, we need men and women to come forward to serve. And my job is to make the soil rich. My job as Vocation Director is to help young people understand how to listen to God’s will and follow it. Because otherwise they may have an initial love for God or impulse to do his will, but their attention can be snatched away in an instant simply because they were not taught anything different. They are like the seed on the path that is taken before it can bear fruit.

I see this in a young man or woman who assumes that their life’s course will be the typical one. “Hey, I want to get married and have a family, therefore, God is calling me to do that.” Well of course you want this for your life, that is only natural. But God calls some to be a witness to the supernatural, a witness to the fact that everything on this earth should be done with eternity in mind, and our most pressing, most rewarding, most urgent relationship is with the Lord. Every young person who takes their faith seriously should come with an open heart. Lord, I may want this, but what do you want?

My job is to help young men and women discern so that the persuasive voice of the world does not obscure the voice of the Lord in their discernment. The church’s teachings are radical, and they will always be challenged and rejected by many. But the church’s teachings are rooted in our belief that Jesus, and no one else, is the way and the truth and the life, and that truth can only be found when we seek to know God. Our world is in a desperate search for justice, but without God true justice will not be found. So someone who is open to God’s will is going to be open to being conformed to the truth that comes from God, and they will not seek to conform God to the truth as he or she sees it.

My job is to help young men and women see that worldly success will only take you so far. Many times we make decisions about our future based on fear. “What if my needs and those of my family are not provided for?” “What if I am misunderstood or ridiculed for not taking a more typical approach to success?” When our only goal is to do God’s will, God will give us the grace we need to overcome that fear. My needs have always been provided for as a priest in amazing ways, and often I have come to realize that I don’t need the things I think I do, and that those hang ups were actually keeping me from a deeper freedom in the Lord.

The church’s job is to provide rich soil for seeds to grow. Seek that out. Find good Catholic voices online when you have a question about the faith. Ask a priest or nun or sister or parish leader if you are struggling to follow the Lord’s will. Take advantage of the sacraments and make them a part of your life. Live fearlessly. And please, ask the question, “am I seeking to follow the Lord’s will?” If so, be open to the call to priesthood or religious life. If you have not been seeking to do God’s will, ask yourself, “where has this gotten me, am I fulfilled, or is there something missing that I can’t pinpoint?” That was the case for me, and if it’s the case for you, know that you are loved, and there is nothing to fear in coming to the Lord and his church and making a change.

What if each one of us simply sought to do what God wanted us to do, and nothing else?

Three months ago, as we started down the road of quarantine and shelter-in-place, I dusted off my old road bike, which actually was a hand-me-down from Msgr. Elvin Sunds by way of Father Matthew Simmons, and I started spending many late afternoons on the Natchez Trace. As I rode I had time to think and to dream. I believe that we can create a culture of vocations and we can call forth men and women who are feeling called to religious life from our communities, and we should do it now because they are waiting for us. They are waiting for someone to encourage them, someone to inspire them, someone to simply mention to them that they should be considering what their call from the Lord is. A culture of vocations is born from a culture of encounter.

So back to the bike. I would spend those evenings riding and thinking about how incredible the Natchez Trace is. It connects the people and parishes of our diocese in a way that is unique. Its beauty is transcendent and leads one to ponder big ideas and big dreams, and its name calls to mind our origins as a diocese. I found myself wanting to see more of it, explore more of it, and explore our diocese in the process. And of course as full-time Vocation Director I want to build a culture of vocations in all parts of the state.

And that is how the Tour de Priest was born.

Starting in Tupelo on Saturday, July 11 at St. James Tupelo, I will begin touring the diocese and visiting parishes as I ride the Trace from Tupelo to Natchez. I plan on stopping in places like Starkville, Kosciusko, Jackson and Port Gibson along the way. I am still working out the logistics of each stop, but even if you can’t meet me out on the road you will be able to follow the ride via our @jacksonpriests Facebook and Instagram feeds. Each day I will post updates with interesting sights and sounds, and I will be introducing you to our seminarians and young priests who I will meet along the way.

This Tour will also build awareness for our Homegrown Harvest Gala and Fundraiser benefiting seminary education. The Gala is on October 9, so save the date, but you can contribute to our Seminarian Education Trust now through the “Givelify” app. Just download the app, search for the Diocese of Jackson, tap “Tour de Priest,” and give as generously as you can! The dividends we earn from the trust offset tuition costs each year, so the healthier the trust, the more seminarians we can support! Right now we have seven seminarians studying for our diocese, four of whom entered diocesan formation this year alone, that is awesome, but there is more good work to be done!

I am so excited to begin this journey, and I hope that this Tour is a fun way to get everyone fired up about creating a culture of vocations in every corner of this big ole diocese. Every city on this tour has a story, what if every city on this tour brought forth a seminarian or a religious novice? It could happen! God will provide, but we have to pray … and ask!