As part of promoting vocations, Bishop DeGrood is asking that on Good Shepherd Sunday (April 21, 2024), the focus of the homily is around the area of vocations. In particular, to encourage parishioners to ask young men to discern the priesthood.
The goal of this initiative is to help parishioners understand that God is still calling men for the priesthood, and that parishioners can play a huge part in helping young men discern.
Part of the goal of this initiative is to collect names of young men that would be good candidates for the priesthood. Through collecting these names, the vocations office and local priests can encourage the young man to go to vocations events. The proposed means of collecting these names is to have slips of papers in the pews for this weekend. Then, after the homily, parishioners can write down the names of young men who they think would make a great priest.
Attached are 3 resources for this weekend. First, there is an outline of a sample homily that is focused on asking parishioners for help in this endeavor.
Second, there is a printable document that can be placed in the pews in order to collect names. After the homily and before the creed, parishioners can write down on these slips of paper the name of a man who they think would make a great priest. These names can then be put into the collection basket. Parish staff members can then go through the names and pick the men who they think would be the best candidates. They can submit the names to the diocese at this website: https://www.sfcatholic.org/vocations/discern/
Third, there are additional resources to help with the world day of vocations which occurs each year on Good Shepherd Sunday.
If you have any questions, please contact Fr. Michael Kapperman at frmichaelkapperman@sfcatholic.org.
Pew Handout for Names Additional Resources Homily Idea – 2024.docx
Additional Resources.docx
Homily Idea – 2024.docx
Emma Murtha | emurtha@sfcatholic.org | 605-988-3772