Early this week, it was announced at Mass that the Diocese of Gaylord has received six seriously interested candidates to enter the seminary this year. The priest announcing this did add the clarifying statement that these six individuals have not been accepted for seminary training and that they may not end up moving forward to becoming seminarians.
Although this could be construed as good news ( the parishioners in the pews expressed excitement when it was announced), it represents only a small, and very preliminary, response to a vocations crisis that has gripped the Diocese of Gaylord for decades. This number of applicants needs to be at least twice the number each year to make a significant impact in the Diocese.
Last year, the Diocese of Gaylord embarked upon a vocations campaign centered around flashy flyers that have been left in pews. The Diocese also encouraged parishioners to contact the Diocese with names of any potential candidates to the priesthood. If all of the interested men did proceed to seminary training, it would represent a marked increase in first year seminarians. However, major questions remain with regard to the quality of the individuals and whether or not they would last through and after ordination. The Diocese has had a terrible track record recently in losing multiple ordained priests to the secular world (Frs. Medlin, Cooper, and Bischoff). Furthermore, the priest (Fr. Donald Libby) whose God-given talents helped inspire a steady (although insufficient) number of vocations to the religious life is being transferred to a rural parish with no school as a “reward” for his efforts, making it difficult for him to have the same impact that he has had in his current Traverse City-area parish. Gaylord Diocesan Watch will continue to watch this situation closely and we continue to pray for vocations.