Spring is usually the time in the Church for First Holy Communions, Confirmations, and – Priestly ordinations. But as in other years, the Gaylord Diocese will once again fail to have any ordinations to the priesthood this year. It has been years since a bishop of the Diocese ordained a priest. At the time of this writing, there are seven active seminarians listed on the Diocesan website. It was recently announced by Bishop Walsh that there are five men who have expressed a serious interest in pursuing the priesthood; it remains to be seen how many of them move forward to enrolling in seminary or pre-seminary training.
Of the seven current seminarians, four of the seven come from one parish in the Diocese – Holy Rosary Church in Cedar, whose priest of greater than ten years, Fr. Donald Libby, will be transferred shortly. It was during Fr. Libby’s time at Holy Rosary that multiple vocations were nurtured. No less than four current priests of the Diocese have had their vocations nurtured in the parish life of Holy Rosary under the leadership of Fr. Libby. His reward for helping in the work of the Holy Spirit? He is to be relocated to a remote rural parish with no Catholic school or nearby large town such as Traverse City.
It almost seems normal that there are no ordinations. It is becoming more and more of a rare event to celebrate a priestly ordination. But normal is not equal to appropriate. Rather, it is a crisis and a tragedy that there are no priestly ordinations this year. It should be a wake up call for Bishop Walsh, the clergy, and the laity that something is terribly wrong with the Diocese and the Church.
The Diocese has had a recent vocations PR campaign with flyers and invitations for men in the Diocese to explore the option of the priesthood. The fruits of that, if any, have yet to be seen and may take years to fully express themselves. But more importantly, the Bishop and clergy of the Diocese must be examples of holiness, courage, and positivity regarding their vocations. Second only to prayer and the sacraments, the leadership and inspiration of holy priests begets more priests This may be difficult for Bishop Walsh to do; in a recent post, he outlined his happiness with the weather, his excitement about receiving a hammock, his cancer treatment, and the various meetings he has coming up. This may be of interest for some, but this doesn’t foster excitement to the priesthood. If anything, it stifles the interest.
We will continue to monitor this crisis in vocations. We continue to ask for more prayers for vocations.