Op-Ed - Douglas Bushman, S.T.L.

How I'd Maximize Vocations to the Priesthood
Special report to the Archbishop.

Your Excellency, here is the advisory report you requested from me on the subject of increasing vocations to the priesthood and religious life in our archdiocese. This brief memorandum is the executive summary of my proposed plan of action, covering only a general outline. As you requested, the full report, which has been sent to you by courier, provides the complete details of the plan.

Knowing me as you do, it should not surprise you that my input should be guided by theological principles and reflect my conviction about the priority of holiness in the task of increasing vocations to the priesthood and religious life. As the Holy Father has written, "The saints have always been the source and origin of renewal in the most difficult moments of the Churchs history."

Ultimately, I believe nothing would promote an increase of vocations in this archdiocese more than your own canonization. (That would entail, though, the obvious prerequisite of your happy and holy death, and I assure you I do not recommend that end for the sake of the means! I pray the Lord will defer that event for many, many good years.) Second in efficacy would be the canonization of a priest of our diocese. But, as I say, these are "ultimate" objectives, and there is much we can accomplish in the meantime. In the short run, though, we must still operate on the same principle.

Your Excellency grasps my point: All our priests should be called to recommit themselves to acquiring that holiness corresponding to their priestly state and duties. Holiness, as you know so well, is the very goodness of Gods life within us, and this goodness is contagious. As St. Thomas said, "The good is diffusive of itself."

This maxim forms the basis of my recommendations for increasing Ñ dramatically increasing Ñ vocations to the priesthood and religious life in our archdiocese. Its simple, really. The way to increase vocations is by making the authentic qualities of priestly life, religious and diocesan, attractive to our young men. This means displaying its beauty and goodness, not abstractly, but concretely in the life of our priests. This goodness will draw young men to the priesthood. And the holy clergy you lead by your own example will, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, know how best to witness to the priestly life and how to foster the vocations their example attracts.

So, the first element of my strategy is to present the model of good priests. The second element is the flip side of the first: Lay people must also embrace this call to holiness to do all we can to foster in our young men the dispositions which will allow them to perceive and be attracted by the holiness of our priests. To accomplish this; to ensure that the lay faithful of this archdiocese are actively committed to the task of fostering vocations, we must focus our efforts first on strengthening the family; the womb in which priestly and other religious vocations are conceived.

Beginning with yourself, Excellency, we must, as an archdiocese, be totally committed to this goal and spare no effort to serve the family, to call our families to that evangelical holiness which is received in baptism, strengthened in confirmation, nourished in the Holy Eucharist, healed and restored in confession, and actualized in the daily events of family life by the graces of matrimony. Im convinced that this must be the first area of focus in our quest for vocations. From holy families, that is, from the holiness of the ecclesial communion realized in the "domestic Church" of the family, will come young men in whom the life of grace develops. Clearly, it will be the direct example of you as our bishop and that of our most fervent priests that will be most attractive and effective.

This will not be easy. The culture in which we are praying for vocations is characterized by religious indifference, secularism, materialism, consumerism, cult of the body and bodily pleasure, immediate gratification and relativism. This climate has, as you know, impacted the Church Herself, creating a genuine crisis. The Holy Father has repeatedly alluded this problem in his writings. In On Reconciliation and Penance, he referred to a "crisis of conscience," while in Splendor of the Truth he addressed the "crisis of truth" caused by moral theologies which result in a "confusion between good and evil." In As the Third Millennium Draws Near, he wrote of a "crisis of obedience vis-a-vis the Magisterium." Your Excellency, as a member of the Magisterium, the college of bishops united with the Bishop of Rome, the solution to the vocations "crisis" in this diocese begins with your personal example of holiness, leadership, and zeal for the Faith. This will require courage in the current climate Ñ but can we expect our sheep (families) to be more courageous from their shepherds?

Our families will follow your leadership along the path of seeking holiness. To become holy families requires the truth of Gods Word and the graces of the sacraments. Besides courage, this will take generosity on your part and on the part of all your priests and deacons in preaching and teaching the authentic Catholic Faith, and diligence and in administrating the sacraments. You, as our bishop, our leader, father figure, and symbol of unity in Christ, must set the example of courageous and generous service for the priests and deacons of the diocese.

To accomplish this, I recommend, among other things (cf. sections 4-7 of my detailed report), that you maintain a residence on the campus of our seminary, and that you take the time to get to know your future priests personally. Young men want much more than just to be faithful to the office of the bishop. They want an inspiring leader to follow, one who has formed them, given of himself to form them, after the example of Jesus. They will be able to translate that sense of loyalty and love for you to your successor. But, if they never experience that kind of personal communion with you, their bishop, how can they be agents of communion for those they are called to serve? And how can they be your representatives to the faithful in anything but the most legal and minimalistic sense? There are several other factors I speak of at length in my full report, but these salient points, contained in this summary, distill the overarching thrust of my proposed plan: Our success in solving the "crisis" of vocations to the priesthood and religious life in this archdiocese hinges, ultimately, on your leadership and personal commitment to holiness.

And finally, with regard to the budget you asked me to draw up to carry out this proposed plan of action, be assured of my gratitude for your generous pledge of unlimited resources. However, I think all we need as the means to holiness, the Word and sacraments, has already been provided by Christ. Therefore, I recommend that the resources that would otherwise be available for our vocations effort, be entirely redirected to the care of the poor and homeless of our archdiocese.

Douglas Bushman, is the Director of the University of Dallass Institute for Religious and Pastoral Studies, 1845 E. Northgate Dr., Irving, TX 75602, (972) 721-5196.