The three Catholic parishes in our town are currently being consolidated into one “Catholic community.” Even though we’ve known for years it was coming, it’s been a tough change, especially for the members of the two parishes that will eventually close. Not that long ago, this town had five or six priests all the time. Now there are two. Blame it on the vocation crisis. Everyone talks about it as though it pertained only to the shortage of men willing to become priests. But the problem is a lot deeper than that. There’s definitely a vocation crisis, but it starts in the home, not the seminary. This is the crisis in the vocation of marriage. Priests come from families, and these days, a lot of families are a mess. When marriage is in crisis, so is the priesthood.

There’s a lot we lay people can do to overcome the shortage of priests. First, we can pray, not just in general, but specifically. Is there a young man in your youth group or college Bible study who might make a good priest? Pray for God’s leading in his life. Mention it to him. “Hey Jason, have you ever thought about the priesthood?” Oh yeah, and if you’re a single guy, you should be asking yourself the same question until you get a definite answer.

Second, we married people need to do everything possible to insure that our marriages are based on Christ and lived out according to the principles the Church gives us. Marriage is a state of continual self-giving, just like the priesthood. Marriage is a holy state, one of the vocations of God. For married people, it is the place our Lord will work to sanctify us. Like the priesthood, it’s a life of generosity and lived love. We need to model real love, real marriage to the world, and to our kids. We need to let them know in word and deed that following Christ means a life of loving sacrifice, no matter what our vocation.

Our kids must see faithfulness in action. Kids. Notice the plural. As Catholics, we should practice the Church’s teaching on openness to life wholeheartedly. No cheating. No pills, no devices, no thwarting God’s desire to bring new, eternal souls into being through us. When we say “yes” to children, we say “yes” to God. We become co-creators with Him. Every child we create through our life-giving love has the potential to love God and live with Him forever in heaven. And all the boys have a possible vocation to the priesthood. In fact, all our children have the potential for a call to religious life. More Catholic boys from good, solid Catholic families means more priests. More girls means more religious sisters. Children who have grown up in an atmosphere of generosity toward God will be more likely to be generous with Him themselves. And then there’s the formation factor. Kids play house. Why not play convent or monastery? Kids play dress up. Besides gypsies and cowboys, how about priests and sisters? As they get older and start thinking about careers, we can encourage them to think about the religious life. If we’ve been talking about it since they were little, it won’t be anything new.

Most of all, we need to say “yes” to our own vocation every day, and pray that our children will learn to do the same. Then when the time comes, they’ll be listening for God’s call. If we all do this, the vocation crisis will soon be history.