Dear Friends,

I hope that this email finds you well. It has been quite some time since our last issue, and that was due to the fact that I was waiting for the article written by our seminarian.  The seminarian I asked had to write a piece for a different diocesan publication and has not found the time to finish his one for here.  I then asked a second seminarian, but he did not have quite the same amount of lead-time to produce something and I wanted to write to you today.  Hopefully one (or both) of them will write for a future issue.

The reason I desire to write today is that this Wednesday, October 6 at 7 PM we have our first traveling holy hour for vocations of the fall at Saint Rose of Lima in Northborough.  Please consider joining us to pray for vocations in our diocese.  We do not yet have a date and time for the November one.  

The months of July and August are very different in the vocation office because the House of Studies is empty for the summer and many parishes are hosting fewer events for me to attend.  This allowed me to travel to Maine to be with FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students) to assist at summer projects, a program they run for college students at various locations throughout the country.  One of our seminarians, Brian James, was in Maine, and two of our other seminarians, Wylie Malcolm and Ricky Reyes (new this fall for us) were with FOCUS in Georgia.  

Summer is also the time when most applications are processed, and we are pleased to announce five new seminarians for this academic year: Conner Morgan, Isaac Cross, Chris Tillotson, Liam Daigle, and Ricky Reyes.  You may have seen their short bios on our Facebook page or in The Catholic Free Press.

Our vocation video based around the theme of Revelation 7:9 was also released this fall, showing that in the same way that the Church is made up of people from every nation, priests come from every community, comprising every tribe and tongue and people and nation.

We were able to showcase our Hispanic and African ministries in the Diocese.  It can be viewed online here: Revelation 7:9

As we approach National Vocation Awareness Week, celebrated this year November 7-13, 2021, I have mailed out catechetical resources to the parishes to use to build up a culture of vocations in the parishes.  We are also in the process of mailing out the posters for this formation year.

Also, in exciting news, one parish this fall is doing a small group of only high school juniors and seniors with me discussing excerpts from a book on the priesthood.  It is impressive that a parish had six men who were all so close in age interested in meeting weekly for six weeks to discuss discernment.

While this issue is much shorter than normal without a seminarian reflection, I am happy to be in touch with you all.  I am grateful for your continued support.  Please pray for our work, and be assured that I am praying for you.

Sincerely,

Father Donato Infante

Vocation Director