In the meantime, our diocese has been blessed with a new priest, Fr. Charles Warner. I am personally excited to see how the Lord will use him in service of our local Church for many years to come.

I am grateful for all of our priests who daily seek to serve the Lord and all of you in every corner of the Diocese. Our priests are our greatest assets. The sacrifices they make to care for their flock during these challenging times is commendable. Sometimes people forget that the sacramental life of the Church could not continue without them.

I am also grateful for the five new seminarians who will enter into priestly formation in August in various seminaries in the Midwest, bringing the total to nine. Thank you for seeking our Blessed Mother’s assistance through praying the Memorare, and for attending the Holy Hours for Vocations across the diocese. Our work and attention to this priority is bearing new fruit for the Diocese of Saginaw.

While our new priest is a wonderful blessing for our diocese, while we currently have five new seminarians, more than doubling our number, we must not rest on these laurels. There is still much work to be done in the field of vocations to reach our goal of 20 seminarians by 2030. “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are [still] few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”¹ Each of us must continue to be actively engaged in the work of vocations, knowing that the next priest ordination will be in 2029.

We live in a radically secularized society where things of God and the practice of faith are diminishing year after year. Religion today is held in little esteem. Yet just as the Lord is calling couples to the vocation of marriage,  Jesus is still calling men to the priesthood and women to consecrated life.

Families and local parish communities are the seedbeds for priestly and religious vocations. There are no shortages of vocations to the priesthood. They are in your families and parish communities. The only shortage is that of vocational discernment. The more Catholics engage the Lord about his plan for their life, their personal vocation, the more people would discover a call to the priesthood or religious life. This is precisely why families and parish communities must be engaged in the work of vocations, planting new seeds. Creating a culture where vocations can emerge continues to be a priority.

However, young men and women must continually be supported as they discern the Lord’s call. Pope Leo, in his message for the 63rd World Day of Prayer for Vocations, stated, “A vocation, therefore, is not an immediate possession — something ‘given’ once and for all. Instead, it is a path that unfolds much like life itself. The gift we have received must not only be protected but also nourished by a daily relationship with God in order to grow and bear fruit. This is helpful, since it situates our whole life in relation to the God who loves us. It makes us realize that nothing is the result of pure chance but that everything in our lives can become a way of responding to the Lord, who has a wonderful plan for us.”²

When a farmer plants his crops, he continues to pray and nurture the fields until they bear fruit. A crop is not safe until it is harvested! Such is the work of vocations – we continue to pray and support those who are discerning the Lord’s call in their life. It is a long road to the priesthood – overall more than seven years, depending upon prior education and the seminary path chosen. Statistics show that about 75% of men in seminary remain through priesthood ordination. Seeds must continue to be planted so that true discernment can begin. The discovery of one’s vocation comes through the journey of discernment. This journey never takes place in isolation, but develops within a Christian community and as a part of that community.

Pope Leo explains: “In light of this, I invite everyone — in families, parishes and religious communities, as well as bishops, priests, deacons, catechists, educators and all the faithful — to commit themselves more fully to creating conditions that allow this gift to be embraced, nourished, protected and accompanied, so that it may bear abundant fruit. Only when our surroundings are illuminated by living faith, sustained by constant prayer and enriched by fraternal accompaniment can God’s call blossom and mature, becoming a path of happiness and salvation for individuals and for the world. By embarking on the path that Jesus, the Good Shepherd, shows us, we come to know more deeply both ourselves and the God who calls us.”³

We all need the prayers and support of our brothers and sisters. I would have not made it if not for the prayers and support of others, coming at the right time, to focus me or refocus me on my own personal vocational journey. No one can respond to God’s call alone.

In this Year of the Holy Spirit, then, let us never tire of asking the Lord for new laborers for his harvest, certain that the Lord never tires of calling men and women to follow him in this particular way. As a farmer never tires of praying for a fruitful crop, let us never tire of prayerfully supporting those who have answered this call. And let us continue our efforts to invoke the intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church and Mother of vocations.

I accompany all of you with my blessing and I ask you, please, to pray for me.

¹ Matt. 9:37-38

² Pope Leo XIV, Message for 63rd World Day of Prayer for Vocations, April 26, 2026

³ Pope Leo XIV, Message for 63rd World Day of Prayer for Vocations, April 26, 2026