Our Year of Prayer for Priestly Vocations started with a Holy Hour led by Archbishop Vigneron on June 4, 2022, the Vigil of Pentecost – the day when priestly ordinations typically take place in the Archdiocese of Detroit. It will conclude with the Solemnity of Pentecost on May 28, 2023.
Echoing our prayer for a New Pentecost in 2014, Archbishop Vigneron is now inviting the faithful of the Archdiocese to join in prayer for an increase in priestly vocations. We know God never ceases to call men to the priesthood, so we pray that all who are called will respond to Christ’s generous offer to become holy priests.
For the past number of years, we have experienced a decline in the number of priests serving our parishes and communities. More priests are retiring than there are men being ordained to the priesthood. Unless something changes, in less than a decade we will have approximately fewer than half the number of priests serving our parishes and schools. That means there will be significantly fewer priests celebrating Masses, hearing confessions, anointing the sick, and serving in all the other ways priests bring Jesus into our families and communities.
This Year of Prayer is one of our responses; it is a way for us to understand and embrace our need to be united in prayer and work towards a culture that fosters and celebrates vocations to the priesthood.
Confident that God hears us and knows what we need, we dedicate this year to prayer and ask Him to call forth a new generation of holy priests for the Archdiocese of Detroit.
Fr. Craig Giera
Director of Priestly Vocations
