YEAR FOR PRIESTS - Latin-rite bishops to promote vocations, renew priests spiritually

Published Date: July 3, 2009

India’s Latin rite bishops are planning special programs for the Year for Priests to attract more men to the priesthood.

‘If there are no priests, there is no Eucharist. If there is no Eucharist, there is no Church,’ reads a poster by the Conference of Catholic Bishops in India

“If there are no priests, there is no Eucharist. If there is no Eucharist, there is no Church,” reads a poster designed by the Conference of Catholic Bishops in India (CCBI) that will be distributed across the country.

The poster urges people to promote vocations to the priesthood, appreciate priests, pray for them and work with them.

Father John Kulandai, secretary of the CCBI Commission for Clergy, told UCA News the decline in new priestly vocations has worried his Church.

The priest said that St. Peter’s Pontifical Seminary in Bangalore, for example, one of the premier priest training centers in the country, has 47 fewer students this year than last year. Without proper planning, India could go the way of Europe where seminaries have closed for lack of students, he warned.

Father Kulandai said, however, that the bishops want quality as well as quantity in vocations. “For this, we plan to develop a parish-based vocation promotional drive, with lay participation.”

The CCBI is the national forum for the bishops of the Latin rite, the major Church group in India’s Catholic Church. It accounts for 128 of the country’s 160 dioceses with the remainder belonging to two Oriental rites, Syro-Malabar Church and the Syro-Malankara Church that are based in Kerala, southern India.

Pope Benedict XIV launched the Year for Priests on June 19.

During a recent national meeting, the CCBI discussed plans to hold seminars and retreats for priests throughout the year as well as address the crisis in priestly vocations.

According to Father Kulandai, two national seminars, to be held in Varanasi in northern India in November, and in Bangalore in the south in December, will focus on “priesthood resource enhancement.”

Father Kulandai said these programs would target those who have been priests for between five and 10 years.

“While stressing more vocations, it is equally important that our existing priests renew their commitment and assert their spiritual role,” Father Kulandai said.

The programs will try to “re-vision” the Catholic priesthood in an Indian context and will discuss topics such as the priest as a community builder, and priestly spirituality. The seminars will also address issues such as priestly fraternity, celibacy, relationship skills and challenges to a priest’s life and work.

CCBI also plans priest-bishop colloquiums to improve relations between priests and prelates.

Father Kulandai said vocation promotion would also stress formation of the laity and the nurturing of lay missioners. “The commission will increase its activities among the laity to build a family atmosphere and to nurture vocations,” he added.

The bishops’ conference also wants to improve relations between priests and lay people and ensure that the public has a positive opinion about the priesthood. It is also urging priests to work for inner renewal and rediscover the joy of the priesthood, said Father Kulandai.

He added that the Church has instructed its priests to limit their works to pastoral services and encourage more lay participation in managing Church property.

“We don’t require a priest to teach in schools or manage estates. A lay person can do that just as well,” he said.

The CCBI has decided to strengthen the Conference of the Diocesan priests of India, the national forum for diocesan priests approved by bishops. It also plans to set up a committee of diocesan priests in every diocese to plan and implement programs related to the Year for Priests.

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