World Day of Prayer for Vocations to the Priesthood and Religious Life

Today, the fourth Sunday of Easter, is known as Good Shepherd Sunday because in the Gospel we here Jesus speak of hmself as the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheeop. That is why it is the day chosen as the World Day of Prayer for Vocations to the Priesthood and Religious Life and the Holy Father has written to us on this day inviting us to pray trustingly to God for thsoe called share in the Good Shepherd's ministry of caring for his flock. Pope Benedict has invited us to celebrate a Year for Priests, beginning on 19th June - the Feast of the Sacred Heart. It is to be dedicated to promoting the spiritual perfection of priests and to recognising more fully the irreplaceable value of priestly ministry at the heart of the Church. The Pope says we should not allow ourselves to become discouraged by accepting as inevitable that a time will come when we have to do without priests. We entrust the whole Church to the providence of God in our prayer for and encouragement of priestly vocations.

This piece has been taken from our parish newsletter this week, and, at first sight, it does not appear as exceptional as it actually is. What does make it exceptional is that nowhere does it refer to planning for a parish without a priest, something that is so often a kind of mantra in the Church here in England and Wales.