Campaign Seeks to Show Parishioners, Students Positive View of Priesthood

By JOHN WOODS

The archdiocesan Vocations Office will promote vocations to the priesthood this fall through a print campaign appealing to young people and their families.

Posters, prayer cards and brochures are being sent to parishes, schools and religious education programs for the rollout of the campaign in September and early October.

The print materials are part of "The World Needs Heroes," the campaign that began last November with the introduction of the Vocation Office's nypriest.com Web site. The Web site has attracted a lot of attention since then, especially during and after Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United States in April.

Father Luke Sweeney, director of the Vocations Office, told CNY he was busier than usual meeting with young men interested in discussing a possible vocation to the priesthood in the months following the papal visit. He sees the print campaign, which has the approval and support of Cardinal Egan, as another important tool in marketing the vocations message.

"We have to make our need known," Father Sweeney said. "We're looking for priests."

Posters promoting the priesthood are being sent to parishes in time for display on the first weekend in September, he said.

The primary poster image, which directs interested men to the Web site, is sent on hardboard backing with easel. It depicts a priest chaplain blessing a fallen soldier, with the message: "The World Needs Heroes. Have You Thought of Becoming a Priest?"

"The image captures what heroism is and what sacrifice is, two things essential for the priesthood," Father Sweeney said.

The image was first used in "Fishers of Men," the highly acclaimed film about the priesthood produced by Grassroots Films of Brooklyn for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Grassroots Films also produced the nypriest.com Web site as well as the print campaign.

"They know how to speak about the mystery of the priesthood to a young person of today," Father Sweeney said.

Other posters explore different elements of priesthood. One shows a priest surrounded by a group of students with the headline reading "Father" in an English—language version or "Padre" in a Spanish—language version. Another pictures the ritual in which men to be ordained lie prostrate in the sanctuary at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. The wording over the image says, "Like Christ Laying Down His Life for Us, We Lay Down Our Lives for You."

Each parish will receive a full set of eight large—size posters (six in English and two in Spanish) and four smaller posters (two in English and two in Spanish). Depending on the parish, the posters may be displayed on a rotating basis to extend the visibility of the campaign, Father Sweeney said.

Parishes also will be receiving prayer cards for distribution on the weekend of Sept. 20—21. On the front is an image of Pope Benedict at Yankee Stadium; a prayer to the Holy Spirit for guidance to young people is printed on the back. English and Spanish versions of the cards will be distributed.

The weekend of Sept. 20—21 is also the date of the collection for St. Joseph's Seminary in Dunwoodie.

Students in Catholic elementary and high schools and in parish religious education programs also will receive the prayer cards. A version showing Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa on the front will be distributed to girls to promote vocations to religious life, while boys will receive one with the priest chaplain ministering to a fallen soldier.

Principals and directors and coordinators of religious education are expected to receive the prayer cards by the beginning of classes.

Brochures to be distributed in parishes on the first weekend of October answer some basic questions about the priesthood and detail some signs that indicate a potential vocation. They also give contact information for Father Sweeney: (914) 968—1340; nypriest@archny.org.

"We need to appeal to and to build up our base," Father Sweeney explained. "Young men in our parishes, our schools and our religious education programs need to be the backbone of future candidates."

The first goal of the campaign is to increase the enrollment of the archdiocesan seminary system, but Father Sweeney said it is also important for "Catholic families and all Catholics to be open to encouraging and supporting vocations." It is also necessary that positive portrayals of the priesthood reach as wide an audience as possible, he added.

Father Sweeney said that the print campaign hopes to capitalize on the visibility of the priesthood generated by the papal visit. For it to be successful, it needs the support of the priests of the archdiocese, who are the best salesmen for a commitment that they already have made.

"We need the priests in parishes to bring people's attention to our campaign," he added. "We're relying on them. We can't do it without them."

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