Workshop empowers parishes to develop vocation awareness, strategies

The statistics tell the story – and they are significant and sobering.

The Diocese of Metuchen has 158 active priests serving 90 parishes, according to Bob McMorrow of the nonprofit Vocation Ministry, which has studied the issue of priest shortages while helping about 50 dioceses nationwide since its formation about a decade ago.

With the overall church population at 662,000, that equates to one clergy for approximately every 4,190 parishioners in the four-county diocese, he said.

While the Diocese now has 21 seminarians studying toward the priesthood, McMorrow said in the past 10 years, Metuchen has ordained an average of three priests per year. What’s needed: at least seven new priests annually, he said. If nothing changes, the Diocese in 10 years would be down to approximately 110 priests, nearly one-third fewer than today.

“So that’s the incentive; this is why we’re here,” said McMorrow, one of two presenters who spoke Nov. 4 during a daylong Vocation Ministry workshop for parishioners at St. John Neumann Pastoral Center in Piscataway, which drew more than 200 parishioners. “This is why [Bishop James F. Checchio] is prioritizing this sort of ministry to say, “‘What can we do to help make sure that we’re reversing this trajectory?’”

The issue of how to grow more vocations has in recent years become a product mostly of Church scandal and the pandemic. It’s daunting, according to Father Thomas W. Lanza, who heads the Metuchen Office of Vocations. But the Bishop believes it is not insurmountable, according to Father Lanza, as long as there’s more communication not only in the Church hierarchy but among the parishes’ lay members.

Father Lanza said Vocation Ministry founder Rhonda Gruenewald gave a presentation during October’s diocesan priest convocation. “She started this approach to have the parishes create small ministries to help the priest present the priesthood as a compelling way of life,” he said.

“My approach is a softer one,” Father Lanza said in an interview before the workshop. “It’s ‘Are you interested in learning about the priesthood?’ It’s not like you’re buying into anything. I’m interested in learning about the Navy SEALS. It doesn’t mean I would be one, but I would go to a workshop on it.”

The goal, said Father Lanza, is to educate the parishes’ vocation ministries or teams, who will then work with the diocese while encouraging young men and women to consider religious life.

“Hopefully, they’ll all go back on fire; they’ll all go back to their priests,” Father Lanza said. “They’ll set a meeting and discuss what they talked about and discuss ways to implement our diocesan plan for vocations, which is really helping to streamline communication.”

He hopes the ministry teams will help their pastors, help promote the various diocesan vocations events, and help those who are interested see the priesthood or religious life as a “compelling way of life.”

Several parishioners said they were aware of the diocesan priest shortage, but hearing it broken down by McMorrow, who provided a wealth of statistics during his presentation, was still shocking.

“It’s like a reality check,” said Denise Metzgar, parishioner and catechetical formation director at St. Bernard of Clairvaux Parish in Bridgewater, who attended with Mark Dransfield, the parish’s youth ministry leader. “I think our families need to hear that.”

Egger and Maureen Lugo of St. John Vianney in Colonia agreed, and also said the new ministry can teach them how to become better involved in fostering vocations.

“A lot of us don’t know how to integrate with the youth,” Egger Lugo said. “This is going to help us, because we are going to help them.”

During his prayer opening the workshop, Father Lanza reminded the attendees of Jesus’ approach to gathering the first priests, his apostles.

“All he had to do was say, ‘Drop your fishing nets; come follow me. There is a much more interesting and compelling life I have for you,’” Father Lanza said. “So you are going to be hopefully Jesus-like in your parishes, to ask them to drop their fishing nets. There is something more interesting and compelling to do in this world.”

A separate presentation on how to form a vocation-friendly parish workshop was held for Spanish-speaking parishioners, with Leticia Ramirez of Vocation Ministry as presenter.

You can learn more about Vocation Ministry at vocationministry.com and about the diocese’s efforts at diometuchen.org/vocations online.