MONTHLY UPDATE
by Monsignor James T. McDonough
DIRECTOR, PONTIFICAL MISSION SOCIETIES-PHILADELPHIA

Vocation Sunday: A Worldwide Celebration for Priests & Religious in Philadelphia and the Missions

Vocation Sunday [The World Day of Prayer for Vocations] is celebrated worldwide on April 25 as a unique day of prayer because of the particular emphasis the day places on the need for priestly and Religious formation in the Church.

This year’s celebration of Vocation Sunday is significant for two reasons; one, as we are drawing closer to June and the end of the year that Pope Benedict XVI has dedicated as the “Year of the Priest,” the day can strengthen our resolution to continue prayers for priests and Religious.  Secondly, this celebration is very closely linked to the Pontifical Mission Society of St. Peter Apostle founded in 1889 by Jeanne Bigard and her mother Stephanie of Caen, France, which has become the instrument of the Holy Father to provide spiritual and financial assistance for the formation of local clergy and Religious in the Developing World.

In this “Year of the Priest”, the Pontifical Mission Societies in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and throughout the world have prayerfully supported all priests, and particularly Missionary priests, in their endeavors to help each of us learn to be examples of people who live our faith with zeal and become incisive witnesses of the Gospel in today’s world.

Pope Benedict XVI inaugurated this “Year for Priests” in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the “dies natalis” of John Mary Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests.  Throughout the year, we have celebrated all priests and Missionaries who are to be like the humble Saint John Vianney, who as Pope Benedict said was “very humble, yet as a priest he was conscious of being an immense gift to his people.”  This can serve as a significant point of reference for us all.

Saint John Vianney has been inspirational to all priests especially those serving poor and suffering people in Mission lands.  The priesthood, as one Missionary priest describes, “is the greatest love by which God has called us.” In Jakarta, Indonesia, Father Carolus Putranto, a priest ordained now just two years ago, reflects on these words and his priestly vocation.  “God asks me to serve His people, to walk with them, and to love them as a sign of my love for Him,” he says.

The Pontifical Mission Society of St. Peter Apostle, in 1889, was started by a mother and daughter — Stephanie and Jeanne Bigard — as a response, very much like the celebration of Vocation Sunday, to help to answer the needs of priestly and Religious formation in the Church.  The French Missionary Bishop of Nagazaki, Japan wrote to the two Bigard women asking for help to keep his Seminary open because he had run out of the funds necessary to help educate these young men to serve their people as priests. The Bishop just did not have the funds to train these young Japanese men whom, he judged, would make excellent priests. The Bigards came to his assistance and started a small group for this purpose in their native Caen, France.

From these humble beginnings emerged the Society of St. Peter Apostle. Within five years of sending their first donation to Japan, the Bigards, and those whom they enlisted to help, were sending funds to seminaries in India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Korea and China. The goal of the Pontifical Mission Society of St. Peter Apostle, then, and now, has been to invite individuals to support the education of candidates for the Catholic priesthood in the Developing World and to support the formation of men and women candidates for the Religious life in the Missions.

In its first year, the Pontifical Mission Society of St. Peter Apostle sent help for some 2,700 seminarians in the Missions. Today, some 30,000 seminarians, mostly in Africa and Asia, receive an annual subsidy of $700 per student.

Please remember all priests and Religious on Vocation Sunday and always in your daily prayers.  

Remember, through prayer and acts of sacrifice, by your words and actions, you become a Missionary for the Lord. 

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