Ideas

• What Children Can Do: Each of our Faith Formation Classes will be making banners, similar to First Communion and Confirmation Banners. Only these will be black felt background, white front foreground. Each one will have a different theme. One for each sacrament, one for our Church, rectory and his favorite eatery, one for priestly vows, a banner that looks like the front of a priest shirt w/collar and on the bottom of that one it will say Year for Priests. Plus we have a few others that have escaped my memory now. We will be surprising him with this in September. Also, each month the class that is responsible for our Youth Mass will also be responsible for writing him letters, cards, pictures, if they want to get him a gift or make him something whatever their choice." –Francine Sabisch; St. Mildred's, Swansboro, NC
• What Children Can Do: William H. Sadlier catechetical publishers have added some simple activities that can be done by children and families to celebrate the Year for Priests. See them at www.webelieveweb.com.
• The Serra Club of Saginaw, Michigan is holding their Annual Christmas Dinner on December 1 in honor of the Year for Priests; they plan to invite all the priests of their diocese to the event.  www.saginawserra.org
• “Last Sunday we had a nice luncheon in honor of our pastor and in commemoration of the Year for Priests.  We made priest dolls as centerpieces, and had a strolling violinist.  It was fun and a wonderful commemoration.  Here is a picture of the priest centerpiece.” –Bernadine Hess
• “In our parish, one family each week takes a ceramic chalice home after Sunday mass with a commitment to pray as a family each day of the week and bring the chalice with the offertory gifts at the next Sunday’s liturgy.  They are encouraged to invite Father to their homes or join him at the rectory once during that week to pray the Rosary.  Each week for the bulletin, people are encouraged to submit a short tale of a memorable priest in their life.” –Fr. Dan; Sacred Heart Parish, Salem, Missouri
• "We are making rosary pledge cards. Each week before Mass we will hand out preprinted business cards saying "This week I will pray ___ rosaries for you" with the priest's name on it. The basket of cards will then be brought up to the priest by a child after the homily. We are starting this in 2 weeks to last throughout the year." –Lisa Kopteros; Parish of the Precious Blood, Portage, Maine"
• "We are encouraging classes and families to pray the following vocation prayer:
  
  Heavenly Father, in the example of the Holy Family, you teach us how to
  live as a loving family. From Jesus, Mary and Joseph, we learn that you
  have given each of us a special place in your plans for the world. Each
  of us has a call - a vocation - to be holy as a married, single lay
  person, or as a priest, a deacon or a religious brother or sister. Make
  us a kind and understanding family so that we will help one another
  discover his or her vocation and follow it faithfully. With Mary and
  Joseph, we ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen." -William O'Leary; Church of the Ascension, Overland Park, Kansas