Vocations Summit: Letter from Bishop Cupich (2005)

Letter from Bishop Blaise J. Cupich from the USCCB's Committee of Vocations, September 8, 2005

As He passed by the Sea of Galilee He saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea; they were fishermen. Jesus said to them, “Come follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”  And they left their nets and followed Him. (Mark 1:16-18)

These words from Scripture are the very foundation for this Priestly Life and Vocations Summit: Fishers of Men program. The data gathered annually by the Secretariat for Vocations and Priestly Formation at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops repeatedly shows the important impact that priests and their personal invitations to consider priesthood have on young men. Statistics from the surveys of various years of ordination classes identified that a high number of men ordained to the priesthood identified a priest as being a primary inviter to consider the vocation to priesthood. Those same surveys also revealed, unfortunately, that the percentage of diocesan and religious priests who actually invite is low.

vocations-cupich-2005.pdf