Fostering Vocations

Next weekend at St. Peter in Chains Cathedral, Adam Berning, who grew up as a parishioner of Sacred Heart, will be ordained a transitional deacon. Next year, he will be ordained a priest of Jesus Christ. This is a great gift for Sacred Heart and for the entire St. Joseph, Pillar of Families Parishes. I had the pleasure of living with Adam during COVID lockdown and I am excited about him being a brother priest soon. In the same vein, next month Deacon Patrick Blenman, who is from Holy Angels, will be ordained a priest of Jesus Christ at the Cathedral. Deacon Patrick, too, is someone I know from seminary, and I appreciate his laughter when he is around. I look forward to working together with him in the Lord’s vineyard here very soon. Furthermore, we also have two more seminarians, Jacob Schmiesing (HA), and David Morand (HA), who are both in seminary from our Family of Parishes, as well. We just had Sister Xavier Schulze from Sacred Heart make her final vows with the Sisters of the Martyrs of St. George last year and have Sister Imelda Joy Wilding from Holy Angels currently in formation with the Children of Mary. Please keep all of them in your prayers.

It is wonderful that we have all of these vocations coming from our families. I want to encourage the families within St. Joseph Parishes to consider praying the vocations prayer at home on a regular basis to encourage vocations not just to priesthood and religious life, but also for your children to seek holy marriages and follow the Lord no matter what their state in life. This is why we have moved towards the Witness to Love model for Marriage Prep. This allows so many of the wonderful marriages we already have in our Family of Parishes to be utilized by engaged couples to develop a lasting friendship with them, to help them grow in their relationship with each other and our Lord. Thank you in advance to all the couples who are generous in helping with Witness to Love.

Thank you for all the ways you already support vocations. It is an important part of helping to raise up the next generation within the Church as missionary disciples. Each of us are called to holiness, whether we are a religious sister or a priest, or a parent or a single person. Wherever we find ourselves, God calls us to be like Himself and go out and preach the Gospel (missionary discipleship).

Please take the “Parent/Adult Feedback on Catechesis” survey that has been published to Facebook and the bulletin. Using the QR Code will take you directly to the online survey. Thank you for your honest feedback. Jodie Blindauer, her team, and I really appreciate it.

Pastoral Councils within St. Joseph Parishes have been great and given me some honest feedback that helped me to see some blind spots in my leadership. For that, I am grateful. We are almost to the point of having completed the charter for the Family Pastoral Council for St. Joseph, Pillar of Families Parishes. Each parish will have three representatives. We will begin the process of taking nominations for new members at some point this summer. In the coming month, I will begin sharing more details about this process; it will not go into effect until January 2024, so we still have time.

I am again so grateful for the centrality of family within our Family of Parishes. It has been an absolute gift and I am beyond words in my appreciation for our moms, dads, children, grandparents, and great-grandparents. Thank you, families! May we continue striving to place our Lord at the center of our Families and ask Him to keep us from all harm, both spiritual and physical. May we also ask for the courage to bring His love and truth to all we meet.

Peace in Christ,

Fr. Jarred Kohn