Day of prayer for priestly vocations asks God for ‘shower’ of ‘many holy priests’

Father Michael Keucher, archdiocesan vocations director, preaches a homily at St. John the Evangelist Church in Indianapolis during a Feb. 9 Mass that was part of the archdiocesan vocations office’s third annual Day of Prayer with St. John Vianney for Priestly Vocations. A relic of the patron saint of priests is displayed in front of the ambo. (Photo by Sean Gallagher)

By Sean Gallagher

On Feb. 9, 1818, St. John Vianney made his way on foot to the small southern French town of Ars.

A young boy herding sheep helped the town’s new pastor find his way there. When they arrived at the parish church, Vianney turned to the boy and said, “Thank you for showing me the way to Ars. I will show you the way to heaven.”

Vianney spent the rest of his life in Ars doing the same for all of its villagers. But before his death in 1859, the patron saint of priests became so well-known far and wide for his pastoral wisdom and sharing God’s mercy in the sacrament of penance that thousands of people every year made their way to Ars to go to confession to him.

More than 200 years later, archdiocesan Catholics gathered to pray for priestly vocations in central and southern Indiana on the anniversary of Vianney’s arrival in Ars.

The archdiocesan vocations office’s third annual Day of Prayer with St. John Vianney for Priestly Vocations took place this year on Feb. 9 at St. John the Evangelist Church in downtown Indianapolis.

It included several hours of eucharistic adoration, Benediction, the opportunity for the sacrament of penance and the presence of a relic of St. John Vianney for veneration. The day ended with a midday Mass celebrated by Father Michael Keucher, archdiocesan vocations director.

Father Keucher, who also serves as pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Shelbyville and St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Shelby County, described in his homily what Ars was like when Vianney arrived there in 1818.

“There were four taverns that were full every night,” Father Keucher said. “And all sorts of godless behavior went on there. People actually travelled to Ars to be part of the godless behavior that took place there.”

Vianney’s first response to the situation he faced in Ars was to pray.

“He went to the tabernacle, which had cobwebs in front of it,” Father Keucher said. “He laid down prostrate and said, ‘Lord, change their hearts.’ … He constantly prayed for the conversion of the hearts of his people.”

And, over time and through God’s grace, those conversions occurred. People began to travel to Ars not for its party atmosphere, but because of God’s grace that flowed through the ministry of its pastor.

“John Vianney taught his people the love of God,” Father Keucher said. “And, as a priest, he gave them the means to love God. He gave them the sacraments. He gave them confession, holy Communion, the anointing of the sick. He gave them what they needed.”

What was true in the priestly life and ministry of St. John Vianney 200 years ago is true today in the archdiocese, Father Keucher said.

“God gives us priests to show us that he loves us, to teach us how we can love him and to give us the means to love him well,” he said. “We are thankful for the priesthood.

“John Vianney said that every good priest goes to heaven with thousands and thousands of souls behind him. We pray today in a special way that God will continue to shower our archdiocese with many holy priests, and that he will continue to sanctify each day those of us who are already priests.”

One of those listening to Father Keucher preach about St. John Vianney was Art Berkemeier, a member of St. Mark the Evangelist Parish in Indianapolis and of the Serra Club of Indianapolis, which helps promote vocations to the priesthood, diaconate and religious life.

In speaking about why he attended the liturgy, Berkemeier noted the unseasonably warm weather of the day.

“Yes, it’s a Friday,” he said. “There’s a lot going on. It’s a beautiful day. But it’s even more important that I come and support our vocations director and young people who are discerning vocations, to make this a priority in my life.”

Praying for priestly vocations is important to Berkemeier in part because he had an uncle who was an archdiocesan priest, Father Charles Berkemeier, who died in 1998.

“He chose to be a priest as his vocation,” Berkemeier recalled. “But he was still a man. He had other interests. He loved to fish and play cards with his friends. Yet, he chose God first.

“Praying for vocations reminds me that we should always choose God first, regardless of the other things that go on in our lives.”
 

(For more information on a vocation to the priesthood in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, visit HearGodsCall.com.) †