A new initiative of the Diocese of Harrisburg’s Vocations Office welcomed 43 young men to one of two dinners with Bishop Timothy Senior in an invitation to further consider whether God may be calling them to the priesthood.
The Project Andrew Dinners – so named for the apostle Andrew, who was the first to bring Peter to Jesus – were intimate yet casual gatherings at St. Leo the Great Parish in Rohrerstown and the Diocesan Center in Harrisburg.
Attendees were personally selected through the Called by Name program launched earlier this year, which invited parishioners throughout the Diocese to prayerfully consider the young men in their parish who have the qualities to potentially become a priest. From the names submitted, the Vocations Office hosted the two dinners to which 43 men, ages 15-35, received personal invitations from Bishop Senior.
“The fact that your name was suggested by your parish is a great testament to the quality of young man that you are,” Father Joshua Weaver, Diocesan Vocations Director, told the 20 men at the Project Andrew Dinner in Harrisburg on April 2.
“And odds are, it wasn’t just one person who wrote your name down. A lot of you had multiple people submit your name. They are seeing qualities in you that make them think, ‘This person could make a great priest.’ That’s one of the greatest compliments you could receive,” he said. “It means you’re the type of person they want to be with their loved one during the last hours of their life. You’re the kind of person they want to prepare their kids for marriage in the Church. You’re the kind of person they trust to hear their Confession and absolve them. You’re someone they want to listen to from the pulpit.”
The men came from throughout the Diocese – from Shippensburg and York, Lancaster and New Bloomfield, Chambersburg and Harrisburg, Greencastle and New Holland.
More than 400 names were submitted through the Called by Name Program. From those suggested by parishioners, the Vocations Office is cultivating a list of men to invite to smaller and localized vocation discernment groups and the annual Quo Vadis Days discernment retreat this summer.
The Project Andrew Dinner began with evening prayer prior to a meal with Bishop Senior, Father Weaver and Father Mark Speitel, Diocesan Secretary for Clergy and Consecrated Life; throughout the dinner, they rotated through five tables of attendees to engage in discussions about family life, favorite saints, hobbies, parish activities, discernment, seminary life and the priesthood.
“The priest is uniquely configured to Christ. At the heart of it, we are looking for men who have a desire to serve, a selfless desire to be for others. We also need men willing to be a leader who, as Pope Francis has said, will be among his sheep,” Bishop Senior said.
“God invites us into a relationship of trust. Sometimes, men are looking for absolute certainty in their discernment. Others feel they have to be perfect to enter seminary or to become a priest. But the seminary is a place where a lot of that is worked out and it also continues in the priesthood,” he said.
“Remember that God doesn’t call perfect people; he calls human beings,” the bishop told the young men at the dinner.
During the course of the evening, Father Weaver shared his vocation story, highlighted by the ways in which God worked in his life. He also shared tips on fruitful discernment, encouraging the men to be all-in, to pray and listen, and to move in the process, remindin them, “God can’t drive a parked car.”
The Called by Name initiative was sparked by a survey of the ordination class of 2019 by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), which indicated that 92% of the newly-ordained were encouraged to consider the priesthood by someone in their life.
“The personal invitation is motivating because, for starters, a young man might not think he’s worthy of it,” Father Weaver told The Witness. “We all have blind spots, where we’re blind to our own gifts Gods has given us. People from the outside notice qualities in us we may have no idea we even had. Hearing it from them – especially from someone we respect and those who know us – gets the gears turning so the men ask, ‘Can this be me?’ and that opens the door for God to speak.”
“Will every man whose name was written down be called to be a priest? No. But it does open the doors of their hearts to give God the opportunity to speak to them,” he said. “The Called by Name program and the Project Andrew Dinner are all about asking these guys, ‘Are you willing to give God that chance?’”
Of the 43 men who attended the Project Andrew Dinners, 35 expressed interest in a personal follow-up from the Vocations Office and 32 indicated a desire to join a formal discernment group.
For Fernando Tavarez of Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in York, the dinner was another opportunity to “open myself more to hearing God’s voice, having also attended the SEEK Conference and Cor Ad Cor retreat.”
“To know that people wrote our names down for this dinner because they believe in us, it’s just humbling,” he told The Witness. “They see us as potentially being by them at their deathbed or maybe baptizing their children. It shows how much they believe in us, and I’m grateful for that. We can recognize that God is working in all of us.”
“This was a wonderful event to also spend time with the bishop, priests and other young men. To see all these men discerning the priesthood, you see there is hope for the Church. We have faith-filled men who will serve the Church in the future,” Tavarez said.
Anthony Lopez of Corpus Christi Parish in Chambersburg said he had several rudimentary questions about discernment when he showed up for the Project Andrew Dinner. “I can say it answered my questions and went above and beyond my expectations,” he said. “Beyond that, it asked questions of us: what do we want from God, what does God want from us, what are we willing to sacrifice for His Kingdom? Discussing that with other men here tonight and seeing the love of Christ that burns in them was beautiful.”
Asked how he felt knowing that parishioners recognize certain qualities in him, Lopez bowed his head. “It’s humbling. I’m filled with joy, love and thankfulness that they are able to see me for who I can become – not for my own sake – but for the glory of the Church and the glory of my Lord,” he said. “There is no bigger joy than knowing that someone would think I would be capable enough to take that challenge and open the door to hear God’s plan. It’s a love that I only wish to help others seek and follow more.”
Lopez departed the dinner with another question, one now burning in his heart.
“How do I begin? I want to begin the process. I am wiling to take the next step, to give myself, and to be someone for Him,” he said.
Learn more about vocations and discernment in the Diocese of Harrisburg at www.harrisburgvocations.org.
(Photos by Jen Reed, The Catholic Witness.)
By Jen Reed, The Catholic Witness
