Vocations Office next goal, ‘Operation Andrew Dinner’

This month, I would like to share a Memorare prayer story with you. Secondly, I would like to share two of my goals for this new year for the Office of Vocations, Andrew Dinners and Operation Andrew Dinner. Before Christmas break, I was celebrating Mass at St. Thomas More Middle School Chapel and after Mass, several of the sixth graders invited me to come to their classroom to pray a few Memorare prayers with them. They have prayed more than eight hundred Memorares, and they are just starting to get warmed up. Their teacher, Mark Wesolick, has asked for a couple more Memorare prayer posters. Way to go Mr. Wesolick!

After we finished praying, I pulled the sixth graders around me to give them a little ferverino (pep talk) on the power of prayer. I told them right now I am working with a number of young men who are interested in discerning and praying more intentionally about a vocation to the priesthood (four to be exact).

One of the sixth graders looked right at me and said to me, “Fr. Mark, are you telling me this actually works?” I told her, “Of course prayer works! Prayer is powerful. God hears and answers our prayers and with our Mother Mary interceding for us in this Memorare prayer campaign, I am confident that we will have ‘20 seminarians by 2025.’”

Do you have a Memorare prayer story to share?

My first goal for the Vocations Office this new year is to host an Andrew Dinner in all five deaneries throughout the year. Andrew Dinners are named after the apostle St. Andrew, who was a disciple of St. John the Baptist and the brother of St. Peter. We hear in the first chapter of the Gospel of John how John the Baptist pointed out to two of his disciples that Jesus is the Lamb of God, the one who takes away the sins of the world (Jn 1:29).

In Jn 1:35-41, we hear the rest of the story. “The next day John was there again with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God.’ The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, ‘What are you looking for?’ They said to him, ‘Rabbi, where are you staying?’ He said to them, ‘Come, and you will see.’ So, they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon. Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus. He first found his own brother Simon and told him, ‘We have found the Messiah.’ Then he brought him to Jesus.”

St. Andrew Dinners are held so that parish priests, like St. Andrew, can bring young men to Jesus as St. Andrew did for his brother St. Peter. Andrew Dinners provide young men and their pastors a chance to pray together, to hear several vocation stories of priests and to share a meal with one another. Andrew Dinners are designed for high school, college and single young adult men who are willing to learn more about parish priesthood.

My second goal for 2024 is to compile a list of young men from our parish communities who parishioners think would make a great priest and might be open to investigating the possibility of this call in his life. I am calling this goal, “Operation Andrew Dinner.” The Vocations Office is compiling this list of men so that we can keep them informed of various vocational promotion opportunities such as retreats, mission trips, hikes, Operation Andrew Dinners, seminary Come and See weekends, and so on.

I remember when I was in high school, several parishioners from Blessed Sacrament in Rapid City would pull me aside from time to time to simply let me know that they thought I had a priestly heart. I am grateful to my parish priests growing up (Msgr. Doyle, Fr. Zeller, Bishop Dimmerling) and the parishioners at Blessed Sacrament, who in their own ways encouraged a priestly vocation within my own heart.

Please see the QR code for a survey of 20 questions that highlights the qualities and signs of a priestly heart. The survey is from Father Brett Brannen’s book, To Save A Thousand Souls: A Guide For Discerning A Vocation To Diocesan Priesthood. As you prayerfully read over this list, who comes to your mind? Who, in your parish, has some of the qualities and signs of a priestly heart? Will you share the names the Lord places on your heart with me at mmccormick@diorc.org?