Story by Randy Porter
(SNR) – Pastors targeted the weekend of Sept. 26 and 27 to launch the annual Bishop’s Appeal for Vocations (BAV), in which parishioners in the Diocese of Lincoln help fund education costs for diocesan seminarians.
Pastors may choose another weekend to launch the appeal but the campaign goal to reach $800,000 will conclude at year’s end, said Father Joseph Walsh, pastor of St. James Church in Cortland. Father Walsh is a member of the coordinating team that designed this year’s appeal.
The theme, “Peace be with you” seems particularly appropriate for the year 2020, Walsh said. Amid the pandemic, social unrest and upheaval, Jesus’ words communicate a message of hope.
“This is the hope and gift that our seminarians are being trained to experience and share,” explained Father Walsh.
While the goal has been $800,000 the past three years, more than $1 million has been raised each of the past three years from parishioners of the Diocese.
“The people of the diocese love seminarians and priests,” said Walsh. “They support this appeal.”
The annual budget to educate the 30 seminarians currently studying for the diocese is $1.175 million. Each college seminarian is asked to provide $5,000 toward his education. The diocese pays the remainder of the cost of education, which includes tuition, room, board, insurance and some travel expenses. The BAV is designed to spread the cost of this education across all parishes, since all parishes benefit from the gift of priestly service.
The total cost of seminarian education varies year by year, but averages $1.4 million. If the appeal exceeds the cost, amounts will be invested in seminary burses at the Catholic Foundation of Southern Nebraska.
Seminarians studying at St. Gregory the Great in Seward produced a video for the appeal. In the video, they speak about their education.
At St. Gregory, “young men aspire to confirm their wills to Christ’s and to be formed in a way that they will become messengers of Christ’s peace, into a world of sin and chaos,” said seminarian Isaac Walhmeier of St. Michael Parish in Hastings.
This is done, he explained, through four pillars of formation – human, intellectual, spiritual and pastoral.
Seminarian David Tines of St. Joseph Parish in Lincoln explained they have a saying at the seminary: “in order to be come a good priest, you have to become a good man first.”
Men from across the diocese are featured in the video, explaining how the pillars shape their faith journeys and prepares them for the priesthood if they are called to be priests. The formation at St. Gregory the Great, Wahlmeier said, “is just one of the steps to becoming a good and holy priest, and to becoming a good and holy man.”
“Without your spiritual and financial support for vocations within the Diocese of Lincoln,” he said, “none of this would be possible. With your continued support, we are dedicated to becoming men of God, to become messengers of Christ’s peace out into the world, and to serve the servants of God.”
How does each family or individual in the diocese determine the ability to give? How should an individual discern the gift they should make to this appeal?
“Put it to prayer,” suggested Father Walsh. “Try to give what you have in the past, which was sufficient for our needs.”
A letter, envelope and pledge card will be mailed to many parish households. Online giving is also an option. The link on the front page of the diocesan website www.lincolndiocese.org — the Appeal for Vocations icon — provides an interested donor with access to the online giving platform of the Diocese of Lincoln.
“Christ’s words, ‘Peace be with you’ comfort us,” said Father Walsh. “Imagine, we are training the young men who will share that hope and strength with us in our time of need.”
Father Walsh asked that the gratitude of the Bishop’s Appeal for Vocations Team be known to all in the diocese, and that the Lord’s words, “Peace be with you” will fill hearts and homes always.
