‘FISHERS OF MEN’ DVD


A new tool to help priests in their efforts to encourage young men to consider a vocation to the priesthood has been sent to all parishes from the Diocesan Vocation Office.

Fishers of Men, a DVD sponsored by the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on Vocations, is an eighteen-minute, professionally produced presentation on priestly vocations.

The film, produced by Grassroots Films of Brooklyn, NY, is a fast-paced video which shows many of the facets of a priest’s daily life. Several priests provide testimony to the importance they place on their own vocation, including our own Msgr. Avila, currently pastor of Saint Anthony’s Parish in East Falmouth. A dramatic re-enactment portrays how a priest can inspire a vocation through his service to someone in need of priestly ministry. There is also a segment on the inspirational life of Pope John Paul II who was the face of the Catholic priesthood throughout the world for nearly three decades.

Taking as its theme Jesus’ promise that he would make the disciples “fishers of men,” the film is part of a process of encouraging priests to atep back from their daily lives and to reflect on the many positive reasons why they pursued a vocation to the priesthood, to discuss those reasons with their brother priests, and ultimately to share them with other men to invite them to consider the priesthood.

This project is partly in response to a 2003 survey of ordinands in which 78% said they considered a priestly vocation because they were invited to do so by a priest. An earlier survey indicated, however, that only 30% of priests actively invite young men to consider a priestly vocation.

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