Currents News Staff
In the Archdiocese of Guadalajara in Mexico, 70 new priests were ordained over the weekend of Pentecost.
Welcoming this unusually large number of priests stemmed from years of hard work. The archdiocese had created a program to work with young people directed by priests and seminarians to promote vocations.
“They are doing a lot of hard work but it’s permanent, so that, in the parishes, in addition to attention given to families, directly and indirectly, a permanent team in each parish is dedicated to promoting consecrated vocations for both men and women,” said Father Antonio Gutierrez.
In Guadalajara, between 35 and 40 priests are usually ordained each year, but on this occasion, there were so many young men that two ceremonies were needed to ordain them all.
The ordinations coincided with the 325th anniversary of the seminary’s founding, which led to an intensification of the vocation program. The mission to promote vocations has grown through the examples set by other priests, the role of the family, and the personal experiences of each young man.
“[Guadalajara] is a land where the faith, the devotion of the people, has been promoted, where families tend to be generous in terms of consecrated vocations,” said Father Antonio Gutierrez. “The vocations of these 70 men did not happen over night, but we are grateful for them.”
Although it may seem like a large group, there are still not enough men to satisfy the pastoral needs of all the faithful in the archdiocese. Yet, the increase in the number of vocations shows a promising future.
“Some of the [new priests] have already done previous studies for a degree, like architecture, accounting. There have even been doctors who were already practicing,” said Father Antonio Gutierrez. “They are young men with all the characteristics of today’s youth—restless, technological, but we hope that along with all the things that we can no longer do without today, at the root of young people is a deep piety and longing to serve the faithful as priests.”
All the newly ordained priests already have their pastoral assignment. Between them, they will serve more than five million people in parishes, religious institutes and some will even go to other dioceses.