General
Vocations Overview: Fishers of Men
PRIESTLY LIFE AND VOCATIONS SUMMIT
In the 1990s the Bishops’ Committee on Vocations assisted in revising the program entitled Operation Andrew. This program was an opportunity for bishops to invite young men to gather with them to discuss the possibility of a vocation to the priesthood. At this time, the Secretariat for Vocations and Priestly Formation of the USCCB under the auspices of the Bishops' Committee on Vocations presents a program for priests to actively invite men to consider a vocation to the priesthood. This program is entitled Priestly Life and Vocations Summit: Fishers of Men. This project is a presbyteral workshop which utilizes the appreciative inquiry method of asking priests about their most positive experiences in the priesthood. This program has been presented in five pilot dioceses. The overall response to the program has been very positive.
It is the hope of the Bishops’ Committee on Vocations that this project will bring about a renewal of the priests in the United States and also lead to the regeneration of priesthood itself. This presbyteral workshop is based on interviews with priests. The actual convocation with the priest would include their testimonies of positive priestly experiences, establishing strategies for promoting priestly vocations, and creating a structure within the presbyterate for inviting men to consider the priesthood.