Cardinal reports global positive response.
VATICAN CITY (Zenit.org) – The Congregation for Clergy has successfully launched a new website for the Year for Priests, which began on June 19.
The enthusiasm surrounding this occasion has echoed in initiatives across the globe.
A letter from Cardinal Cláudio Hummes, prefect of the congregation, expressed the hope that "this may be a time of grace that will produce great apostolic fruit, especially of fidelity and intense renewal in the work of the ministry."
He explained that their new site offers spiritual resources and documents for priests and lay people to celebrate the year, in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.
The cardinal affirmed that the Year for Priests "has been warmly received throughout the world" and the "positive effects will make themselves felt very quickly."
He invited ordained ministers to "participate in it with every effort and creativity" and to "be unconditional disciples and audacious missionaries" for Christ.
Another initiative was organised by WorldPriest, a group of Catholic communications professionals based on both the United States and Ireland.
In addition to online resources, the group coordinated four Masses celebrated on different points of the globe on June 19, uniting English-speaking Catholic communities to pray for priests.
Each Mass took place at 3pm local time, beginning with one in Sydney, celebrated by the Archbishop of that city, Cardinal George Pell.
Next, Carmelite Father Sebastian Koodappattu presided over a Mass in Kerala, India, followed by Archbishop Michael Neary of Tuam in Ireland’s Knock Shrine.
Monsignor Michael Curran completed the circle with a Eucharistic Celebration in New York.
In addition, a special Mass was televised by WorldPriest on Sunday in honour of the World Day of Prayer for Priests, which the group promotes every year.
Father Brendan Kilcoyne, president of St Jarlath’s College in Tuam, presided over this Mass that was broadcast by the RTE national television station.
Vocational renewal
National initiatives in England and Wales are available through the new online portal created by the bishops’ conference there.
This website contains resources for priests, and allows users to browse through the online offerings of each of the 22 dioceses in the conference.
Thus, for example, one can access the new website from the Archdiocese of Birmingham that features a multimedia “virtual seminary,” posters, prayer cards, priestly testimonials and a seminary blog.
Father Eddie Clare, committee chairman of the National Office for Vocation, affirmed that one important outcome of this year will be a “renewed emphasis on vocations.”
“The more we value our priests and their irreplaceable presence at the heart of the Church, more men may consider that this may be their calling in life,” Father Clare told Zenit news agency, based in Rome.
One institution that is offering visual demonstrations of the irreplaceable role of priestly ministry is the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
In a new website launched for the Year for Priests, it is featuring slide show presentations about its ordained alumni and the ways they have served the Church.
The year will run until June 19, 2010, and will centre on the theme: "Faithfulness of Christ, Faithfulness of Priests."