In the first few months of our new partnership with Vianney Vocations, we can already see some big changes and very encouraging signs. Four discernment groups are up and running with about 30 men who want to learn more about diocesan priesthood taking part. In my five years as vocation director, the largest discernment group I can remember had 8-9 guys, and there was just one of them, and that group was only for men in the Jackson area. Now we have four groups in four different locations (Cleveland, Jackson, Oxford and Starkville). This is tangible evidence that there are many more young men who are open to the call to priesthood and who can benefit from accompaniment. Accompanying more men means that more men will apply for seminary and more seminarians means more future priests.

The next step in our accompaniment is to offer ‘Come and See’ opportunities to our discernment group members and other discerners. In mid-October Father Tristan Stovall is taking about eight men to the seminary in New Orleans and then in early November we will be bringing many more to St. Joseph Seminary College in Covington, Louisiana for their bi-annual ‘Come and See’ weekend. That weekend, Nov. 9-10, will also be a big weekend in our diocese. We are going to invite every priest in the diocese to share their vocation story at each Mass that weekend. We will also ask you to consider whether there are young men in your parish who you think would make great priests and could benefit from taking part in these new programs that we are offering. This ‘Called by Name Weekend’ will help us get even more participation in our discernment groups. If we have 30 or so men just from our personal contacts and conversations, think about what the Lord could do with everyone in the diocese calling forth men to seriously discern whether they have a call to be a priest in our diocese. I am very excited about this!

I will be briefing all our clergy and lay ecclesial ministers about this effort at our upcoming Continuing Formation Workshop, so they have all the information they need to help roll this out. Once we get names submitted the staff at Vianney is going to help Bishop Kopacz, myself and the vocations team reach out to all the men who are put forward to invite them to discern a little more formally and take part in these discernment groups and seminary visits. I’m grateful to the vocations team, our staff here at the diocese including our vocations staff, and Father Tristan (who has been an amazing source of new ideas and energy as assistant vocation director). I’d also like to thank all the generous donors from across the diocese who are supporting the Homegrown Harvest Festival Oct. 12. I look forward to discussing these exciting developments with them that evening!

Father Nick Adam, vocation director

Last issue I shared a little about our brand-new partnership with Vianney Vocations as we have formed a Vocation Team of priests across the diocese to start running discernment groups for young men. These discernment groups are very well organized and each of the priests running a group has gone through four sessions of training to help them understand how to make the group fun and beneficial for the men. The groups meet once a week for six weeks in the fall and in the spring, and they include one service project and one social outing.

The folks at Vianney have been very insistent that we follow their model for these groups. Speaking for myself, I know it is easy to think “well, I know that they said to do it one way, but I’m going to do it another way.” We have been strongly encouraged to avoid this thinking. These groups have been serving young men well in dioceses across the country, and they help guys build fraternal bonds and grow in their faith, whether they end up in seminary or not.

These groups have already kicked off. I know that Father Kent Bowlds has started one in Cleveland, and mine will start Sept. 29 in Jackson. The goal of these groups is to create sources of accompaniment for young men who often feel very isolated in their discernment. Not that many guys in high school or college or in the workforce are comfortable talking about their faith, and even less are seriously open to discerning a call to the priesthood. With these groups, guys will have the opportunity to walk with each other and find encouragement. It also allows them to have regular conversations with a priest who can share with them about his life.

The overarching concern that I have as vocation director is – how can we best accompany young men who are open to God’s call? This is a concern that is difficult to address in a diocese that is so big, and so when Vianney Vocations approached me with their plan and offered their support, I was incredibly interested. As these groups launch, I ask for particular prayers that the priests responsible for them will be inspired by the Holy Spirit to overcome obstacles, think creatively, and be renewed by their service to the men in their groups. I really believe that this will be the key to achieving a sustainable, Spirit-led increase in vocations, and, if God wills it, even an abundance of them.

Also – we just finalized the design for our new seminarian poster, so be on the lookout for those and be sure to keep our six seminarians in your prayers.

Father Nick Adam, vocation director

I can’t believe it’s already time for Homegrown Harvest 2024! As we get ready for this great annual event where we support our seminarians and work to bring forth more men to be priests from our diocese, I’m proud to announce a new partnership that is designed to bring forth more excellent young men to consider the priesthood. We have partnered with Vianney Vocations for an initiative called Vocation Pathway.

Vianney Vocations has been working with dioceses for more than 15 years to provide excellent resources like books, posters, promotional items and more. After all that time, they’ve seen ‘what works’ and ‘what doesn’t work’ when it comes to promoting vocations. Vocation Pathway is a systematic approach to vocation promotion that Vianney has developed. We are working with Chris Kreslins from Vianney Vocations to build a plan just for our diocese. That plan is already in motion, and I’m excited to share more details in the coming weeks and months.

The most important part of Vocation Pathway is forming a team of priests who can run discernment groups at least twice a year in various parts of the diocese. I spent the summer putting together a team, and it includes priests from almost every deanery. Our team has undergone four weeks of training to run six-week discernment groups each fall and spring. These groups are not only for men who say, ‘I want to be a priest,’ but they are for any man who is a strong Catholic and wants to grow in his faith.

The Vocation Team is already in place and is starting the invitation process to young men in their area. The team consists of: Fathers Augustine Palimattam, St. Patrick/St. Joseph Meridian, Aaron Williams, St. Mary/Assumption Natchez, Mark Shoffner, St. John Oxford, Jason Johnston and Tristan Stovall, St. Joseph Starkville, Kent Bowlds, Our Lady of Victories Cleveland, Matthew Simmons, St. Joseph Gluckstadt, and me. Please pray for these team members, and if you have suggestions of who should be invited to these discernment groups, let one of the team members know!

Our rep from Vianney Vocations will be in Jackson to speak to the full presbyterate and all our parish leaders next month. We are excited about this new chapter, and I’d like to share a goal with you that I believe we can reach, although it is lofty. Our goal is to have 33 seminarians by the year 2030. Please keep that in your prayers, and ‘ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest!’

                                                Father Nick Adam, vocation director

Back on Memorial Day I took a trip down the Pearl River in a kayak with Will Foggo and Joe Pearson. It was a very memorable trip for several reasons: 1) There was absolutely no current going downriver, so it basically became a 10.4-mile trip across a big lake! 2) We almost had enough equipment. We had three kayaks, but only two kayak paddles, the third paddle we had was really for a canoe; and 3) we got a bit of a late start, and ended up getting to our exit-point well after dark.

Going into the trek we knew that we were in for some unexpected turbulence, that’s just the way it goes when you are in a group, and you are dealing with mother nature. The journey through seminary is comparable in some ways to that trip down the Pearl: both demand that you remain aware of your surroundings, rely on other people for help and support, and have a great attitude so you can truly ‘enjoy the ride,’ even when it’s a little unpleasant for various reasons.

I remember the first time I walked onto the campus of a seminary I was blown away by the number of chapels there were. It seemed that no matter where I might live on campus, a chapel with the Blessed Sacrament reposed in a a tabernacle was just a short walk away. Everything also seemed so ‘ordered.’ The seminarians would walk dutifully in packs from class to class, to the church for Mass, or to the refectory for meals. The structure in seminary helps men to form good habits of prayer, study, fraternity and service, but that structure is not meant to be an end in itself.

I always tell our seminarians that if they are being called to be a priest in the Diocese of Jackson, then they are called to be malleable. They should be willing to step up and make adjustments to their schedule according to the needs of God’s people. When Will and Joe and I started down the river: it seemed like we were just going along with the flow. Everything was in order. But then we realized how slow the current was, and how much trash was in the river (truly, a disturbing amount), and that we might not be getting in until after dark. We had to be willing to re-frame our expectations and make the best of it, to have a great attitude and ‘enjoy the ride.’

I read recently that one should pray about the challenges, doubts and trials that are coming in our life, rather than to only pray about the ones that we currently have or the aftermath of a certain situation. I think that is a very wise posture of prayer for a seminarian. A seminarian studying for the Diocese of Jackson, or for the diocesan priesthood in general, should pray for the grace to remain calm in the midst of great change or challenge. That way, when faced with this during his priesthood, he won’t be dismayed or think something is ‘wrong,’ rather, he’ll expect that the Lord will give him the grace he needs to keep going, and ‘enjoy the ride.’

Father Nick Adam, vocation director

(Father Nick Adam can be contacted at nick.adam@jacksondiocese.org.)

As the rector of the Cathedral and the vocation director, I have gotten a lot of experience working with young people as they prepare to make a lifelong commitment to a vocation. Here at St. Peter’s we are in the middle of a run of weddings.

It turns out that most people want to get married when the weather is nice, and here in Mississippi, that means they’ve got about a five week stretch between the cold of winter and the heat of summer! Since April 13, I’ve presided at six weddings and I’ve provided marriage prep for a seventh couple who got married at a different parish. I also spent a weekend at the Engaged Encounter retreat which is part of the marriage preparation process at many parishes in the diocese.

It is interesting that most couples spend 2-4 years dating before taking vows to be together for life – to have and to hold, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part. Most seminarians, on the other hand, spend 6-9 years in the seminary prior to making their priestly promises and being ordained a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.

No matter how long you date, you can’t be totally prepared for the lifelong sacrifices and challenges that marriage demands, and no matter how long you spend in seminary, or how good your grades are, or how well you understand the demands of priestly life, living this life is not something you can totally prepare for in the seminary.

What is basically necessary for successful marriages and faithfulness to priesthood, I believe, is that couples and seminarians understand that when they take their vows (or in the seminarian’s case, make their promises), their life is no longer about themselves. Our vocations are mysterious, and we don’t naturally possess all the attributes necessary to live them well. No one naturally wants to give their life up. We may give of ourselves when we are feeling particularly generous, but selflessness is really a supernatural activity. This is why we need the grace of the sacrament of Matrimony and the grace of the sacrament of Holy Orders to live out our vocations well.

Many people have come up with, and will continue to come up with, good reasons why marriages fail, and priests leave. The truth is, there is never just one reason. Often, relationships fail because of a series of choices, not all of which were bad, but which eventually lead someone to stop giving themselves to the other. The spouse or the priest stopped being willing to give themselves and didn’t want to put themselves second anymore. I wish there was a magic bullet that could guarantee the success of marriages and the fruitfulness of priestly ministry, but there isn’t. Each of us who have made solemn promises to another, whether that is a spouse or the church, must hold ourselves accountable. Am I living for the other, or am I making small choices that lead me to think more about myself and my own comfort?

Our vocations should transform us. They should make us look and sound and act more like Jesus, who laid down his life for his friends.

Father Nick Adam, vocation director

The summer is quickly approaching, and this is the time when our seminarians get to take a break from the books and get out into our parishes. I’m excited to announce that all of our seminarians will have great assignments this summer; and I’m grateful to the pastors and lay leaders who are helping me to give them important experiences as they continue to discern whether or not the Lord is calling them to be priests in the Diocese of Jackson.

But first I want to remind you of the ordination date for Deacon Tristan Stovall. On May 18 at 10:30 a.m. he’ll be ordained at the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle in Jackson. At that point, he will not be a seminarian anymore, and therefore I have no say in his assignment (although people have asked me where he’ll be assigned, it is to be announced!) Please make plans to come to the ordination Mass and celebrate with all of us. Deacon Tristan has been a wonderful seminarian and I’ve had him with me for various assignments during his time in formation. In fact, when he began his formation, I was a seminarian with him!

Okay, onto the summer assignments. With Deacon Tristan being ordained, Will Foggo will be our ‘senior-most’ seminarian. It is time for Will to have his summer of hospital ministry. We have had a great partnership with St. Dominic Hospital and their pastoral care team since 2016. After second year Theology, our seminarians have worked with the pastoral care team at St. Dominic. They begin by shadowing each member of the staff and getting a lay of the land, and then they spend the whole summer visiting patients – bringing them communion, praying with them, and collaborating with the medical and pastoral care staff at the hospital. A great thanks to Jill Hisaw, director of the pastoral care department, and the whole staff for their wonderful work and support of our seminarians.
Grayson Foley and EJ Martin will be traveling to Omaha, Nebraska to take part in the Institute for Priestly Formation (IPF). This is an 8-week program that we’ve been sending seminarians to since 2015. It is designed to help diocesan seminarians understand the spiritual life of the diocesan priesthood and gives them tools to make sure that they pray well during their priesthood and that they teach their people how to pray as well. My time at IPF was very formative, and most of the techniques for personal prayer that I teach in the parish were taught to me during my summer in Omaha.

Our first-year seminarians, Wilson Locke, Francisco Maldonado and Joe Pearson, will all be in parishes this summer here in the diocese. Wilson will be at Our Lady of Victories in Cleveland; Francisco will be at St. Joseph in Greenville; and Joe will be at St. Mary Basilica in Natchez. A great thanks to Fathers Kent, Jose and Aaron for walking with these men and being great examples of priestly ministry to them.

Father Nick Adam, vocation director

(Father Nick Adam can be contacted at nick.adam@jacksondiocese.org.)

The ‘Come and See’ at St. Joseph Seminary College in late March was a big success with more than 200 young men participating. Each spring and fall the seminary college, which is located in Covington, Louisiana on the campus on a Benedictine Monastery, hosts the event.

We had two discerners come down for the weekend and they both had very positive experiences. One of the recent developments at this event has been a greater focus on networking among vocations directors from around the country. I got a lot out of a roundtable discussion that we were invited to with the seminary faculty and in the other social times that were made available for vocations directors. As I reflect on nearly five years of promoting vocations, it is really important that I get new ideas and bounce my own practices off others who are in the field. Bishop Kopacz often reminds me that vocations is a specialized ministry, and often you can’t grow unless you are talking to others who know what the unique challenges and goals are that you are facing.

I continue to be encouraged and blessed by our current seminarians, all of whom are working very hard and have been very diligent in their discernment. Many of our men were able to come back to the diocese to help out with Holy Week liturgies at various parishes and at the Cathedral. I was able to catch up with them on Easter Monday for a great lunch, and Bishop Kopacz and I went down to Covington again in early April for evaluations and were able to visit with everyone again. The group’s desire for community and their willingness to be present back here in the diocese is a great sign for the future. Our men in formation are men of the people who want to be a part of our diocesan life. This is a key point of formation and a benchmark that is very important to hit.

All of our seminarians showed this attitude in practice when they came up to serve for the Chrism Mass on Holy Tuesday and helped Chancellor Mary Woodward and I host a lunch for our guests after the Mass. For the past couple of years, we’ve invited fifth graders from our Catholic Schools to attend the Mass and to speak to them about vocations to the priesthood and religious life. The boys were hosted by myself and the seminarians, while the girls got to hear from Sister Dorothea Sondgeroth about women’s religious life. Our seminarians were very engaged and the kids loved to hear their stories. I asked each of our seminarians to give a brief witness to the kids regarding their call to the seminary, and I hope that the kids will take to heart these stories and keep priesthood in mind as they grow and develop their talents and interests.

We look forward with joy to the ordination of Deacon Tristan Stovall this May. He will be ordained at the Cathedral of St. Peter in Jackson on May 18 at 10:30 a.m. Please make plans to come join us for this joyous occasion.

Father Nick Adam, vocation director

(Father Nick Adam can be contacted at nick.adam@jacksondiocese.org.)

It can be easy to focus on priestly ordination as the one and only milestone that our seminarians need to clear, but this ‘one-track’ attitude is not good for our men who are in formation. For one thing, ordination is not the goal of seminary, formation is.

As I state here often, about fifty percent of the men who enter the seminary do not end up getting ordained. For the vast majority of them, this is a decision that has been come to in peace and joy and they look forward to the next chapter of their life with a greater clarity – they know they are not called to priesthood.

But when we only focus on ordination we can give men the impression that in order to go to seminary they must be sure they are going to make it to priesthood; or in order for seminary to be a success they need to make it ordination. But honestly, the men that are sure they’ll be ordained from the start are sometimes not the best candidates for priesthood.

The best candidates are men who realize that the Lord’s will is the top priority, and they don’t assume that they are called to be priests, rather, they enter into formation with openness and eagerness and then they see what happens.

I am happy to report that all of our seminarians are very clear on this expectation. They are allowing the process of formation to unfold, and while I think each one of them could make an excellent priest, I know that the Lord may call them to something else, and I have to be prepared to accompany them to make that step if need be.

One way we can support our men in this balanced approach to formation is to celebrate the major steps along the road to ordination. We may not make as big a deal about them as ordination, but I assure you that they mean a great deal to the men who are doing the hard work of priestly formation.

This spring we will celebrate with Grayson Foley and EJ Martin as they graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from their respective seminaries. This is a big occasion for these men who are completing the ‘discipleship stage’ of formation, where they are learning to be a student of Jesus Christ, and they are about to move to the ‘configurative stage,’ where they will be formed after the image of Christ the Priest.

Grayson is one of our ‘longest tenured’ seminarians, he spent four years earning this degree, while EJ put in two very challenging academic years since he entered seminary already holding a bachelor’s degree. EJ and Grayson will also celebrate a big milestone on May 17, when they are admitted to Candidacy for Holy Orders. This is the point in formation when seminarians proclaim before their bishop that they are ready to be public representatives of the church and they’ll start wearing the roman collar. This does not guarantee ordination, but it is a very important step for these men.

Please keep them in your prayers and congratulate them if you see them around the diocese!

Father Nick Adam, vocation director(Father Nick Adam can be contacted at nick.adam@jacksondiocese.org.)