I am pleased to announce that we have a new seminarian who will be starting his formation this month. Joe Pearson is a native of Flora and attended St. Richard Elementary, St. Joseph Middle and High School, Co-Lin Community College and the University of Mississippi. He graduated from Ole Miss in December and decided to apply to enter the seminary. I have known Joe since he was in high school and am very proud that he is taking this step in his journey with the Lord. Joe knows that his decision to enter the seminary is not a decision to become a priest, but rather it is a decision to discern fully whether or not the Lord is calling him to be a priest.

The seminary is the place where men who have the maturity and the desire go to know their vocation. The guys who enter do not know for sure that they will be ordained. They literally cannot know for sure because they are not the only ones who are making the decision. The church discerns with the man as well, and it’s my job as vocation director to help our seminarians discover their particular path. I am very happy with the group that we have studying for our diocese. I believe that each of our seminarians was called to the seminary and will become who they are called to be by the Lord, whether they get ordained or not.
Over the Christmas holidays I’ve been blessed to host three of our seminarians here at the Cathedral Rectory: Will Foggo, Wilson Locke and Francisco Maldonado. Will is one of our senior-most seminarians while Wilson and Francisco just started back in August. We had a great time and I believe that the best way to prepare men for the priesthood is to give them a realistic look at what being a priest is like. They were able to participate in various events from meetings to parties, but they also have blessed our Catholic community by their witness and their talents. Will and Francisco visited two of our elementary schools and Wilson and I will visit Sr. Thea Bowman School in January before he goes back to seminary. All of them have assisted with Masses and helped with parish activities as well.
One testament to the quality of our seminarians is the feedback that I receive from the community. Wilson and I have been going to a local gym downtown to exercise in the afternoon. One of the employees shared with me how impressed he was by Wilson’s witness when he had a brief conversation with him one day. I am grateful for our seminarians and ask you to continue praying for all of them as they embark on another semester of formation.

Father Nick Adam, vocation director

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

I have now been the Rector of the Cathedral for a year and a half, and throughout my professional life I have noticed that it takes about that amount of time to get my feet under me whenever I start something new. Being a pastor is a great responsibility but also a great source of joy as I get to walk with the parishioners here at St. Peter. While it’s a challenge to live in the two worlds of parish life and seminarian accompaniment and vocation promotion, I think that living in these two worlds has helped me realize what is ‘absolutely necessary’ and helpful to promote vocations and what isn’t.

One thing that has proven to be helpful time and time again is the ‘Come and See’ that is offered by St. Joseph Seminary College twice a year – once in the fall and once on Palm Sunday weekend in the spring. During this weekend young men are invited to come live at the seminary and hear talks from current seminarians. Our own Grayson Foley served as the emcee at one of these retreats. The Palm Sunday weekend retreat is especially helpful, I think, because the guys get to see the liturgy of the monastery in full color. Holy Week is astounding at St. Joseph Abbey, and I know that is inspiring to see so many seminarians participating in the liturgy and it is a source of grace for the discernment of those considering whether to enter the seminary or not.

So, our offerings for ‘come and see’ experiences have certainly narrowed since I became a pastor. I simply can’t organize the diocesan experiences that we had for a couple of years. But I do believe that we have sufficient resources to accompany young men considering the priesthood, and so I want to encourage you all to promote this ‘Come and See’ to the good young men in your parish. You can share this article with them if you’d like, and make sure they know that they can reach out to me via phone at (601) 969-4020 or email nick.adam@jacksondiocese.org to learn more.

At the end of this year, I’d like to thank all of you who have been consistent readers and encouragers of mine. This little article has been a labor of love for me and it’s just a way to help connect you with vocation ministry. The more we can all be on the same page about what is needed to increase vocations and bring forth men for the priesthood from our own diocese, the more faces we’ll see on that famous seminarian poster that comes out each fall. Merry Christmas, and please, continue to pray for the master of the harvest to bring forth laborers for the harvest!

                       – Father Nick Adam, vocation director

(Read about our current seminarians and their inspirational vocation stories at https://jacksondiocese.org/seminarians. Father Nick Adam can be contacted at nick.adam@jacksondiocese.org.)

“71% of newly ordained priests were personally invited to consider this call by their parish priest.” This is according to a 2022 study released by CARA, the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University (and cited by Brendan Hodge in his Nov. 20 article on pillarcatholic.com – “On vocations, asking is key.”

I know that it can be challenging to ask. It is easy to think that someone who seems like a good candidate for priesthood has already been ‘bugged about it’ by someone else. It can be tempting to think that our voice won’t make a difference, or we can fall into the trap of thinking that it won’t make a difference whether we say something or not. But 71% of newly ordained priests were personally invited to consider this call by their parish priest. I was personally invited to consider a call to the priesthood by my parish priest in Meridian.

I was working full-time and attending Mass regularly. I was getting more involved in the parish, and I was seriously considering whether the Lord was calling me to be a priest, but I was terrified to say it out loud!

When you are considering priesthood it can be very isolating. We don’t know what we don’t know, and so to have my pastor bring it up to me was very freeing. I was thinking privately there is no way I am good enough to be a priest! But once he affirmed that he saw traits within me that would make for a good priest, it was very helpful. I realize now that the Lord qualifies the called, he doesn’t call the qualified. No one, after all, is worthy in themselves to minister at the altar, but the Lord doesn’t demand perfection, he demands faithfulness and perseverance.

So, we need to help those who are called by calling them forth. And pastors of parishes are some of the most effective ‘callers’ in the world. When our spiritual fathers encourage us to do things that we might be fearful or doubtful about, we can receive new strength and encouragement to do what otherwise seems impossible.

Please encourage your pastors to be on the lookout for men in your parish who would make excellent priests. Don’t be shy about pointing out specific folks in the pews and telling your pastor to be on the lookout and to encourage them to think about it. Remember, also, that we need men who would make excellent husbands and fathers to think about priesthood and take that possibility seriously. Diocesan priesthood is not for the faint of heart, and it is not for those who pick it as a ‘back up plan.’ The call to priesthood or religious life should be a priority for all young people in the church, and pastors of parishes can play a big role in setting that tone for their parishioners.

So, please encourage your pastors to encourage the great young men in your parish to consider the priesthood.

                                                                                                               Father Nick Adam, vocation director

(Read about our current seminarians and their inspirational vocation stories at https://jacksondiocese.org/seminarians. Father Nick Adam can be contacted at nick.adam@jacksondiocese.org.)

If we expect young people to discover God’s will for them then we must teach them how to speak with Jesus in times of silent prayer. In order to prepare ourselves for regular conversation with the Lord where he can speak to us, we need to answer a few questions.

When? This is often the question we struggle to answer the most I think, or at least we struggle to answer it with consistency. The key is to pick a time and stick to it. The morning is typically the best time because the day hasn’t started yet, and we don’t have a thousand issues running through our heads. If you are like me and you are not a morning person, that doesn’t mean you can’t pray in the morning, it just means you might pray a little later than others do, and that’s ok! Just pick a time that’s realistic for you with your schedule and stick to it!

Where? Another question that we can struggle to answer or to have consistency with. It is vital to have a space that is set apart in order to spend time in prayer. This doesn’t have to be your local parish or adoration chapel, but that would be a great place to choose. The key is that it needs to be a quiet space and anything in the room needs to help you bring your mind to God (icons, crucifix, etc.) rather than staying in the things of the world (computer screen, music, etc.). It may be tempting to play ‘mood music,’ but I wouldn’t, even sacred music like chant. We need to learn that being in silence is ok, and though it feels that we are alone, we aren’t – the Lord is here to meet us.

How? Here’s my starter kit – your Bible, a journal and 20 minutes. Read a passage from Scripture slowly, then read it slowly one more time. What word, phrase, action of a character, etc. sticks out to you. (Example: I’m reading about the storm at sea and the fear of the apostles sicks out to me) – talk to Jesus about why that word, phrase, action, etc. is affecting you. Talk to Jesus for about five minutes, or until you’ve said all you want to say. Then allow the silence to come back into your heart and wait for the Lord to respond. Sometimes he responds with a feeling or a thought that bubbles up, sometimes you’ll feel nothing, but this is all about consistency. It is about allowing God the space to act in your life. After your time of silence, write in your journal what you spoke to Jesus about and what you think he said back to you.

Please share this article with a young person in your life and encourage them to enter into daily prayer and encourage them by your own example of daily prayer.

                                            – Father Nick Adam, vocation director

(Read about our current seminarians and their inspirational vocation stories at https://jacksondiocese.org/seminarians. Father Nick Adam can be contacted at nick.adam@jacksondiocese.org.)

In early November , I spent a few hours speaking to some of the senior theology classes at St. Joseph School in Madison. I spoke with the students much more about prayer than I have in the past. Many people want to do God’s will, but they don’t know how to discover God’s will.

We can only understand what our call from God is, in an affirmative way, if we come to the Lord in silent prayer and develop a relationship with him. Pope Benedict XVI said that ‘young people, if they know how to pray, can be trusted to know what to do with God’s call.’ What a powerful statement! But it is true! Once we understand how to enter into a living dialogue with the Lord, then he can speak to us and we can speak back to Him. One of the first steps of entering into deeper prayer is understanding who we are in Christ. In other words, who we are as baptized Christians and members of the church.

Through our baptism we are given an exalted position before the Lord. We are made sons and daughters of our heavenly Father. Like any good father, the Lord wants to help guide us along our way. He wants to see us reach our full potential, and he wants to support us as we strive to reach that potential. But many people struggle to experience a true, living relationship with God. This is why it is so important that we are rooted in a relationship with Jesus Christ. It is only in Christ that we are sons and daughters of the Father, and so it is in Christ that we can form a relationship with the Holy Trinity.

Our confirmation seals us in the grace of our baptism, and is another way that God generously pours forth grace into our hearts as the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit are made manifested in our acts of virtue. With the frequent reception of communion and regular visits to reconciliation, we are well on our way to deepening our relationship with the Lord.

But personal prayer is a must if we are going to discover God’s will for us. When we enter into prayer we have to enter into silence. We live in a world full of distractions, and so to step away from those distractions is our first step in prioritizing God above all things. The Scriptures are a powerful well-spring of prayer. When we read the Word of God, we begin to realize that we are not alone. Faithful people throughout the ages have struggled with their relationship with God, and with others, and this is related again and again in the Scriptures. In our next issue I will discuss how we pray with the Scriptures. Please share this article with a young person in your life and encourage them to develop a life of personal prayer.

– Father Nick Adam, vocation director

(Read about our current seminarians and their inspirational vocation stories at https://jacksondiocese.org/seminarians. Father Nick Adam can be contacted at nick.adam@jacksondiocese.org.)

We continue to ask ‘the master of the harvest to bring forth laborers for his harvest.’ Since 2020, we have put forth a vision for a Homegrown Harvest, where men from this diocese step forward to study for the priesthood and become pastors in our parishes and schools. So many incredible missionaries have served us throughout the years, but we continue to need more men from our diocese to serve.

In October 2020, we hosted the first ever Homegrown Harvest Festival and Fundraiser for seminary education. Over the past three years this event has grown and we raised over $150,000 last year alone. The 4th Annual Homegrown Harvest will be held on Oct. 21 at St. Paul parish in Flowood. I will be celebrating the vigil mass that evening sat St. Paul’s and the seminarians will be altar serving and serving as lectors and eucharistic ministers. The event will begin at 6:30 p.m., and there will be a fantastic meal, a silent auction, a raffle and much more. Most importantly, the seminarians will be present and will get to thank each participant and supporter for helping them to discern God’s will.

It is not easy to be a priest, and it is difficult to step out and do something that is very different than the mainstream. Each of our seven seminarians has an inspiring story about how the Lord, and the people of God, encouraged them to think about the priesthood and how they finally decided to take the step of going to the seminary. But the road is long, and these men need our prayers and support. Jesus tells his disciples: “the harvest is abundant but the laborers are few, so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” (Matthew 9:38)

It can be easy to forget to pray for vocations, and it is tempting to sometimes think that our prayers won’t make a difference, but Jesus says that we should ask the Lord for help! So please pray for vocations today and ask the Lord to help you keep an eye out for someone in your parish who you can give an encouraging word to. I probably would have stayed silent about my desire for the priesthood if someone had not encouraged me to think about being a priest – you never know how the Lord may work through you if you are courageous and speak up.

Please join us later this month and support our seminarians by buying tickets or sponsoring the event. But the greatest gift you can give the Department of Vocations is your prayers and your encouragement to young men in our parishes to think about priesthood! The best and brightest should think about priesthood just as they consider other great options in their life. Encourage the young men in your parishes to prioritize priesthood and consider the possibility that they may be called to the altar to serve.

                                            – Father Nick Adam, vocation director

Read about our current seminarians and their inspirational vocation stories at https://jacksondiocese.org/seminarians.

Tickets and sponsorships are still available for the Homegrown Harvest event! Visit https://bit.ly/HGHarvest2023 or email Father Nick Adam at nick.adam@jacksondiocese.org to support our seminarians.

New posters are coming soon! Each year I’m excited to publish a new seminarian poster with the happy faces of our current seminarians. I love to see how guys ‘move up the ranks.’ For example, in 2020 and 2021, Grayson Foley was in the last spot on the poster and now he’s fourth in line (almost on the top row!) as he continues to progress through the program. Will Foggo is now second on the list, and it seemed like yesterday that he was second to last! It’s also fun to see when guys get their ‘collar.’ Deacon Tristan Stovall spent three years on the poster collar-less, but now he’s been wearing his roman collar for years as he makes the final approach to priestly ordination.

  One of the biggest changes this year is the way that the ‘classes’ are listed on the poster. In years past, we designated the seminarians according to their academic standing. A seminarian listed as 2nd Philosophy meant that he was in his second year of philosophy studies. But the US Bishops recently approved a new Program for Priestly Formation, and instead of focusing on the academic standing of each seminarian, they are asking us to see their formation through the lens of ‘stages.’

The first stage that is required for seminarians now is the Propaedeutic Stage, or preparatory stage. During this time, the seminarian learns how to be a seminarian, and his class load is less than a typical undergraduate student. Once he clears this stage of formation, he moves onto the Discipleship Stage. During this time, the seminarian is expected to be growing in Christian virtue as a student of Jesus, the High Priest. He needs to show growth in charity, and of course continue to pass his classes as they start to ramp up to a normal undergraduate load. By the end of this stage, this man should be a public man of prayer and virtue, and someone who is showing real potential to be a pastor in the church.

The next step is the Configurative Stage, where the man receives Candidacy (he starts to wear the Roman collar), and he is now a public man of the church. He is being configured through continued study, prayer and practice into a man who is not only a disciple, but a shepherd. Once he has completed this stage, the seminarian is ready for diaconate ordination, or the Pastoral Synthesis Stage. During his time as a deacon, the seminarian uses all that he has learned in seminary formation and applies it to his life in the diocese and in a specific parish. Using the language of the new program Deacon Tristan, for example is in the Pastoral Synthesis Stage of his journey to priesthood, instead of his 4th Year of Theology.

It may seem tedious to change this language, but it is certainly helpful for me as I walk with our seminarians. I need to make sure I’m not just worried about whether they pass their classes, but I need to make sure I’m preparing them to go to the next stage of discernment. So far, I’ve heard good things from our men regarding these changes to their formation, and I believe the church is right to focus on formation, rather than simply completion of academic requirements.

God won’t move a ‘parked car.’ Father Brett Brannen of the Diocese of Savannah wrote a very popular book on priestly discernment called To Save a Thousand Souls. In the book, he encourages all young people to move toward their vocation in life. He writes that “God won’t move a parked car,” meaning that the Lord honors our freedom, and if we are not willing to start seriously discerning our vocation, then he won’t force us into a decision. The longer we wait, however, the more we deprive ourselves of the grace that God gives to those who have courageously chosen a vocation. It is important to remember that the church calls us to give ourselves fully to a vocation, a call to another, at some stage of our life. This call includes a lifelong commitment that we make solemnly before the Lord and His church. This call can be to marriage, or the priesthood/consecrated life.

It has become popular to delay making a choice on a vocation until we are a little more ‘mature,’ but it is important to remember that maturity does not magically happen just because we get older. I know some folks who are in their early 20s who are way more mature than I was at that age, and while they don’t have ‘life experience,’ they do have a real direction in their life. Faith Formation is more important than life-experience, and when young people are formed in a strong life of faith in their families and parishes from a young age, they are able to move toward life-long vocational commitments faster, and this is a good thing!

On the other hand, some people who delay making vocational commitments in the name of getting more life experience risk stunting their formation even more because they don’t progress in maturity, but only in age, and the extra time they give themselves is spent de-forming their consciences rather than preparing them for the lifelong sacrificial love that our vocation demands.

God won’t move ‘a parked car.’ He won’t force us to grow in our life with him. If we don’t have a solid life of prayer and participate in the sacraments, then we risk missing out on the vocation that the Lord has called us to. Please encourage the young people in your life to grow in maturity. Challenge them to live virtuously and help them to understand that God will help them when they ask for it. All young people should be praying to know their vocation – praying to know who they are called to give their life for. When we move toward the Lord and we ask Him to help us, we will be challenged to do things we never would have chosen ourselves, and yet we become fully alive because God gives us the grace to do things we never would have been capable of otherwise.

Father Nick Adam

For more info on vocations email: nick.adam@jacksondiocese.org.

Save the date:
Homegrown Harvest – Saturday, Oct. 21

If you want to bring together good men and women from Mississippi and encourage them to seek the will of God in their life, consider being a sponsor or buying tickets for this event. You can register by visiting bit.ly/HGHarvest2023. Remember Burse Club members receive a free ticket!

It is Back-to-School time for our seminarians! We have seven men studying for the diocese right now. This year is the first year of a new requirement for men studying to be priests.

The Bishops of the United States have put together a propaedeutic year – which is kind of like a year of basic training for new seminarians. The men in this propaedeutic program will focus less on the academic requirements of priestly formation and spend the year focusing on growing in the good habits that are necessary to be a good seminarian, and one day, a good priest. Focuses include building a stable life of prayer, building good friendships, working on some personal challenges based on one’s background and staying in good physical shape.

I don’t know about you, but I would welcome a year to focus on building up great habits and breaking down bad ones, so I pray that this is a blessed year for these men.

Our two new seminarians are taking part in the propaedeutic year. Wilson Locke (St. Paul Vicksburg) is a Starkville native who has spent the last three years as the youth director at St. Paul’s in Vicksburg. He is a convert to Catholicism and came into the church while at St. Joseph in Starkville. He is entering the propaedeutic program at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans. Francisco Maldonado (Immaculate Heart of Mary, Greenwood) is a native of Houston, Texas, who just finished with his freshman year at Mississippi Valley State. After his year at Valley, Francisco decided to apply to the seminary and desires to discern whether he is called to our mission diocese.

We have five returning seminarians this coming year. Deacon Tristan Stovall (Holy Cross Philadelphia) is set to be ordained a priest on May 18, 2024, and he is currently at St. Mary in Natchez on his extended deacon assignment. John Le (St. Francis Brookhaven) just completed his hospital ministry summer and is returning to Sacred Heart Seminary in Hales Corners, Wisconsin. John has extensive formation experience as a Jesuit, so we are working on a schedule with him regarding how much ‘more school’ he’ll need. Will Foggo (St. Paul Flowood) is about ‘halfway done,’ as he enters his fourth year of formation in the seminary. EJ Martin and Grayson Foley (St. Richard Jackson) are both five years away from ordination. (God willing of course!)

Ryan Stoer (St. Richard Jackson) has decided to transfer to the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. I’ve worked closely with Ryan on this decision, and while I am certainly sad to see him go, Santa Fe is getting a high-quality seminarian and future priest. One of the toughest parts of this job is being ‘detached,’ and open to the Lord’s will and not just our own needs. I ask that we all pray for Ryan and wish him all the best and that God’s will be done!

We certainly wish all of our seminarians the very best this school year. Please keep them all in prayer!

                                     – Father Nick Adam, vocation director

For more info on vocations email: nick.adam@jacksondiocese.org.
Save the date: Homegrown Harvest – Saturday, Oct. 21