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Support Vocations

Special Collection
January 19-20, 2013

Educating seminarians is an investment in the future of the Catholic Church in New Hampshire, but this goal cannot be fulfilled without the help of the faithful.

• The cost to educate a seminarian is more than $100 for every day he is in formation. This expense includes tuition, room and board at a seminary.
• 100% of every dollar collected for the Seminarian Education Fund goes toward supporting the education of men studying for the priesthood.
• This annual collection is the primary source of funding for seminarian formation.

A gift of $50 or more from every adult or family attending Mass would help educate our seminarians for another year. Mail your gift to the Office of Vocations, PO Box 310, Manchester, NH 03105. Each parish will be notified of gifts made by its parishioners. Please consider including the Seminarian Education Fund in your will or estate planning. Those interested in planned giving should contact Fr. Jason Jalbert at (603) 669-3100 or jjalbert@rcbm.org. 

For those interested in planned giving please contact Patrick McGee at (603) 669-3100 or pmcgee@rcbm.org.

CLICK HERE to download the Seminarian Education Fund Brochure.

Donate online: 

“In such times as these, when so little seems certain, those entering the priesthood and religious life area more profound witness than ever. The young men in our diocese who are studying in the seminary are leaders among their peers. They make me very proud. Join me in praying daily for more men and women like them.” ~ Bishop Peter A. Libasci

Did you know?

Newly-ordained priests were often influenced by their families, and involved in church activities.

In 2011 the average age of the 480 men ordained to the priesthood is trending younger with the average age at 34. These figures stand out in The Class of 2011: Survey of Ordinands to the Priesthood which can be found at www.foryourvocation.com.

Most of those ordained say they were encouraged to enter seminary by a priest, and about half say their friends or parents encouraged them to consider the priesthood. The role of the family, parish priest, friends, and youth ministry are vital to vocations. Along with their education and work experience, 71 percent of the Class of 2011 report they served as an altar server. This seems to indicate that the involvement of youth in the Church’s activities, especially the liturgy, has a positive impact for their choice of a vocation. What is clear is that new priests were not swayed by television or a billboard, but by experiences in the Church.

What More You Can Do to Help

• Pray for vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life daily.
• Ask a priest about how he discovered his call.
• For parents, talk to your children about God’s call.
• Write letters to our seminarians to encourage them as they discern.
• Ask your pastor what you can do in the parish to foster vocations.
• Get a free book to help a young man discern his vocation at gopriest.com
• Visit www.foryourvocation.com for more ideas.

Seminarians

Please pray for our seminarians by name and for an increase in vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life. To contact the seminarians, please use their respective seminary address:

• St. John's Seminary, 127 Lake Street, Brighton, MA 02135
• St. Mary's Seminary, 5400 Roland Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21210
• Our Lady of Providence Seminary, 485 Mount Pleasant Avenue Providence, RI 02908

Seminarian Michael Coughlin

It was the summer of 2010. Michael Coughlin had just finished his first year of law school and was clerking at a family court in New Hampshire when suddenly it struck him. It felt like “God was tugging at my heart” he says.

Each day that summer, Michael had been working with families experiencing real hurt. “Many of them had deep wounds in their lives,” he recalls. He knew that, as a lawyer, he would be able to do some good, helping people through the labyrinths of the legal system. But he wouldn’t be able to do as much to console their spirits. Over the course of that hot summer a persistent thought began to grow in his mind. Maybe God was calling him to be a priest.

Like most kids growing up, Michael had casually considered a whole range of careers. Maybe he would be a doctor, maybe a politician or a lawyer. Starting when he was a teenager, another possibility kept cropping up: what about being a priest? He never spoke publicly about the idea until that summer when he was 23 years old. “My family has always been very supportive of me,”

says Michael. “I knew my parents wanted me to do what God was calling me to do. As that summer wore on, I realized I had started down the path of law school too quickly. I knew that I didn’t want to put off discerning my vocation any longer. So I requested a leave of absence from law school.”

Michael’s first active step toward the priesthood was talking with his pastor, Msgr. John Quinn at St. Elizabeth Seton Parish in Bedford. Just putting into words what he was feeling, and hearing Msgr. Quinn’s support, had a profound effect on him. “It was like I was in a dark room, but I had a flashlight and felt for the next step.” A year later, Michael applied and was accepted to St. John’s Seminary in Boston. He was on his way.

In college Michael had been a double major in theology and philosophy, so he thought he would be prepared for life in the seminary. “All the prep work, the books you read, the people you talk to, that’s all helpful to get you in the door,” says Michael. “But there is no substitute for living the life day-to-day: prayer, classes, and being around 90 other guys with the same intense desire to understand God’s will for their lives.”

Thinking back on his decision to pursue the seminary, Michael says, “The hardest thing was that first step, just meeting with my pastor. After that, it all happened like dominos. But you need to make the first step on your own.

Like in prayer, discerning your calling is a conversation, and it is an ongoing conversation. But to get it started you have to say something.”

Prayer for Vocations 

Gracious and loving God, help the men and women of our parish to hear the call to serve in the Diocese of Manchester. Our needs are great and our people thirst for your presence. Open the hearts of man, raise up faithful servants of the Gospel, dedicated, holy priests, sisters, and brothers, who will spend themselves for your people and their needs.

Bless those who are currently living their priestly or religious vocation with courage and perseverance. Grant that many will be inspired by their example and faith. We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

He said to them, “Come and See.”
They came and saw where he was staying.
(John 1:39)