Bringing Your Intentions to Lourdes
Volume XXIII, Number 3 – April 25, 2019
Future Priests are Depending On Your Actions Today
Dear CatholiCity Citizen,
I hope you had the best Easter ever! (I did!)
Please, stay close with me today. Please, read my fumbling words with the "eyes of your heart," as Saint Paul wrote.
On my shoulders I feel the weight of numerous future priests finding or not finding their vocations, so I am asking you to share this burden with me.
Let us begin with the excellent fact that our Mens Vocations Pilgrimage to bring your intentions to the holiest places in France is finally open for reservations!
I pray you will conclude that this pilgrimage is the most inspired adventure conceived by any apostolate during these recent troubled times in terms of the potential impact on the Catholic Church for generations to come.
And it all depends on you--and not on your money, either. Rather, it depends on your actual help in finding the men who will join us to discern vocations in France.
If you help us find the men, the First Annual CatholiCity Vocations Pilgrimage will be a success.
And if it is a success, we shall repeat it next year and the years after for decades to come and help Jesus bring dozens and then hundreds of priests into the Church.
I have thrown my self into planning this for seven months at the behest of my friend, Father John O'Brien (it was his idea, and the resulting spiritual warfare has been intense--the evil one hates anything that helps men become priests).
The plan includes providing you with the tools you need to help young adult men find their way to France with us in June.
One of those tools is a podcast featuring Father John and my amazing son, Xavier, a third year seminarian. John and my son explain the spiritual mission of the pilgrimage itself in detail and the surprisingly diverse initial stages of discerning a call to religious life in general.
Please take special note: the young men in your extended families and parishes and in your digital social networks with whom you share this CatholiCity Message or Fr. John's Podcast...
...are not required to have any certainty they have a vocation; they do not have to be practicing their faith right now; and they do not have to even be Catholics!
Who Becomes Priest Nowadays?While the largest percentage of men who become priests were raised in good Catholic families, given our exceptionally screwed up culture, a growing and significant number of today's faithful holy priests were formerly boys and teenagers who had ignored their vocations for years, or stopped going to church for a time, or were not raised in the Catholic faith, or were ignorant of their vocations until someone gave them an opportunity.
In fact, you would be shocked at how many priests did not grow up Catholic. Or how many had secular jobs in "the world" for years which were not satisfying that mysterious supernatural "itch" in their souls.
Father John himself entered the Jesuits at age thirty as a "late vocation."
By the way, he speaks perfect French and is the director of vocations for the revived Jesuits of Canada. He designed every aspect of this pilgrimage--every Mass, city, saint, the ebb and flows of the days, the spiritual themes, attendance at an actual ordination, the pivotal role of the CatholiCity lay support group, and even the long stretches of free time for prayer, friendship, and relaxation to help a man hear the interior call of Christ.
As I mentioned, if you help us find these men, we will repeat this every year during our pilgrimages to bring your intentions to the holiest places on earth -- and eventually hundreds of men will answer their callings.
So Father John and I are depending on your help to reach the men Jesus himself already holds lovingly in mind to join us to discern their vocations. Our Lord knows who they are--they are your sons, nephews, grandsons, and members of your real-world and online social networks.
But they will not join us if you fail to do your part to introduce them to this pilgrimage. The "plan" Father John and I have worked so hard on really does depend on you.
Consider how many people attend the Masses of just one young priest who goes on to serve the Church for fifty or sixty years! Or the thousands of Confessions where he dispenses God's mercy. Or the families he counsels; the Last Rites he administers; the sacrifices he endures for all of us.
Should You Join us in France?I am not worried about God sending us CatholiCity Citizens to represent you and support these men personally in France. The Holy Spirit is already beginning to start a fire in the hearts of those chosen few of you blessed with the means to make this journey. Do you feel it?
To join us in person, make your reservation using the Button Link below. Of course, pray about this, but please do not delay -- the positions for married couples and single lay men and women not discerning is limited, and we expect them to fill up very, very quickly!
Bringing Your Petitions to LourdesThe power of our CatholiCity pilgrimages over the past four years is based on the fact that every one of you reading this can participate, especially if your life circumstances prevent you from being a part of the small contingent of CatholiCity Citizens who will join us in person.
We will bring your petitions to these and other holy sites:
- Lourdes (Immaculate Conception apparitions to St. Bernadette)
- Rue de Bac (Mary gave the Miraclous Medal to St. Catherine in Paris)
- Paray le Monial (Jesus gave St. Margaret Mary the Sacred Heart devotion--on the Feast of the Sacred Heart)
- Lyon (site of early martyrs and where we are invited to attend the ordination of parish priests of the Lyon Diocese!)
- The ancient church of St. Denis on Montemartre, where Saints Ignatius and Francis Xavier made their perpetual vows)
- Ars (of St. John Vianney, patron of parish priests)
- For the full intinerary click here.
As I did in the Holy Land and Rome last year, I will permanently hide encrypted flash drives containing the intentions you submit at every holy site while thousands of your fellow CatholiCity Citizens around the world pray the Rosary, fast, and offer Communion for you and your loved ones. Father John will offer a Mass every day for your intentions.
Countless prayers have been answered and even miraculous healings have resulted over the years.
You can make an optional offering to help offset Father John's expenses here using this button:
If you feel called to join me, Father John, and the men discerning vocations on this life-changing adventure — or to sponsor your son, nephew, or grandson considering a vocation, you can find all the details and the bare-bones cost here:
Paying for the TripUnlike virtually all pilgrimages typically sponsored by other worthy Catholic organizations, we are not taking a "cut" or using this to raise funds. (We never have and never will.)
I've known Dag Syverson, the founder of Canterbury Pilgrimages (which is taking care of the logistics) for almost 35 years, and he is offering his company's services as part of the mission to help bring priests into the Church.
The price involved is only for covering airfare, lodging, some meals, and limited transportation. In fact, there are no "tour guide" fees, either. It is merely Father John and me leading a old-school spiritual retreat, and we're paying our way like everyone else!
Even so, we realize that the price might seem daunting if you are considering sponsoring a son, grandson, nephew, or family friend.
Ask for Financial Help!Every situation is unique, yet you can consider asking your local Knights of Columbus chapter, extended family, your pastor, and even your diocesan vocation office to all chip in for part or most of the cost. (And don't forget the many online fund-raising campaign websites such as GoFundMe.) Even Catholics you don't know love to support vocations generously!
Don't Forget the BrochureRemember to print out this PDF brochure to use when approaching your pastor, diocesan vocations office, the Knights of Columbus, your relatives, and other Catholic groups for financial support.
Everyone reading this Message can distribute the brochure widely at your local parishes.
If the Lord is calling someone you know, He will help you, and him, find a way to cover the costs.
You Must Act NowI have shared my heart with you. Now I warmly invite you to act. Let God inspire you to be bold in your recruitment efforts!
I strongly encourage parents, extended family, and grandparents to text, post, share, and email links of the podcast below immediately to every young adult man in your life and your social digital networks.
Jesus has already begun to tug on their souls--and has been waiting for them to respond since they were formed in their mother's womb.
Jesus is relying on you to be His voice. Take action, my friend. Introduce Father John and my son to potential future priests here:
Finally, Father John is the Director of Vocations for the Jesuits of Canada, is an Ignatian retreat master with a special calling to help form younger people in the faith and has been the spiritual director of two previous CatholiCity pilgrimages. He also just happens to be the editor of my novels!
Sick and vomiting with flu symptoms during our tortuous trip back from the Holy Land and Rome last October, it was his idea to create a vocations pilgrimage to France.
QUOTES"Anything worth doing is worth doing badly." G.K. Chesterton
"The priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus. When you see a priest, think of our Lord Jesus Christ." Saint John Vianney
"God is not a bureaucrat." (me)
"The harvest is great and the workers are few." Jesus
More quotes on the priesthood.
Whether you are new to CatholiCity or a longtime reader, I offer my 2015 through 2018 pilgrimage diaries below, which convey the supernatural interventions which take place during our annual pilgrimages! Thank you.
Once again, you can start sending us your petitions (anonymously) here:
Please join me and tens of thousands of your fellow CatholiCity Citizens in praying, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit...
Dear Jesus, thank you for our Baptisms joining us to Your Body and giving us the ability to believe in your Holy Divine Truths. Thank you for the thousands of Masses where we have enjoyed the trembling honor of taking your body, blood, soul and divinity into our own bodies. Thank you for our Confirmations and the warmly flowing gift of Your Holy Spirit. Thank you for the Holy Sacrament of Marriage and for being our ultimate groom. Thank you for the Last Rites and the Sacrament of the Sick that I and my loved ones have received or will receive at the hour of our deaths.
And thank you for the Sacrament of Holy Orders, without which none of the above gifts, all of which are priceless beyond measure, that brings into our fallen world more redeeming Christs, more beautiful variegated multiplications of You, and thus permeate Your Divine Life into every moment and aspect of our lives through the sacraments, and without which we simply could not exist in friendship with Your Father in time through eternity.
Therefore, with Bud and Father John, I confidently ask you and your Holy Mother to send the men you are calling to the priesthood to CatholiCity for this first crucial vocations pilgrimage.
As your mother instructed, I promise to do "whatever you ask" of me to find these men for Your One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, if you but only give me the grace to overcome my hesitation, fear, complacency, lack of sufficient gratitude for all the priests I have taken for granted -- and even if I lack the gifts or talents I pridefully think are necessary. Remind me that You often purposely choose the weak, the poor, the broken-hearted and the "lowly" to "do great things." Help me, Jesus, help me find these men You seek.
Saint Ignatius, Saint John Vianney, Saint Catherine Laboure, Saint Bernadette, Saint Margaret Mary, Saint Denis, Saint Therese, Saint Bernard, Saint Joan of Arc, Saint Irenaeus, Martyrs of Lyon, Saint Francis Xavier, and all the holy saints and people of France in heaven, along with all their holy angels, and all my relatives and their angels in heaven, pray for me to do Your will and your will only, alway, and with love. Amen.
Thank you for praying with me.
Surprise Ending for the Ladies.Lest you think Father John and I are only focused on men with religious vocations, we in the final stages of creating a powerful (and much more affordable) retreat later this summer for young adult American and Canadian women to discern their vocations as well. I'll have more details in my next Message.
As I always say, you guys are the best! I trust you will come through for Our Lady and her Son to find the men the Father is calling.
Begin action...now.
With Immaculate Mary,
Bud Macfarlane
Founder
P.S. Please share this Message through email and social media.
Four Amazing CatholiCity Pilgrimages!
2015 Fatima, Portugal (Bud's Diary)
2016 Rome, Italy (Bud's Diary)
2017 St. Joseph Oratory, Canada (Bud's Diary)
2018 The Holy Land, Israel (Bud's Diary)
