Fr. Craig Carolan as a twelve-year-old altar boy in 1971

20 Seminarians by 2030: Beg! Form! Call!

Please pray for an increase in vocations to the priesthood
in the Diocese of Saginaw!
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​Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided.  Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful.  O Mother of the Word Incarnate, ​despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me.  Amen.

How can you Support priesthood vocations?
One powerful way to support vocations is through your prayer. Please remember the seminarians in our diocese regularly in your prayers. Additional ways to support seminarians are listed below:

1. Attend Bishop's Charity Golf Classic and/or the Bishop's Dinner and Silent Auction for Seminarian Education. 
2. Give now to the Catholic Community Foundation of Mid-Michigan. The fund provides support for the financial and educational needs of men discerning a vocation to the priesthood.​

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Is God Calling You to Become a Priest? 20 by 2030 - Beg! Form! Call!
Vocation Ministry Website
Called By Name
Thank you so much for nominating a person whom you think Jesus might be calling to be a priest or religious sister or brother. Those you nominate will receive a letter from our bishop, congratulating them on living the Christian life in an exemplary way and gently inviting them to begin formally discerning their calling, as well as much helpful information and resources. 
Please click here to nominate - There are no requirements or commitments on their part – only a loving invitation from the Lord. ​

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"Behind every priest is a demon fighting for his downfall. If we have a tongue to criticize them, we need to have double to pray for them. "   ~ Saint Teresa of Avila
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Oh Jesus I pray for your priests,
for your faithful and fiery priests,
For your unfaithful and weak priests,
For your priests working at home and
abroad in remote mission camps,
for you priests in temptation,
for your lonely and abandoned priests,
for your young priests, for your sick priests,
for your dead priests,
for you retired priests.
For the souls of your priests in Purgatory.
For the Pope, the bishops and all the clergy.
But most of all I pray for my dearest priests.
The priest who baptized me,
Priests who listened to my confessions,
The priest who first gave me your
body and your blood,
Priests who taught and instructed me in the faith,
Priests whose services I attended and
whose sermons touched my soul,
Priests that visited me
when I was down and lifeless.
Priests that gave the ultimate obedience
to my loved ones in death.
Priests who came to me in the hospital,
jail, foreign countries, etc.
And for all the priests I owe in any way.
Oh Jesus, hold them close to Your Heart and bless them abundantly through time and eternity".

Catechism on the Priesthood
by St. John Vianney (1786-1859)
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My children, we have come to the Sacrament of Orders. It is a Sacrament which seems to relate to no one among you, and which yet relates to everyone. This Sacrament raises man up to God. What is a priest! A man who holds the place of God -- a man who is invested with all the powers of God. "Go, " said Our Lord to the priest; "as My Father sent Me, I send you. All power has been given Me in Heaven and on earth. Go then, teach all nations. . . . He who listens to you, listens to Me; he who despises you despises Me. "
When the priest remits sins, he does not say, "God pardons you"; he says, "I absolve you. " At the Consecration, he does not say, "This is the Body of Our Lord;" he says, "This is My Body."
Saint Bernard tells us that everything has come to us through Mary; and we may also say that everything has come to us through the priest; yes, all happiness, all graces, all heavenly gifts. If we had not the Sacrament of Orders, we should not have Our Lord. Who placed Him there, in that tabernacle? It was the priest. Who was it that received your soul, on its entrance into life? The priest. Who nourishes it, to give it strength to make its pilgrimage? The priest. Who will prepare it to appear before God, by washing that soul, for the last time, in the blood of Jesus Christ? The priest -- always the priest. And if that soul comes to the point of death, who will raise it up, who will restore it to calmness and peace? Again the priest. You cannot recall one single blessing from God without finding, side by side with this recollection, the image of the priest.
Go to confession to the Blessed Virgin, or to an angel; will they absolve you? No. Will they give you the Body and Blood of Our Lord? No. The Holy Virgin cannot make her Divine Son descend into the Host. You might have two hundred angels there, but they could not absolve you. A priest, however simple he may be, can do it; he can say to you, "Go in peace; I pardon you. " Oh, how great is a priest! The priest will not understand the greatness of his office till he is in Heaven. If he understood it on earth, he would die, not of fear, but of love. The other benefits of God would be of no avail to us without the priest. What would be the use of a house full of gold, if you had nobody to open you the door! The priest has the key of the heavenly treasures; it is he who opens the door; he is the steward of the good God, the distributor of His wealth. Without the priest, the Death and Passion of Our Lord would be of no avail. Look at the heathens: what has it availed them that Our Lord has died? Alas! they can have no share in the blessings of Redemption, while they have no priests to apply His Blood to their souls!   The priest is not a priest for himself; he does not give himself absolution; he does not administer the Sacraments to himself. He is not for himself, he is for you. After God, the priest is everything. Leave a parish twenty years without priests; they will worship beasts. If the missionary Father and I were to go away, you would say, "What can we do in this church? there is no Mass; Our Lord is no longer there: we may as well pray at home. " When people wish to destroy religion, they begin by attacking the priest, because where there is no longer any priest there is no sacrifice, and where there is no longer any sacrifice there is no religion.  When the bell calls you to church, if you were asked, "Where are you going?" you might answer, "I am going to feed my soul. " If someone were to ask you, pointing to the tabernacle, "What is that golden door?" "That is our storehouse, where the true Food of our souls is kept. " "Who has the key? Who lays in the provisions? Who makes ready the feast, and who serves the table?" "The priest. " "And what is the Food?" "The precious Body and Blood of Our Lord. " O God! O God! how Thou hast loved us! See the power of the priest; out of a piece of bread the word of a priest makes a God. It is more than creating the world. . . . Someone said, "Does St. Philomena, then, obey the Cure of Ars?" Indeed, she may well obey him, since God obeys him.  If I were to meet a priest and an angel, I should salute the priest before I saluted the angel. The latter is the friend of God; but the priest holds His place. St. Teresa kissed the ground where a priest had passed. When you see a priest, you should say, "There is he who made me a child of God, and opened Heaven to me by holy Baptism; he who purified me after I had sinned; who gives nourishment to my soul. " At the sight of a church tower, you may say, "What is there in that place?" "The Body of Our Lord. " "Why is He there?" "Because a priest has been there, and has said holy Mass. "  What joy did the Apostles feel after the Resurrection of Our Lord, at seeing the Master whom they had loved so much! The priest must feel the same joy, at seeing Our Lord whom he holds in his hands. Great value is attached to objects which have been laid in the drinking cup of the Blessed Virgin and of the Child Jesus, at Loretto. But the fingers of the priest, that have touched the adorable Flesh of Jesus Christ, that have been plunged into the chalice which contained His Blood, into the pyx where His Body has lain, are they not still more precious? The priesthood is the love of the Heart of Jesus. When you see the priest, think of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
St. John Vianney, pray for us!  and pray for all priests!