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July 2015
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Roman Catholic Diocese
of Altoona-Johnstown
Priestly Vocations E-Newsletter
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God, we pray for more men to courageously answer the call to serve you in our Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown as a priest. We ask that you bless our seminarians. May they persevere and serve in the Diocese as good and faithful priests, but may they do so in accord with your holy will, Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
Saint John Vianney,
Patron of all Priests,
Pray for us.
Servant of God,
Demetrius Gallitzin,
Pray for us. |
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Diocesan Office of Vocations
Father Matthew Reese
357 St. Mary Street
P.O. Box 99
Loretto, PA 15940
(814) 472-5441
vocations@dioceseaj.org
Prayers for Vocations
Every Thursday
Beginning August 6
Prince Gallitzin Chapel House, Loretto
6:00 p.m. - Mass 6:30 p.m. - Adoration and Vocations Rosary 7:30 p.m. - Benediction
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 A Message from
Father Matthew Reese
Welcome to this inaugural edition of the vocations e-newsletter. It is my hope that this e-newsletter will help spread awareness of the need for supporting and praying for our seminarians and those discerning a possible vocation to the Priesthood. I thank you for your continued prayers in helping our young men follow their calling in life.
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Day of Discernment/Vocations Mass
July 19, 2015
 The Office of Vocations will sponsor a Day of Discernment for some prospective seminarians on July 19 at the Basilica of Saint Michael the Archangel in Loretto. It begins at 3:00 p.m. and concludes with a Vocations Mass at the outdoor Shrine of Our Lady of the Alleghenies beginning at 7:00 p.m. Seminarians of the Diocese will be present for this occasion, and Bishop Mark will be the main celebrant. Priests of the Diocese are invited to con-celebrate, and all are welcome to join in praying for more priestly vocations within our Diocese.
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 Admission to Candidacy
On Saturday, July 25, 2015, Mr. Peter Crowe (left) will be admitted to Candidacy for the Sacrament of Holy Orders at his home parish of Our Lady of Victory in State College at a Mass beginning at 4pm.
The following week on Sunday, August 2, 2015, Mr. Jonathan Dickson (below) will be admitted to Candidacy at his home parish of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus in Altoona at a Mass beginning at 10:30am.
 Admission to Candidacy is the third formal step a seminarian takes in his preparation for Ordination as a Priest. Both Peter and Jonathan have taken the earlier steps of being formally installed as Lector and Acolyte at their respective seminaries. After Candidacy, the next step Peter and Jonathan will look forward to is ordination as a Transitional Deacon, which for our Diocese will take place in the summer between 3rd year and 4th year of Theology studies. Both Peter and Jonathan will be entering their third year of Theology studies this upcoming academic year of 2015-2016. Please continue to pray for our seminarians preparing for the Priesthood in our Diocese.
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I hope you have a good summer, and you will continue to join me in praying for an increase in Priestly vocations here in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown.
Sincerely,
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Father Matthew Reese
Diocesan Director of Vocations |
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A Message to Ponder:
"To master inclinations" is discipline. The phrase "a little at a time" indicates discipline, which requires a continued, long, and difficult effort. Even the angels that Jacob saw in a dream were not flying, but climbing one step at a time; you can just imagine us, poor men without wings.
The "great" discipline requires a suitable atmosphere; and, in the first place, meditation. At Milan station I once saw a porter, who, with his head resting on a sack of coal propped against a pillar, was sound asleep...Trains left whistling and arrived with clanking wheels the loudspeakers continually boomed out announcements; people came and went in confusion and noise, but he - sleeping on - seemed to be saying: "do what you like, but I need to be quiet." We priests should do something similar: around us there is continual movement and talking, of persons, newspapers, radio and television. With priestly moderation and discipline we must say: "beyond certain limits, for me, who am a priest of the Lord, you do not exist. I must take a little silence for my soul. I detach myself from you to be united with my God."
And today it is the desire of many good faithful to feel their priests habitually united with God. They reason like the lawyer of Lyons on his return from a visit to the Cure d'Ars. "What did you see at Ars?" he was asked. Answer: "I saw God in a man." Saint Gregory the Great reasons in a similar way. He hopes that the pastor of souls will dialogue with God without forgetting men, and dialogue with men without forgetting God.
 --Pope John Paul I, Address to a Meeting
of the Roman Clergy, September 7, 1978
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