“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”
Matthew 9:38-39

A recurring emphasis of Archbishop Schnurr has been creating a culture within the
Archdiocese of Cincinnati which fosters vocations to the priesthood, diaconate, and
consecrated religious life. He often notes that an important factor in building such a culture is prayer and shares a story of Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United States in 2008. A bishop asked the Holy Father, “What can we do to increase vocations?” The pope replied, “Don’t overlook the obvious. Beg the harvest master.”

In other words, pray that the Lord of the harvest will send workers.  We are in the midst of a vocation crisis and have been for some time. The problem is real! We need only look at our own pastoral region where one priest is asked to pastor three parishes. And there are regions where one priest pastors more than three parishes. We need more priests!
 
In 2011, Archbishop Schnurr introduced a Vocations Prayer and asked that it be recited in every parish at every weekend Mass. We have been doing so at all three parishes in our Pastoral Region for some time now, and our prayers have been working. Fr. McCullough is one of seven from his 2016 ordination class and nine new priests were ordained last Spring. The number of seminarians has steadily grown. In fact, our seminary recently expanded with the dedication of a new residence hall, the first new construction there in over 50 years.

But we must continue to pray for vocations.As a Pastoral Region, we will continue the prayer for vocations at Mass, and we ask all of the faithful to include a prayer for
vocations in your personal prayer. We are also introducing a monthly Holy Hour of Eucharistic Adoration for Vocations on the first Thursday of each month from 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm in the church at Our Lady of the Rosary. This is a time for us to come together as community in front of Jesus truly present in the Eucharist to ask Him to bless His Church with many holy vocations. There is time for silent prayer and communal prayer as we pray a Rosary for Vocations for an increase of vocations to the priesthood, diaconate, and consecrated religious life within our Archdiocese. Our Holy Hour concludes with benediction.
 
Please join us and invite someone to join you. If you are part of a small church community or prayer group, invite your community or group to join you. This is also an excellent opportunity for families to gather in prayer. Yes, we are all busy and have many commitments, but this "commitment" is only one hour per month.
 
"Could you not keep watch with me  for one hour?"
Matthew 26:40.