Good Shepherd Sunday 2017
Pastoral Letter on Vocations to the Priesthood and Religious Life
 
Dear brothers and sisters,
 
Today is Good Shepherd Sunday and is our Church’s World Day of Prayer for Vocations to the Priesthood and Consecrated life.
 
The priests in our diocese call Easter time the Confirmation Season because over a thousand children from our parish communities come to our Cathedral to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation and the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit.
 
I love visiting our Primary Schools at this time and meeting our teachers and young ones and, like Pope Francis does, I encourage them to ask me whatever question they like.  As you can imagine they ask anything and I am often caught unawares and we have a great laugh.  One question is what is the best bit of being a Bishop?  Is it having the chance to meet the Pope or other famous people?
 
My answer is that, for me, the best bit of being a bishop, the best bit of being a priest and the best bit of being a member of the Church is getting the chance to sit quietly and restfully before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.  No matter what is going on in my life or how busy I am I try to spend half an hour every day with Jesus there.  It’s the best bit of being a bishop and of my daily journey of faith.
 
Over the years I have prayed in hundreds of churches all over the world and found peace spending time before the Blessed Sacrament.  Whether I got to Jesus worried about a sick priest or our diocesan finances or our young people I always find strength and comfort in His Presence in the Tabernacle.
 
In the Gospel Jesus calls Himself a Shepherd but he also speaks about gatekeepers.  He says the gatekeeper opens the gate for the Shepherd, lets Him go in and out freely and supports Him in His ministry and mission. The gatekeeper makes sure the gates are open and the obstacles are removed from His path.
 
I think our priests are like Jesus’ gatekeepers.  When they celebrate the Sacraments or pray for us or give good witness in their lives they prepare the way for Jesus, our Shepherd, to come into our world and our lives.  They do not just open the gates of our church buildings but also the gates of our hearts.
 
Please join with me in praying every day before the gates of our Tabernacles that more young men will join in this precious task and that we will be blessed with good, generous and gifted ‘gatekeepers’ for generations ahead. Pray also for our young women to give themselves to Jesus as sisters in the religious life because we need good sisters them just as much as priests and already a few are coming to talk to me about the religious life. I am delighted at this.
 
I should add that the second best bit of being a bishop is ordaining young men to be priests and seeing young women consecrated as religious sisters and watching all of them serve you with love, generosity and compassion.  
Please be sure of my prayers and blessings,
 
+ John