Call to Action: Vocation Crisis in the Church

Catholic adults, ready to get married and start families, are not finding their spouses.

Catholic marriage vision board

Without families there are no children. Without children, the population declines - in the world, and in the Church. Across the country, Dioceses are radically consolidating their churches. The numbers just aren’t what they used to be. Catholic schools are closing. There aren’t enough men becoming priests to pastor churches like before.

All of this points too a potential cause: not enough Catholic families. Yet a large number of practicing Catholic adults would at this very moment profess readiness for marriage and children. Where is this crisis coming from?

A lot of well-intentioned prayer power has been directed towards increasing vocations to the priesthood and religious life in recent years. If that is the way the Church can best respond to a crisis in vocations, perhaps their energies need to be focused at least as much on the creation of Catholic families to sustain themselves. I.e., the thousands of adults across the country, actively searching and praying for their desired spouses: that these adults have the grace of strong and solid spiritual and psychological readiness and that all barriers be removed from connecting with their future spouses and beginning Catholic married life together.

Additionally, what resources could be offered by parishes and Dioceses to facilitate this readiness and connection? Some have taken up actively creating opportunity for young people to meet, with Catholics speed dating, Catholic mixers, dances, picnics, and more. These are excellent efforts, and if they were replicated across all the dioceses, would continue to produce fruitful connections.

What about formation and prayer power? What about weekly Holy Hours for those discerning marriage? Perhaps offering more concerted psychologically-informed formation for young people to identify any internal barriers or areas for growth. Perhaps a campaign from the Diocese? Perhaps relics of St. Louis and St. Zelie traveling around to promote healthy marriages?

Perhaps a nationwide novena to patron Saints of matchmaking (or Undoer of Knots with this intention)?

Examining the hearts of these multitudes of adults longing for their spouses reveals that a crisis of vocation is indeed happening and has been happening for many years now. Since the heart of the Church is the family, and without families, the church cannot grow, nor can it produce vocations to the priesthood or religious life, I believe this crisis should take top priority. Let us get creative and inspired in how to respond to it!