Fr. Joe Horn | Special to The Michigan Catholic

After I was invited to be the director of priestly vocations for the Archdiocese of Detroit, I realized I had a tough act to follow. Fr. Tim Birney, who is a good priest, had a great love for the work of promoting vocations. He made the original call of those first disciples real for so many young men now studying for Detroit.

I wondered if I would be a good fit for this position, having been a pastor for the last 14 years in a far-away corner of the archdiocese. Whenever I have doubts or if I need to find my way, I bring it to the Lord, and He never fails to give me wisdom. From my prayer, I heard three things regarding my work with vocations: First, “Your doing is only as good as your praying.” Second, “Be a witness to the love of Jesus and He’ll do the rest.” And lastly, “Continue to be a shepherd.” Praying, witnessing and shepherding will be my focus in the months and years to come.

Recently I was reminded of something Blessed Pope Paul VI wrote:

“Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses … It is therefore primarily by her conduct and by her life that the Church will evangelize the world, in other words, by her living witness of fidelity to the Lord Jesus — the witness of poverty and detachment, of freedom in the face of the powers of this world, in short, the witness of sanctity.” (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 41)

We all have a vocation to holiness and to give witness to Jesus by our lives. Our upcoming Archdiocesan Synod on the New Evangelization will fan into flame a great resurgence in the faith. It follows that with many returning to the Church, there will be an increased need to provide a diversity of ministry, especially shepherds who will inspire and lead us. To that end I would like to introduce something new: the Heroic Priest Project.

Through this project, all members of the archdiocese are being asked to lift up their priests in prayer, and to submit the name of a priest they’d like to honor as a “Heroic Priest,” one who gives witness to Jesus by his conduct and holy life. I am asking that all of us take seriously the work of praying for our priests. In turn, I am hoping our priests will inspire more vocations, which will lead to more shepherds in the future.

Here’s how it will work:

We will start the Heroic Priest Project this year during National Vocations Awareness Week (Nov. 6-12). Every parish is asked to pass out Heroic Priest submission forms for individuals to fill out. A bulletin insert will be sent to your parish soon. Submission forms can also be found online at DetroitPriest.com. After the forms have been gathered, a priest from each region of the archdiocese will be chosen and honored on an official Heroic Priest poster, which will be made available in January.

Many thanks to all who love their priests, who pray for vocations and who invite young men to answer the call to follow Jesus. In this way we are all vocation directors, and we all play a vital role in raising up shepherds for the future.

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Fr. Joe Horn was appointed in July as director of priestly vocations for the Archdiocese of Detroit. Before that, he served as pastor of Holy Family Parish in Memphis and St. Augustine Parish in Richmond.