This is everyone's concern. Obviously the bishop is the nerve center of this universal concern. But he would be useless if all of us are not organically united with him.

In this regard, families should realize they are the seedbed of priestly vocations.

Everything has to be done for them to be able to do this crucial mission effectively.

Playing subsidiary roles are schools, parishes and seminaries, equipping them aptly to enable them to develop and mature possible vocations. Hard' Maybe. But not impossible. We just have to put our will into it.

All of us have to use both supernatural and human means to carry out this task. We need to pray a lot, offer sacrifices, avail of the sacraments. But the recruiting, selecting, admitting and forming should always be a function of personal apostolate and dealings.

Friendship and confidence should exist between the candidates and the officials, humanizing whatever structures and programs are needed. Genuine, not officious, friendship is indispensable to truly know the candidates' human, intellectual and spiritual fitness.

Truth is we can rightfully presume that God provides for all the vocations the Church needs in any given moment. They must already be there, waiting to be found and developed.

Priests are indispensable in the Church and in the world. No matter how good and holy the lay faithful are, a point comes when they meet a wall in their path to follow Christ. They need priests to pass through it.

This is because the clergy act in the person and authority of Christ as head of the Church to teach, sanctify and govern it. They sacramentally extend the continuing presence and redemptive action of Christ here on earth.

Bluntly if simplistically put, no priests, no Christ. No priests, no Church. They may be unworthy personally, but that's who priests are sacramentally. Their unworthiness does not negate Christ's presence and work through them.

The soul of the world, the Church nourishes the spiritual and moral life of the believers. If the Church is badly serviced because of lack of priests, you can just imagine how the world will be!

Recent reports claim that the ratio of priests to faithful in our country is low: 1 priest for every 10,000 faithful! We have to disabuse ourselves from the occasional thought that we have a lot of priests around.

No matter how you look at it, the picture is bad. Imagine a priest taking care of 10,000 souls. Even if he is holy and competent, and aided by a broad network of help and support, it's hard to imagine he can do his ministry effectively.

For example, how can hearing sacramental confessions and giving spiritual direction, a very important aspect of the priestly ministry, be done if the priest is only one as against 10,000 people to serve?

The urgent need to promote priestly vocations has to be pursued both in terms of quantity and quality. These criteria should never be separated.

For this purpose, the true nature and beauty of priesthood should be made to shine. Often the problem is portraying the priesthood so negatively, exclusively highlighting the sacrifices, which undeniably exist, that people don't see its original beauty and its divine character.

We have to correct that. Besides, priests themselves should be adept in making themselves attractive models of priesthood, following the example of St. Paul who boldly said: 'Be imitators of me, as I also am of Christ.' (1 Cor 4,16)

The issue is truly complex and has to be studied thoroughly by Church authorities. How to support them, I know, is already a complicated problem. But that's the least of the problems.

More attention has to be given to the ongoing formation of priests. When spiritually healthy and pastorally vibrant, priests become magnets, a walking commercial for the promotion of priestly vocations.

Of course, we also have to worry about how to improve the culture and transform the mindset of the people who much prefer to go into IT and nursing than to go to the seminary.

We have to pray for holy, generous, cheerful and faithful priestly vocations!

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Fr. Roy Cimagala is the Chaplain of Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE) in Talamban, Cebu City. You can email him at:Email: roycimagala@boholchronicle.com