Love the Church, Serve the Church: Denver's Dire Need for Priestly Vocations
- André Escaleira, Jr.
- Jun 9
- 7 min read
When asked about the "greatest commandment," Jesus gave a glimpse into his own heart. His simple answer — love God and love neighbor — reveals the fuel for his Sacred Heart's fire.
Not only does he long for each one of us individually, but he longs that we might love him, the Father and the Holy Spirit and each other with the same love he has for us (John 13:34-35). Jesus wants us to be one, in community, in his Church, bonded by love (John 17:11).
For some men, that call deepens into a profound love for God, neighbor and Church — a great love for the Sacred Heart — through a vocation to the priesthood.
Yet, the harvest remains abundant and the laborers remain few (see Matthew 9:35-38). According to recent data, only 49% of active priests in the Archdiocese of Denver are archdiocesan priests who were formed at either St. John Vianney or Redemptoris Mater. The other 51% of the active archdiocesan presbyterate comes from religious communities, visiting priests or priests who have come to the Archdiocese of Denver from other places.
“Since only 14% of priests in active ministry within the archdiocese are born in Colorado, the church of Denver is blessed because of vocations coming from foreign countries and other places in the U.S. to serve here and help others encounter Christ,” said Denver Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila. “Many come from out of state to make up for our shortfall of vocations, and in this sense, we are now living in mission territory and deeply rely on priests from other parts of the country and world. Many incardinate into the archdiocese because of their love for Christ and the faithful they serve here, whether on the plains, mountains or I-25 corridor.”
Even with these additional priests, 37% of archdiocesan parish locations are served by only one priest — a reality far from ideal, as the demands of caring so intensely for an entire parish community can weigh heavily on just one man. And the need is even greater in our Hispanic communities, as nearly 40% of archdiocesan parish locations regularly offer Mass in Spanish, which requires more priests who are fluent in the language, culture and customs.
The Archdiocese of Denver is blessed with dedicated, holy priests who serve their flocks well. But the harvest is abundant and the laborers are few — 4,054 Catholics are currently being served by each individual priest!! Relying solely on archdiocesan priests would leave us with 148 priests, not enough to cover all our parishes.
For this reason, the Archdiocese sponsored the Called By Name campaign in parishes across Northern Colorado last May, aiming to foster a culture “where young men are open to the priestly calling, but also where laypeople are open to inviting young men, and families are willing to let their sons consider the priesthood, and encouraging them,” explained Father Jason Wallace, archdiocesan director of vocations. “If we create the right culture, then everybody will have that at the forefront of their minds.”
Even with such a culture, the Church needs hundreds of courageous men to respond to God’s call of charity — that is, a love for him, from which flows love for neighbor and love for the Church he established.
“The most important thing is that we all have a personal relationship with the Trinity. That’s our number one priority: each individual seminarian and each individual priest has the love of God at the center of their life. Then, from that, we love what God loves, which are all souls. It’s the virtue of charity: love God above all things and our neighbor for God’s sake,” said Father Wallace.
“A priest lives the commandment of love in his exercise of pastoral charity,” added Father Angel Perez-Lopez, rector of St. John Vianney Seminary in Denver. “Pastoral charity is pastoral not simply because it is directed to the sheep. Instead, it is pastoral because it is all about a profound configuration with Christ the Good Shepherd, who loves his sheep in God, for God, because of God.”
Burning with that pastoral charity that inflames the heart of Christ, the priest — and those men called to become priests — serves God’s people, the Church, with everything he has.
“As fathers, we lay down our lives for our family. We protect them; we provide for them. Obviously, we do that in a bit of a different way than the nuclear family does, but nevertheless, we’re still fathers,” Father Wallace explained, pointing to the priest’s radical availability to provide the sacraments — from Confession to the Eucharist to emergency hospital visits and Anointings of the Sick. “We give ourselves completely so that we can serve the people of God.”
The lofty call is indeed a tall order, but at its core it is a call to love God, neighbor and Church, to live the virtue of charity, in a radical way.
“Charity is at the heart of everything we do at the seminary. It is the core essence of spiritual priestly formation and the soul of priestly formation in general. It animates or vivifies every other dimension of formation,” Father Perez-Lopez continued, highlighting that the spiritual, intellectual, human and apostolic dimensions of formation all come back to the central virtue. “To love the Church means, first, to become intimate friends with her Bridegroom, namely, with Jesus (see John 3:29). Jesus and the priest become one out of this intimate friendship. And from this union arises a zeal and love for the Bride of Christ (see 2 Corinthians 11:2).”
“To love the Church is to be a man who is captivated by who the Church is in Mary and in the communion of the saints in Christ,” added Father Brady Wagner, coordinator of the Propaedeutic Year, the initial year of prayer and discernment, at St. John Vianney Seminary in Denver.
“Through contemplating the reality of the Church in her saints, he is imbued with hope that what is true in them can be true for all. God loves to share his glory, and the priest wants to see the glory of God shining in the heart of every person.”
Lest the vocation to the priesthood seem too out of reach for frail humanity, it is important to remember that God promises his grace to those who seek him, and that through, with and in him, all things are possible (see Matthew 19:26; Philippians 4:13).
“Do not be afraid,” Father Perez-Lopez said, quoting Pope St. John Paul II and Pope Leo XIV, when asked what advice he would give to those men discerning the lofty call to priesthood. “There is nothing better, nothing more fulfilling than doing God’s will.”
“Do not be afraid to take a risk, to trust God, to give him a little bit of space and allow him the freedom to act in your life,” added Father Wagner. “Dare to be generous in your daily life by serving others and developing good friendships. Above all, create the space of silence to hear the Lord’s voice when he calls. It is hard work and it demands much from us to learn to rest and be still before the Lord, but it is worth more than all the treasures the world can offer you. It is in the grace of prayer that we hear Jesus call us his friends and share with us everything he has heard from his Father (see John 15:15). And he tells us those things so that his joy might be in us and our joy might be complete (see John 15:11).”
Despite the profound dignity of the priestly vocation, there are many that ignore or reject God’s call to loving service, whether because of fear, misconceptions, wounds or some other reason, Father Wagner continued. Yet, there is reason for great hope as God continues to call.
“These men are also radically desirous to make a generous gift of themselves, so that others might come to know the joy they’ve experienced in Christ,” he said. “So I have a lot of hope in what God is doing in the Church.”
In fact, the Archdiocese has seen an uptick in the number of young men answering God’s call to discern the priesthood by entering the seminary, with 65 men in formation at both St. John Vianney and Redemptoris Mater Seminaries, up from 56 men last academic year. While there is indeed reason for hope, the archdiocese needs many more priests to serve God’s people in this apostolic age. The devoted priests across the archdiocese are making a huge difference, but they need our help to build a culture of vocations.
“We’re blessed with a lot of enthusiastic, holy, faithful priests in our archdiocese. It’s through their example that a lot of young men are inspired to consider a vocation to the priesthood,” Father Wallace said. “My brother priests are the ones who do all the heavy lifting. They’re the ones walking with young men day to day. They’re the ones that are giving them the sacraments, hearing their confessions, encouraging them, having that initial contact. To me, that’s essential.”
Through prayer, encouragement, teaching and support — both practical and financial — Father Wallace, Father Perez-Lopez and Father Wagner hope that a culture of vocations will continue to flourish in the Archdiocese of Denver, so that, in Jesus Christ, all — both God’s people and the men he’s calling to be his priests — might be be rescued and have abundant life, for the glory of the Father.
“God is going to call us to something that brings us joy and fulfillment,” Father Wallace concluded. “We hope to help these young men find where the Lord wants to fulfill them, what he created them for.”
