Madrid, Spain, Jul 22, 2009 / 12:40 pm
Bishop Demetrio Fernandez of Tarazona, Spain recalled this week the importance of the seminary for the formation of new priests, since only they “can guarantee the survival of the Catholic Church among us.”
“The Church cannot live without priests. For this reason, as I have repeated many times, a diocese without a seminary is a dead diocese. We must continuously pray to the Lord of the harvest that he will send workers to the harvest,” the bishop said in a recent letter about the upcoming ordination of a priest and two deacons.
The bishop said the prayer of the people of Tarazona that priests will never be lacking “is an expression of a need in the Church” and that it is false to say that people do not care about the things of God. “I can testify that everywhere the thirst for God is growing. And the priest exists to satiate that thirst,” he said.
For this reason, he said, “ordaining a new priest is one of the greatest satisfactions for a bishop” and of joy for the Church.
“When we receive the gift of a new priest in the times in which we live, the joy is immense. And we must give thanks to God, because each priest is a gift of his heart,” the bishop said.
Bishop Fernandez said the Year for Priests is an occasion “to thank God for the gift of his priests for the Church, a year to pray for priests and for new vocations to the ordained ministry. If priests aspire to sanctity, the entire diocese will follow suit.”