Vocation Plan

As Bishop François Beyrouti begins his episcopal ministry, he is emphasizing the Lord’s invitation to “serve one another humbly in love” (Gal 5:13). In this spirit, one of his key priorities is to strengthen our focus on vocations throughout the Melkite Catholic Eparchy of Newton. Thanks be to God, over the past few years, the Melkite Catholic Church in the United States has been blessed with many new vocations to the priesthood and diaconate. Looking toward the future, we can also see that many parishes have aging clergy who have been faithfully serving for so many years. Thus, there is a serious need to ensure uninterrupted pastoral care for our 50 churches and communities and to respond to the needs of our faithful who are asking us to establish new parishes. Thus Bishop François has convened a new Vocation Team, headed by Fr. John Mefrige and composed of four other priests from each region of the eparchy. The challenge for the team is threefold. The first task is to re-organize our efforts, both by standardizing the formation of priests and deacons, as well as establishing a clear process for men to discern God’s call. Secondly, Bishop François’ vision is that new vocations will flow organically from active ministry in local parishes. Put simply, the men who will one day serve as priests and deacons must now be serving generously in other capacities. A campaign is planned to identify these men—both single and married—and invite them to discern a potential role as reader, subdeacon, deacon, or priest.