More than 130 golfers gathered on Wednesday, August 2, at the Kennsington Golf Club in Canfield, Ohio, to take part in the inaugural Bishop’s Golf Classic—a new golf outing to support and promote Church vocations in the Diocese of Youngstown.
Across the diocese, parish communities continue to suffer from the shortage of priests. As such, many priests find themselves pastoring more than one parish, and liturgical schedules continue to be in flux. We must remember that, without priests, our Church would not survive.
In a 2004 letter to priests, Pope John Paul II, stressed the fact that “there can be no Eucharist without the priesthood, just as there can be no priesthood without the Eucharist.” We can take it a step further and say, “without the Eucharist, there is no Church.” After all, the Eucharist is the “source and summit” of our Catholic faith.
The 2023 Bishop’s Golf Classic raised over $35,000 for the Office of Church Vocations. Father Chad Johnson, vocations director for the diocese, said, “the money raised will go to help offset the cost of seminarian tuition and other financial needs that may arise during one’s time in seminary formation.”
Currently, the average cost of a seminarian’s education—from college through ordination—is $300,000 per seminarian. The golf outing is a new way that parishioners can support the program, but other methods include the Seminarian Support Collection, which is scheduled for Good Shepherd Sunday, April 21, 2024–and direct donations to the seminarian fund. The Bishop’s Golf Classic Committee is already making plans for next year’s outing, which is scheduled for Monday, August 5, 2024. Learn about how you can get involved, or make a donation to diocesan seminarians at doy.org/seminarians.
Scroll down to see Catholic Echo photographer Brian Keith’s photos from the event.
