As I left off last week, we had just completed our events around the March for Life. We were so pleased to be able to resume our participation after the hiatus of last year and gather with hundreds of thousands of advocates for life who came to Washington. It was also a great joy that a good number were able to come from our schools and parishes of the Archdiocese of Boston, once again.

I always like to say that the March for Life is like a poor man's World Youth Day because it can be hard for people to travel to far-flung places like Rio de Janeiro, Sydney, or Fatima, but the opportunity for our young people to gather with thousands of their Catholic peers is very reaffirming for them. Young people who are trying to practice their faith can often feel alone or isolated. So, for them to be in a convocation like the March for Life is something that strengthens their faith and idealism. We are so grateful to Colleen Donohoe and all the chaperones for all they did to enable this trip.

We are also very pleased that our young people had an opportunity to hear from religious and young priests about the vocations to ministry and consecrated life, particularly the Sisters of Life who spoke with our young people at St. Thomas More Cathedral in Arlington on Friday night.

Their ministry is precisely to support women in difficult pregnancies and promote the pro-life mission of the Church. It was a community founded by Cardinal O'Connell in New York but has made a great impact on the Church in North America. It was very nice that, in his comments at the Opening Mass of the Prayer Vigil for Life, Archbishop Lori pointed them out and asked for a round of applause of appreciation for their ministry.

Zoom meeting

On Wednesday, we had a Zoom meeting of the board of Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary. Father Brian Kiely and a number of his seminarians had been with us in Washington for the March for Life. So, I was glad to see them again so soon at our board meeting.

We are blessed to have a very dedicated group of men and women working on our Board of Trustees and supporting the ministries of the seminary.

Among the issues we discussed is a strategic plan that is being developed to help make the seminary more well known throughout the country because we recruit from all the dioceses of the United States.

We also spoke about the challenge of reaching the demographic that the seminary serves -- older parishioners who might possibly have a priestly vocation. Our vocation directors have many opportunities to gather with young people through activities such as campus ministry or young-adult groups. However, there are far fewer such events for the older men who would be appropriate candidates for Pope John Seminary. So, I always remind the pastors that we need their help in recommending men from the parish whom they see living their faith and being involved in parish life to the vocation office.