It was a Friday evening, and thirty-or-so young and not-so-young men arrived at the Seminary of the Good Shepherd, Homebush for a weekend of brotherhood, talks, and discernment. The majority not knowing what to expect, myself included, others seasoned veterans of the concept of a diocesan vocations retreat. After an opening talk by Bishop Anthony Fisher, there was adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, the night prayer of the Church, a light (?) supper before we retired to our rooms.

The next morning, with the evidence of lack of sleep on the faces of a small number of retreatants, we stumbled into the chapel of the Good Shepherd for Morning Prayer, followed by breakfast in the stately dining room. Perhaps the standout motivation for getting a young man interested in going on a vocations retreat should be the food, secondarily of course to a vocational calling from God, because it was simply delectable. One guarantee I can offer to a young man considering a vocation to diocesan priesthood is that they may gain a couple of kilograms. Enough of food. Breakfast was followed by a talk from Bishop Julian Porteous, the rector of the Seminary. The talk, titled “King” highlighted the role of a priest as a ruler of the people. Not in any sort of strict authoritative way, as the title may suggest, but rather in the position of Servant Leadership, in the role of Persona Christi, or translated from the Latin ‘the person of Christ’. In other words the priest is king as the representative of Christ. He follows the example of Christ the King of kings, to lead his flock, or in the position of diocesan priesthood, his parish. The talk followed a short reflection time, morning tea, a group discussion, then Mass celebrated by Bishop Fisher.

After lunch it was a short walk to the Catholic Institute of Sydney, for an insight into the academic arm of the Seminary. We were fortunate to have a guided tour of the institute where the Seminarians complete their studies of Theology, including a sneak peek into one of the biggest libraries in the Southern Hemisphere devoted to theology, arts and humanities, normally only accessible to the enrolled students of CIS, lucky us!

Dinner was followed by an entertaining talk by Fr Maurice Thompson titled “Prophet” drawing upon his experience as a Parish Priest and the challenges and blessings involved within the position. The essence of the talk was the role of the priest as Prophet, that is, one whose role is to hear the word of God and then communicate it to the people of the parish. Following a rather entertaining group discussion, including some of the lighter moments of the life of a parish priest as related by Fr Maurice, we said Night Prayer and retired to our rooms, where I thankfully collapsed into bed.

The next morning saw the arrival of the seminarians from their short break. We attended the Seminary Mass in the chapel of the Good Shepherd, the seminarians were all smartly dressed in their standard-issue collars and soutanes. Perhaps another motivation for answering God’s calling to priesthood would be that you get to dress up in similar fashion to Neo from the Matrix Reloaded, minus the sunglasses.

Following morning tea with the Seminarians, the final talk of the weekend by Bishop Fisher titled “Shepherd” spoke of the role of the priest as shepherd, under the leadership and example of Christ the Good Shepherd. After another sumptuous lunch and an opportunity to converse with the Seminarians, followed by testimonies from current students of the seminary, the weekend ended with adoration and evening prayer.

Overall, the weekend was a positive step forward in my discernment of the vocation of priesthood, it gave me many opportunities to pray and seek God’s will for my life. To any young man who has even had the slightest thought about discerning priesthood I encourage you in the words of Jesus from John 1:39; “Come and see.”