Kevin Kelly/Key photo With his seminarians lined up around and behind him, Bishop Robert W. Finn thanked them, their families, and members of Serra International for fostering vocations. The bishop renewed his promise to take care of all seminarians God gives the diocese.<

But on Dec. 26, for the 20th year in a row, the Serra International chapters of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph shared their love for the diocese's seminarians - and their families - at an annual St. Stephen's Day Mass and dinner, this year at St. Elizabeth Parish.

Showering the 18 of the diocese's 24 seminarians who were able to attend with gifts - and financial assistance - the love of the Serrans, who are committed to increasing the response to God's call to the priesthood and religious life, did not go unrequited or unnoticed.

"It's very important for you to understand that through everything you do, you do make a difference," said Jeffrey Gardner, who is studying at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis.

"We do rely on your prayers and support," said Ben Kneib, also a Kenrick-Glennon student. "It's not only the external, material support like this. It's the internal, spiritual support as well."

The diocese's four Serra International chapters - Kansas City, Southeast Kansas City, Northland and St. Joseph - have been hosting the dinner since 1989, said Father Joseph Cisetti, Serra chaplain and pastor of St. Anthony and Holy Cross parishes in Kansas City.

In remarks just before dinner, Father Cisetti said that it was more than appropriate that the families of the seminarians are also honored.

"The first seminary that a priest attends is not a school. It's his family," said Father Cisetti, former associate vocations director who helped guide many of the young men at the event into the seminary.

"The things you need to be a priest - love, faith, compassion - you learn in the family," he said.

In his homily during the Mass before the banquet, Bishop Robert W. Finn renewed yet again his promise that if God sends the diocese seminarians, the diocese will take care of them.

The bishop noted that this year's dinner came just six days after the ordination of the diocese's newest priest, Father Angelo Bartulica.

And he noted that there was no better time to celebrate the gift of priesthood than on the day after the gift of the birth of Jesus Christ.

"Jesus the newborn Lord already begins wo work the miracle of his priesthood even in his birth," Bishop Finn said.

"He bridges the gap between God and man," he said. "In his incarnation, he takes and transforms our humanity and infuses it with grace and life. The priest is a mediator between God and man, and no priest fulfills this sacred work except through his participation in the life of the one high priest, Jesus."

Bishop Finn told the seminarians, their families, and the Serrans that the priest must be willing to sacrifice all, even his own life as did Jesus, and as did St. Stephen, deacon and the church's first martyr.

"The priest who stands in the person of Jesus Christ the head must complete the proclamation of the Gospel with the action of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, renewing the sacrifice of Christ and making him truly present in the Holy Eucharist," Bishop Finn said.

Noting the youth of the men before him, Bishop Finn said they were a sign that the church itself is both alive and young.

"As we see the number of seminarians growing and experience the enthusiasm of new priests, we are full of hope that the new springtime of faith is budding around us," he said.

"We mustn't doubt for a moment that our Lord will use us, use you, dear seminarians, for the renewal of his church in a time of much challenge," Bishop Finn said.

"The mission is joyful and hopeful, yes, but it also includes the cross," he said.

"Alongside this powerful experience of new life in the church also grows the push and pull of secularism," he said. "We see it in the disregard for human life which has become comfortable and common in our country. We see it in the degradation of authentic marriage and the constant effort of the commercial press to normalize same-sex unions. We see it in the materialism by which economic exigencies so often take the place of moral imperatives in our decisions at election time."

Bishop Finn urged the seminarians to stand strong.

"We welcome you. We pray for you. We look to you to re-set the moral compass of our world," he said.

"You must prepare well," the bishop said. "You must work and study so that the timeless lessons of the church's traditions and the heritage of the fathers, the great founders and foundresses, and the authentic magisterium will infuse and fortify your efforts."

Bishop Finn urged the seminarians, "Do not be afraid of the cross."

"Look constantly to the living word, Jesus, who restores our hope and whose voice resounds enternally and cannot be drowned out," he said.

"In all our Christmas prayers, it is he, the Prince of Peace, that we invoke," the bishop said. "It is his serenity which carries us and the rock of his love on which we find rest."

Bishop Finn urged the seminarians, their families and the Serrans to continue to pray for other young men who are called to the priesthood, and other young women and men who are called to consecrated life.

"I wish to promise and pledge to the Lord, with the help of our priests, of Serra, and so many others in the diocese: We will take care of these vocations, Lord," Bishop Finn said.

"In answer to your invitation, I beg for more laborers for the harvest of souls - for men for the priesthood, and also for many, many young men and women for consecrated life," he said.

"We will do everything possible to form them well and support them in their preparation," Bishop Finn said.

"We cannot promise to save them from crosses and struggles and sacrifices. That would be contrary to their calling," he said. "But we will let them know that they have fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters in abundance to help them."

END