As we celebrate Jesus the Good Shepherd we are aware of the crisis of shepherds in our world today. So we pray for vocations. Those prayers are being answered. Not only has there been an increase of priests world wide, but here in the United States for the first time last year we saw a greater number of seminarians. We have to keep up those prayers because our Church and our world needs priests so badly.

We are crying out for shepherds. So often our young people--and plenty of adults too--wander aimlessly. What happened in that Denver suburb on Tuesday raises the question, "Where are the shepherds?" Our society had given those boys so much--comfort, spending money, entertainment, technology--but where were the shepherds they needed? That horrible tragedy makes us examine our consciences. Not just the obvious shepherds like priests, teachers, parents, but was there no one who could reach out to those boys?

No easy answers to those questions. But we are obviously being called to a greater effort. In our families, our parish, our archdiocese. And we have got to work together. It's time once again to consider our support for Archbishop Brunett, chief shepherd of our archdiocese. And at the same time some pressing needs right here in Holy Family. With that in mind I present our Pastoral Associate for Administration, Mr. Greg McNabb.

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