Saints and Seminarians: Detroit Archdiocese Launches Vocations Video With a Lively Beat

A YouTube video just released by the Office of Priestly Vocations in the Archdiocese of Detroit serves up a dose of inspiration with a lively beat.

Intended for students, for those contemplating a vocation to the priesthood, and for anyone who wants to be holy, the video is the brainchild of Father Tim Birney, director of priestly vocations for the Archdiocese of Detroit.  Brian Meldrum, seminarian and transitional deacon, produced the film.

“I try to be creative,” said Father Tim in a phone conversation, explaining his approach in working with young people.  “My job is to constantly look for ideas to impart our message.”

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It was a song on the car radio that inspired this latest vocation awareness project, “True Faith, True Fame.”  Father Tim explained,

“So the song started going through my brain, and I thought, ‘We can take what the secular culture offers, dress it up, and use it for our own purposes–just as the secular culture has often used the Christian themes of love, redemption, and triumph over evil.'”  

Recognizing the attraction of fame and fortune, Father Tim wanted to encourage young men and women not to seek material goals, but to strive for holiness and seek to become saints, “true heroes.”  He took his idea to a couple of seminarians, who brought the concept to life in a video which they downloaded to YouTube.

So far, the video has been downloaded to Facebook, Twitter, and the homepage of the Office for Priestly Vocations.   Father Tim plans to use the video to keep in touch with men who are discerning whether they have a call to the priesthood.  He plans to promote it for elementary school and high school use, and in parishes–inviting students to count the saints are featured individually in the video and learn their names.
It’s Father Tim’s hope that the video will encourage men and women to consider another path in life.  He said,

“We hope it inspires young and old alike to think more deeply about their lives and their occupations–what God is calling them to.”  

For more information about the vocation resources available through the Office for Priestly Vocations, visit the website.