Due to experience. But thanks to movies such images are probably in the minds of everyone. The vocation it represents is deeply fascinating. Today we are joined by father George E Schultz sj. With him, we will discuss the Catholic Priesthood today, who is answering the call to priesthood, how is the vocation discerned and developed, what training and education does a priest get, how is priestly life lived out in the 21st century. After this brief break, please join us as we learn from father schultz about the Catholic Priesthood today. Hello. Welcome back to mosaic. With me is father George E Schultz sj. Sj stands for society of jesus. Father schultz, i briefly know your background. Its a long one. You have a masters degree, phd, a b. A. Before that. Can you tell us where . I studied industrial revelations in Cornell University in new york although i am from california. The masters in Business Administration was uc berkley. I was a full time student there. In usc, i studied social ethics at the university of california. Thats my phd. And you authored a book. Yes. You are a native of california. Yes. I grew up in Mountain View on the peninsula, native to the San Francisco arch diocese. I went to Public Schools in Mountain View, st. Joseph parish, st. Francis high school. Both of my parents were from santa clara valley. My mother was a farm worker. My fathers family had cherry and apricot orchards. Are you from a big family . My father and mother are from big families but they could only have two. They call my brother the miracle. So you are a local fellow with a severe education. You had a career, i think, before looking to priesthood. Yes, i did. When i was in undergraduate school i took a year and worked for National Labor relationships board as a board agent in oakland on 22nd and broadway. I was hired by them later to investigate unfair labor practice charges through parts of northern california. I worked as a ard agent with labor attorneys to protect workers and employers as well. Now you are head of a seminary. Well get to that. How did you discover your own call to be a Catholic Priest . I always had this inkling, this awareness, even as a child. I grew up around the block from our parish. I would go and sit in the Parish Church by myself and look at the stained glass windows. I was praying and meditating as a little kid. It was my second home. I felt great consolation as a very young child. Through my adolescent years, i had this sensitivity for other people, wanting what was good for other people. In high school it came out as well, worked with Christian Life community, with catholic workers in san jose. I played sports and all the rest, but i always had this awareness that we need to be available to others who are in need. It never left me. In college, it remained a daily communicate with confession and all the rest of it. It hounded me. It hounded me right through my little bit of professional work. I was sitting in my cubical. I worked for Hewlett Packard for a short time and i said i think god is calling me to be a priest. Society of jesus in particular. Thats because in the south bay there were so many jesuits. There were more jesuits than diocese priests. You grow up around that culture. It was the missionary zeal, the outreach to people across the globe. The definition of a priest, i have a brief one here we talked about momentarily. When you are called to be this, its a powerful role but also i would think rather frightening, rather daunting. It says here the priest has the power when he is ordained to offer sacrifice, celebrate eucharist, forgive sins, to bless, to preach, to sanctify. Thats a lot of transcendent work. It is. It is beautiful, a great gift of our work, apostolic succession going to st. Peter, to our lord himself, realizing men are left behind and always encountered by goth to come and provide sacramental life that unites transcendent with the imminent, temporal with the eternal as well. Its a great gift. People look for that. They want something that frames their life, that gives them purpose, meaning, and direction. All of that is important. The priest provides that in all the sacraments. All the pastoral counseling, education formation that goes along with it. It seems that the priest can dispense great comfort but comes with an implicit challenge to the soul thats seeking comfort or understanding. The priest as a representative of the tran endent and the absolute is probably going to say your real interest is in the absolute, not in the details of this and that suffering in your life. Yes. Thats a great part of it. I like to share with the seminarians that if i were an airline pilot, would i be constantly looking out the window, reading things, not paying attention to my work . You are responsible for a lot of people. A priest has that responsibility. A good priest can do great good and support people in helping them understand the love of god in their lives. A priest thats not paying attention and not being responsible can do harm as well. So you do feel that necessity to be on top of things, to be aware of what the church requires of you, wants of you, and what people expect of you. There is that little bit of desire to always be there and available as best you is for for eternal life. Let me ask this to be clear so the viewers understand, there are no freelance priests. The priest is ordained by a bishop and obedient to a bishop. Is that how it works . Thats right. Its to your local bishop. As a jesuit you are ordained by a bishop. You are in a sense ordinary. The person who is your superior is superior in your community. It would be my prudential. He makes assignments and i respond in obedience. We will talk about what priests do, who is entering the priesthood and what you do. So please rejoin us after this brief break. Welcome back to mosaic. We are talking with father George E Schultz. Father, let me ask you this. You have been a priest for 23 years. I have been a jesuit for 33 years. You have been teaching at the seminary. For close to 12 years now. Who are the men finding priesthood . What kind of people . What are they doing . I would say most men who seek out the priesthood today probably have a College Education already. There was a time when you would receive a College Education in a seminary setting. That still happens in various seminaries. Its not bad to be called at a young age. There are great advantages to that. The men i find have worked for a little bit, have lived on their own, have had as i did in my experience, a desire to serve, a prayer life, have worked in their parish as a volunteer. These sorts of things happen. It dawns on them, i am called to, perhaps, live my life dedicated to this work of serving others through the priesthood. Thats men of every ethnicity, every race, every culture. In our multicultural california, we have people across the cultural board. Let me ask about the nexis of what a priesthood is. We live in a culture in which young people are encouraged to be successful, entrepreneurial, get the next job, change careers every four years. Whats the wisdom on that . How do you operate . Its interesting because people do perhaps attempt to work in those areas. They recognize that the Material World doesnt offer everything theyre seeking. My heart will not rest until it rests in thee. There is something theyre searching for, and we all are. Particularly the seminarians, they come from the protections, know the cost and benefits of utilitarian way of looking at the world. They want to give of themselves. Its that surrender of being free and being directed by god and being available in such a way that they can touch others so they might have happy, good lives. Thats the fundamental seed i think that starts in the men between 25 and 30 that show up at the seminary. They come with some experience of life, some talent, some profession even. What is it that you teach them at the seminary . Some come without philosophy. Theyll start with a couple years of philosophical training to prepare for the theological training. We teach them church history, theology in terms of the sacraments, theology and anthropology in terms of the human person. We teach them how to preach, pastoral counseling, all the elements the priesthood entails thats part of our education, especially in the last four years. At st. Patricks seminary we have one year where they work in a parish as an intern would work in a hospital. They work in a parish shadowing a priest and helping and supporting that local parish life. Very interesting. I know that in june, a month ago, we ordained two young men for arch diocese of San Francisco from st. Patricks seminary. Tell us about these young men. Michael is originally from alaska and taught in schools at mar incatholic. He taught in Georgetown Prep in washington, well educated, graduated from gonzaga university. At st. Dominics, the call to the priesthood was strong in his heart. He applied, entered, was accepted at st. Patricks. He has been a great contributor to our community and supported various parishes in arch diocese during his time as a seminarian. A professional man. Alvin grew up at st. Peter and paul, he went to sacred heart prep high school. He speaks cantonese, spanish, obviously english. He is an athlete, a very intelligent man, very invested in the liturgical life. We are going to ask him to do some work at the seminary this year in support of our liturgical life. He is a man who can do many things and has dedicated himself because of family members who have been priests and religious women as well in his past back in hong kong. I see. Interesting. Now, you are doing this work, training priests in the seminary, how is the context of priesthood these days . I saw a headline at a recent survey that said seminary enrollment holds steady. I think we are familiar with the 40,000 seminarians 40 years ago and a decline to whatever the current number is thats holding steady. Whats the situation . We are holding steady. I would say in the last couple years, there was a down turn in various seminaries across the country. But its in that 5000 range which is a good number. Its not the number that we threneeds of the the priests parishes. At the same time, we are finding a person who really wants to evangelize and promote vocations. My feeling is we will see that steady state and in particular st. Patricks seminary will see a growth in the number of seminarians. I am working with knights of columbus in various diocese with vocation dinners. We have some adolescents from the san jose diocese, San Francisco diocese on a three day retreat of sorts to think about the priesthood. So part of your job as president and rector is to let the world know that st. Patricks seminary exists will. Thats right. Very good. And we are having success. Not just for this archdioceses but other diocese. Yes. Lets take a brief break and well come back and talk further about the Catholic Priesthood today. Hello. Welcome back. Well continue talking with father George E Schultze about st. Patricks seminary. You are the president and rector. You are in charge of the place, and i believe one of your main duties is to make sure its fully supported and sustainable. Yes, thats right. So we ourselves have had a drop in the numbers in the last year. So i am going to visit various bishops around the west coast and encourage them obviously to send seminarians. As i said earlier, we are going to work with the knights and vocation directors in the various diocese to promote the priesthood. I am excited about that. You have a program for donors, for advancement, development and so on. We do. We have an annual st. Patricks gala. Its going to be on september 9 september 9th this year, 2017. The foundresses in the West Coast Walk for life are the honorees. This is a very important event founded by these catholic women. Tens of thousands of people come to the city. The seminarians are there every year. We have seminarians from other seminaries around the country who attend. We host them at st. Patricks. Thats wonderful. I began by talking about the popular image of the Catholic Priest. I think we all are familiar with it. I looked up a few things, actors that have played priests with academy awards. Its an interesting crew, humphrey bogart, henry fonda. The power and glory, innocence of father brown mysteries, do you have a favorite fiction or movie about priests . Well, in terms of the diary of a country priest has always been an influence because a normal man carrying out his days of work in france in a rural area, fairly impoverished area, interacting with people who sometimes accept them and dont accept them. Thats true for priests in every era. The challenges he felt and also his own spiritual journey and his physical journey. He is declining in health as a young person and ultimately dies. He was looking for priests. They found no priests. He says the grace of god is all over, always present. I recall a book written in french, very powerful seeing a man with no earthly prospect and in fact a fatal disease but giving of himself to others and able to see others. This is what i liked about his character. So the priest is both priest and victim. He is the good shepherd. He also is the lamb of god. So the beauty is the surrender that happens. Priests are in the world and people seek you out, they really ask as in the movies or books, father can i share something with you . There is something that concerns me. How will you be able to give me something that will move me forward . Thats when you feel in your heart that you are serving as you should. The dress itself. People come up to u at airports and railroad stations or wherever. Theyll stop and ask for a prayer or some intention. You are a marked man. Yes. You are saying i believe in god, and i am here to represent him, weak though i am. Yes, right in this present moment, right in this studio. The priesthood today may be changing as society changes. You can tell me about that. I think you mentioned a book by Timothy Cardinal dolan of new york. Yes, the priests of the Third Millennium speaking about frequent confession, liturgy of hours, things that are basic for a priest, good priest support groups. I have fellow priests and we pray the rosary together, have mass together, have lunch. These things keep him rooted in the vocation. The dedication is to our lord jesus christ. You mentioned when we spoke yesterday the term sacrificial love. It sounds really challenging if thats the essence of what a priesthood is. Well, sacrifice, the root is sacred. Sacrifice is to do something sacred, the sacrifice of the mass and so on. Its that surrender. Its finding your happiness and expansive love in serving others in your life. There is a richness and fullness and married life has that opportunity, family life. There is something about the priesthood that allows you to be constantly connected to the transcendent and your awareness that this is for god and those around you. Its the cross, the vertical and horizontal elements of the cross. This is a major mystery and i believe everything you are saying. I am a married man myself and i know what sacrificial love is. Very good. Thats why we are working with this together. Can you help us with a prayer for vocation . Of course. Thank you. Heavenly father, we ask you to send us good men who have that spirit, that spark within them to seek you out and want to serve others in their life as priests, religious and for religious women who are form atorrs, educators, and caregivers in our church and in our faith. We pray that they might respond to your call and find their happiness and fulfillment in it. We pray this in the name of our lord jesus christ. Amen. Thank you very much for a wonderful prayer and an interesting discussion of todays priesthood. Thank you for joining us on mosaic. We will see you next time. And cool shark week stuff for the kids. But first. Of young adults welcome to bay sunday. This morning weve got movies, food, cool shark week stuff for the kids. First, thousands of young adults will be moving into College Dorms in a few weeks. Our favorite lifestyle guru is here with some awesome products to reform your dorm. Thanks for having me. Its good to see you. Before you shop, you need to do your preparation and research. You need to do your homework before you head to class. First check with the school to see whats furnished. Is the furniture built in . You want to see