AN INSIDE LOOK AT OUR SERRA CLUB: Supporting and Praying for Vocations, Priests, and Religious

There is no denying that the job of a priest is demanding and, in many ways, difficult. As laypeople, we might not always know how we can support our priests. Luckily, the Serra Club is here not only to support our priests but also to our religious brothers and sisters, while encouraging more vocations to the priesthood and religious life. The Serra Club uses prayer and builds relationships to walk alongside the priests of our diocese and support those who are in seminary or discerning religious life.

Jim Bryant, the president of the Christ the King chapter of the Serra Club, was touched by the mission of the club when he first joined almost nine years ago.

“I went to one meeting and was shocked at how many people I knew,” Jim says. “I just kept going. It’s helped my faith quite a bit and I think more about how I can help our priests.”

The members of the Serra Club pray a Rosary and have Mass before their meetings and offer those prayers for more vocations. Members sign up to pray for a retired priest or seminarian daily. The club members cover the 5-6 p.m. hour on Wednesday in the Adoration Chapel. Some members of the Serra Club have gone to rural churches in the mountains to pray together for priests and for vocations.

“When we’ve gone to an outlying church that doesn’t have many parishioners, it means a lot to them for us to show up with eight or nine people and pray with them,” Jim says.

The Serra Club also hosts social events for the priests and seminarians. Once a year, they invite all of the priests in the diocese together for a gettogether in the backyard of one of the members. This popular event had to be put on hold due to COVID-19, but Jim hopes that this year, it will be offered again. When the seminarians go back to school in August, the Serra Club hosts a send-off for them. Then, before an ordination, they host a big dinner for the seminarians and their families. The club makes an effort to keep in touch with seminarians by email. By the time they are ordained, Jim feels like they have really gotten to know them.

“They just don’t get that much communication from people,” Jim says. “We try to email back and forth. They all say it means the world to them.”

Serra Club meetings themselves are a great way to get to know some of the priests, meet other parishioners, hear good speakers, and learn how you can help support our local priests as they labor for the Church.

The Serra Club meets virtually via Zoom or in the Life Center after the 5:45 p.m. Mass on the second Monday of each month. For details about the next meeting, please contact Jim Bryant at 859-254-8394 or jimbryantky@gmail.com. Also, learn more about the Serra national organization at www.serraus.org