2026 Vocations Awareness Supplement
The ‘fiat’ of priests, deacons, religious starts a new springtime in the Church
By Father Michael Keucher
When Pope Leo XIV was elected pope, I told the kids at St. Joseph School in Shelbyville a little about him. When I told them that the pope attended St. Mary of the Assumption School just south of Chicago, a young child raised his hand and yelled out in excitement, “He went to Catholic school just like us, and in the state next door!”
That child hit the nail on the head! Long before he was a priest, canon lawyer, missionary and ultimately our supreme pontiff, the pope was simply a boy sitting in a classroom of his parish school learning his prayers. It was his parents and relatives, his priests and religious sisters, his mentors and friends who helped prepare him to say the most important word in the vocabulary of a faithful disciple: “Fiat!”
“Fiat” is Latin for “let it be done.” It is also the Latin translation of how the Blessed Virgin Mary responded in faith after the Archangel Gabriel told her that she had been chosen to be the Mother of the Son of God. “Let it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38).
So how did Blessed Fulton J. Sheen, beatified this past September, come to say his “fiat”? Before he wrote his library of books, before his weekly television and radio shows, before he became a priest and then a bishop, he was a kid in a classroom of St. Mary Cathedral School in Peoria, Ill. There, he learned to say the most important word he ever said: “Fiat!”
And let’s not forget about St. Francis of Assisi in this 800th jubilee year of his death in 1226. His formal schooling took place at the parish school connected to the Church of San Giorgio in Assisi. It was there that he learned his Latin and his catechism. Although he got lost in worldly pursuits for a few years, the Lord continued working in his heart, calling him to surrender his ambitions and embrace a life he never could have imagined. His answer? “Fiat!”
As with all the saints in the Church and its great leaders among us, in Pope Leo XIV, Blessed Fulton Sheen and St. Francis of Assisi, we can learn what comes before one’s “fiat” and the many fruits that come after it. Thanks to their fidelity to God’s will and all that made that fidelity possible in the first place, so many fruits have come to the Church in America and around the world. Each one has brought about something of a new springtime in the Church. Praise God!
Thankfully, we need only look to the Church in central and southern Indiana for more local examples. In this Vocations Awareness Supplement, you will meet men and women in or from the archdiocese who are serving God in the priesthood, diaconate and consecrated life. They celebrate the sacraments, accompany families, serve those in need, teach, pray and help in a myriad of other ways.
Much of that happens quietly, but every bit of it matters eternally. Their “fiats” are bearing fruit and bringing about a new springtime—even in our own backyard. We must pray for them and appreciate them.
During this National Vocation Awareness Week, we are invited to remember that the same Lord Jesus who called our beloved pope, Blessed Fulton Sheen and
St. Francis of Assisi is calling young people here in central and southern Indiana. Through our families first of all, but also through our schools, catechetical programs and youth groups, we have the joyous responsibility to help the next generation to pray about their own vocations.
When children learn to pray, encounter Jesus in the Eucharist and see adults joyfully living their vocations, they learn that God has something to say about their futures. They learn to ask, “Lord, what do you want me to do?”
This week, pray for those who are discerning. Thank those who have answered. Encourage someone who might be called. And ask the Lord what “fiat” he desires from you. After all, one person’s generous “fiat” can bear fruit for generations. May our archdiocese be filled with such “fiats!” And may the Lord bring a new springtime to his Church through them!
(Father Michael Keucher is director of vocations for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, dean of the Batesville Deanery and pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Shelbyville and St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Shelby County. Contact him at mkeucher@archindy.org.) †