August 19, 2025 // Bishop

Priests Gather to Celebrate Memorial of St. John Vianney, Patron of Parish Priests

Scott Warden

Editor-In-Chief

On Monday, August 4, dozens of priests of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend joined together with the St. Charles Borromeo Parish community in Fort Wayne for an evening of sung vespers (evening prayer) to mark the feast of St. John Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests.

Bishop Rhoades called on those attending “to pray especially for our priests and for vocations to the priesthood here in our diocese and throughout the world.”

Following vespers, Bishop Rhoades presented Monsignor Tom Shoemaker, pastor of St. Charles Borromeo, with the official decree from Pope Leo XIV naming him a Chaplain of His Holiness, which bestows upon him the title of monsignor. Bishop Rhoades visited St. Charles in late July to announce the honor to the parish community and to the diocese.

Bishop Rhoades led the prayer service and offered a homily on the life of St. John Vianney, the 19th-century priest known as the Curé d’Ars (curé is French for “pastor,” and Ars is the small town in eastern France where he ministered as its priest for 41 years).

“Jesus calls all His priests and bishops to tend the flock entrusted to their care and to do so not by constraint, but willingly,” Bishop Rhoades said. “Sometimes it can be difficult to do so. It was certainly a difficult assignment that St. John Vianney received from his bishop, to be pastor of the parish in Ars. In fact, the bishop told John currents of thought which are still with us today. St. John Vianney also lived at a time when there were also scandals within the Church and the lives of the clergy – probably the greatest hindrance to the Church’s evangelizing mission, then and now. So, St. John Vianney is still an example for us almost two centuries later.”

Bishop Rhoades continued: “The practice of the faith and the moral life was in shambles when he arrived at the village of Ars. This was in the wake of the French Revolution which had had devastating effects on the Church in France. Ars was a small village with a population of 230 people. As the Curé of Ars, John Vianney was wholeheartedly committed to his people. He prayed in these words: ‘Lord, grant me the conversion of my parish; I am willing to suffer whatever you wish, for my entire life!’ And that’s what he did for 41 years! How did he do it? Today, we might say: ‘What was his strategic plan, his pastoral plan?’ How would he bring the love of God to that parish? We priests can all ask ourselves that question: How will we live our priesthood? How will we serve the mission of the New Evangelization in our culture with all the new challenges we face – secularism, widespread relativism, materialism, and individualism, not to mention the ever-new challenges associated with technology, including artificial intelligence? St. John Vianney had to deal with the challenges associated with the so-called Enlightenment: rationalism and scientism. … At the same time, he focused more on virtue than on vice, on God’s tenderness and mercy and the joy of converting from sin and being united to God.”

Bishop Rhoades noted that St. John Vianney’s “preaching and teaching the faith would never have brought conversion and renewal to the parish of Ars if not for his own example of holiness.” He continued: “He lived what he preached and taught. He lived the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience in an exemplary way. … It was St. John Vianney’s witness of holiness that ultimately led to the conversion of his parish and eventually led to tens of thousands of people flocking to Ars as the years went by.”

In conclusion, Bishop Rhoades said: “St. John Marie Vianney continues to be an ever-relevant model for us priests. May his memory inspire Father Tom and all of us to greater zeal and devotion! May he intercede for all priests throughout the world and for the genuine renewal of the Church in our time!”

Scott Warden is editor-in-chief of Today’s Catholic.