“The men we want to become priests aren’t coming to us. We have to go out and find them.”

I first heard these words three years ago, and the Holy Spirit has never let me forget them. They were shared by a friend, a former vocations director, expressing how hard he had to work to recruit young men for the seminary.

He described everything he had done to find good, holy Catholic men whom he could invite to consider the priesthood. I was struck by how incredibly difficult and time-consuming it sounded, and I thought:

Well, we can do something about that!

That was the Holy Spirit’s first inspiration in me for what became the National Society for Priestly Vocations. After nearly two years, with the idea lingering in the back of my mind and surfacing during prayer, I finally shared it with a friend.

He was excited. We prayed, spoke with our spouses, and decided to trust the Holy Spirit and give it our best effort. That’s when the National Society for Priestly Vocations (NSPV) was born.

We defined three goals:

• Ensure every young man knows the priesthood is a joyful, heroic life.
• Invite every young man to wonder if the priesthood might be part of God’s plan for his
• Connect young men with their local vocations

Every passionate Catholic knows the Church needs priests to thrive. We’ve heard about the so-called priesthood crisis for decades. There may be many reasons for the apparent decline in vocations, but NSPV focuses on two simple and solvable problems.

The first is an image problem.

Young men don’t view the priesthood with curiosity or wonder. They don’t see it as joyful or heroic. They aren’t inspired by what God could do through their lives if He called them to the priesthood. And while we can’t make the priesthood seem like something it isn’t, we can help dispel the lie that it’s a lonely, wasted life.

The second is a tactics problem.

We know the most effective way to spark a vocation is a simple invitation: “I think you’d make a great priest.” Nothing replaces that. But without a personal invitation, how would a young man today ever hear that God might be calling him?

In many (arch)dioceses, the primary tactic is displaying a vocations poster in the back of a church.

It’s just not nearly enough.

For years, I’ve preached different versions of the same message through my books and the parish missions I’ve given: You’ll never truly be happy unless you’re doing what God wants you to do.

This, I believe, is what God wants me to do. When I look at my talents and skills, my professional background, and the path God has led me on, it feels like everything has been preparing me for this work.

Visit us at nspv.org to learn more and please keep this mission in your prayers.

The joy of the priesthood shouldn’t be a well-kept secret, and with your prayers, it won’t be! ✣

Dominick Albano is a passionately Catholic husband and father of four boys. He has been writing, speaking, and leading Catholic retreats for more than 20 years. He is the co-founder of the National Society for Priestly Vocations.

This article appeared in the November 2025 edition of The Catholic Telegraph Magazine. For your complimentary subscription, click here.