Those in the priesthood, involved in the religious life or even considering attending seminary in the Toledo Diocese should be grateful — they have a lot of supporters.

In fact, there are three groups that consider support part of their mission. Two organizations are comprised of adults — the Serra Club and Knights of Columbus. A third group, the Crespi Society, has members who are high school students.

The Serra Club in Fremont was formed 10 years ago after the late Bishop James R. Hoffman thought there might be enough interest because of the many priests and sisters who originally came from the Fremont area.

President Tom Hoffert says the club tries to recruit members from each of the eight parishes in the deanery. There are 37 members now, a number that has remained fairly steady.

 “We meet twice a month,” Mr. Hoffert says. “We try to foster vocations,” and encourage priests and nuns to “stay in.

 “We think all the priests and nuns need to be encouraged,” he says.

The Knights of Columbus was formed in the 1800s for families losing husbands — “the main bread winners in the family,” says Mark Cmar, a trustee with the Bellevue group. The Knights eventually evolved into helping families with insurance, sponsoring the Boy Scouts and ball teams as well as fostering vocations.

Mr. Cmar, who describes the Knights as “very strong in vocations,” says he joined because he wanted to do more outreach. He says one of the tenants of the group is to help priests with their mission. The Bellevue organization supports those in the ministry by fundraising and matching funds to make significant monetary contributions, which offset the cost of tuition and books at seminaries.

While the Knights of Columbus pray for those in ministry, prayer is the primary focus of the Crespi Society at Delphos St. John High School.

Adult advisor Mary Lou Pohlman, also in charge of the religious education center for Delphos St. John, says the purpose is to “support anyone who is already being called to the religious life.” She says Crespi members also pray for themselves to discern “whatever vocation” to which God is calling them.

The Crespi Society evolved from the Lima Serra Club praying for “an increase in religious vocations,” Ms. Pohlman says, and its members approaching Father Todd Dominique with the idea “that this was going on in Fremont.” Essentially, she explains, the Serra Club was asking how they could “bring an awareness to the high school students to get them at least thinking” about going into the religious life.

Four students signed up after Fr. Dominique presented the program in the spring of 2001.

“Those four went door-to-door … to religion classes,” Ms. Pohlman says, and gathered 30 to 40 other students. “Now we’re at the highest we’ve been at 148.”

The Delphos Crespi Society meets every Friday at 7:30 a.m. for 15 to 20 minutes. Although they primarily pray for their own members, the group has written letters to seminarians, based on a list provided by the diocese.

“Some of them got answers back,” Ms. Pohlman says. “They [the seminarians] appreciate what the kids are doing. They feel their prayers.”

Mr. Hoffert considers prayer “a big thing” for the Serra Club in Fremont. In fact, the members have published a calendar for the last six years, which lists seminarians, priests, nuns and deacons for whom they specifically pray.

The monthly meeting of the Serra Club in Norwalk consists of prayer and a short business meeting plus a speaker. For the last seven to eight years, the group hosts a hog roast the third Thursday in May for deacons and their spouses as well as priests and nuns.

“We usually have a good time,” says President Dick Alge about the event held at Peru St. Alphonsus.

The Norwalk Serra Club, formed around 2000, sends $25 checks to seminarians on their birthdays. The organization also gives gift certificates to local high school students, honoring their work as servers and lay communion distributors.

“Naturally, it feels good, like you’re doing some part to encourage them,” Mr. Alge says.

The Fremont Serra Club is involved in the College Connection program, which provides Catholic campus ministry information to incoming Catholic college students.

“(It’s) to keep the connection to the church while they are in college,” says Mr. Hoffert, who believes more students discern their religious vocation because of a college experience than from high school.

“We feel great about that,” he says. “We feel that’s our way to keep the church going. That’s our part of the puzzle.”

Like Mr. Hoffert, Mr. Cmar says it’s great to support those going into religious life. He mentioned “one of the young guys” at his parish, Bellevue Immaculate Conception, is going to a seminary.

“We need vocations to be a part of priesthood and religious life. We need our shepherds,” Mr. Cmar says. “The role of the church is very important.”

“It’s something we need now more than ever,” says Mr. Hoffert. “If we don’t get more priests, we’ll have to close more churches.”