Serra International is a global organization, but every Serran will tell you that most of our energy is spent at the grassroots level through our local Serra Clubs. In collaboration with the local diocese, clubs organize and promote a wide range of events and programs: prayers for vocations, clergy appreciation dinners, vocation curricula in Catholic schools, altar server events, and countless other initiatives. We are passionate, creative, and energetic Catholics committed to fostering vocations. Serra International is the only lay organization aggregated to a primary pontifical work. In Minnesota, there are currently thirteen Serra Clubs, including five in the Twin Cities metro area.
One of the most enduring and beloved local programs began in the late 1970s. Mr. Walter (Red) Sochacki launched what is known today as the Vocation Bus Trip sponsored by the Serra Club of North-Minneapolis. It all started when students from Ascension Catholic School in North Minneapolis were taken to the McCarthy Gym at the St. Paul Seminary for an hour or two of swimming or playing in the gym. Red then started taking groups from other area Catholic schools and added tours of the seminary facilities. What started simply, grew into something much more meaningful.
The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is uniquely blessed to have both a minor seminary, St. John Vianney (SJV), and a major seminary, St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity (SPS), both located on the campus of St. Thomas University in St. Paul, MN. This was what made the first bus trips, typically made up of 7th and 8th grade students, so successful.
During the 1980s, the Archdiocesan Vocations Office and the Seminaries began providing speakers and tour guides. The focus of the visits shifted towards vocations awareness with the gym becoming an added bonus. Another important aspect of the bus trips, in those days, was an essay writing contest. Students were asked to write about what impacted them the most during the visit and what they learned. Reading student essays about how the trip opened their eyes to an ordained or a religious vocation was very moving. The Holy Spirit was clearly at work during every trip. Chaperones from the Serra Club, whether on their first trip, or those who were chaperones for many years, returned with something new each time. Truly, more was received than was given.
In the early 1990s, George Merriam took charge of the trips with help from Ellroy Wildhaber. Working closely with Fr. Ubel and Fr. Mader, Co-Directors of the Vocations Office, a new format for the trips brought greater vision to the program. They were enthusiastic about assisting having previously participated as seminarians and served as speakers for the groups.
Over time, the trips expanded to offer boys and girls separate trip agendas. For the first time, the girls were able to visit the Dominican Sisters at Our Lady of Good Counsel Free Cancer Home and the Sisters of St. Peter Claver at St. Mary’s Mission Home. Boys continued visiting the seminaries. In 1998, Ellroy took over managing the trips up until 2007 when John Lacina assumed leadership.
With strong support from Fr. Peter Williams, St. Paul Seminary Vocations Director, the trips continued to be successful. John included extending invitations to homeschoolers but it proved too great a logistical challenge to overcome. In the mid-2000s, the boys’ trips were expanded beyond the seminaries to include men’s religious orders around the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. It was great for the boys to see a different path of discernment of a priest or brother in a particular religious order. This also helped to relieve some of the pressure on both seminaries to host four to five trips per school year because the seminaries were experiencing great growth with many men discerning the priesthood.
John once noted that in May 2009, Pope Benedict XVI’s monthly intention was for “Lay Vocation Promoters – that the laity and Christian Communities may embrace their responsibility for promoting vocations to Priesthood and religious life.” The bus trips beautifully embodied that call. The program continued to be active until the COVID-19 pandemic which resulted in the temporary suspension of further bus trips.
In the fall of 2023, after the pandemic, Vocation Bus Trips were re-instated. The Serra Club of North-Minneapolis added two new VPs of Vocations who are dedicated to continuing and managing the bus trips. The two men, Jim McGuire and Mark Eastham, tag team the many logistics of coordinating with the seminaries, convents, religious orders, schools, chaperones, and buses. The Serra Club pays for all expenses associated with the trips with busing being its highest cost. In addition, cash awards are given to the First and Second place winners from each school for both boys and girls.
Today, Vocation Bus Trips are affectionately known as “the bus trips in the archdiocese.” Many are aware of these bus trips including Archbishop Bernard Hebda. John Lacina, who coordinated the trips between 2007 and 2019, summed it up when he said, “I’ve gone to confession, and afterwards realized my confessor had participated in one of the trips!” Today, when Serrans speak with seminarians and priests throughout the diocese, many fondly remember going on the trip themselves back in their middle school years.
The Holy Spirit and prayer have made these trips a success for decades. Hosts are always welcoming and find time in their busy schedules to accommodate the students. The support of the Vocations Office for fifty years has been a cornerstone. Catholic schools eagerly look forward to the trips and commonly request early registration to ensure a place on the calendar. Each year, the Serra Club of North-Minneapolis typically welcomes ten different schools with four to five trips in the fall and again in the spring. Religious education teachers at some Catholic schools have included these trips in their curriculum giving prior instruction to the students about the sites to be visited. Students arrive informed, engaged, and prepared to ask great questions.
Vocations Bus Trip activities vary by location but each trip follows the same format. It includes a tour of the facility, testimonies by seminarians or religious, and question and answer sessions. If there is a food shelf at the site of a religious order, students may volunteer to help, they may work in the garden, or they may be able to interact with elderly residents by sharing games and having lunch during visits to the Little Sisters of the Poor. Each student brings a bag lunch for the trip. Every trip includes an opportunity to attend Mass. The Serra Club invites the parish priest from each school to attend. A minimum of two chaperones from each school (male and female) are expected on the bus trip. Typically, three to five Serra Club members attend each trip as chaperones. In addition, some schools invite the parish youth director, seminarian(s), or those discerning the religious life to attend.
New in 2025 was a trip to Demontreville Retreat House in Lake Elmo, MN which received great reviews from all participants. Demontreville is a Jesuit retreat house that has provided silent retreats for men for over fifty years. It is staffed by three Jesuit priests who taught the students about their founder, St. Ignatius of Loyola. The Monastery of the Carmel of Our Lady of Divine Providence, an order of discalced Carmelites, is also located on the property. Because this monastery is cloistered, the girls were only able to speak to the nuns through a three-inch intercom in the wall. It was a unique experience for both the boys and girls to see religious orders in action.
The Vocations Bus Trips have evolved significantly over the years yet the core mission remains unchanged. As we look forward, we continue to be open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit to introduce people to the beauty of the priesthood and religious life and to support the mission of the Archdiocesan Vocation Office. It is important that any program to support vocations aligns with the overall mission of the Archdiocesan Vocations Office.
Vocation Bus Trips have been a wonderful apostolate in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Over the years through the workings of the Holy Spirit, Serrans have truly witnessed a grassroots mission bear lasting fruit.