Vocations: Everybody s Business Pastoral Letter on Vocations Bishop Seán P. O Malley, OFM Cap. Diocese of Fall River September 8, 2000 Everybody s Business In this Jubilee Year with its emphasis on the Eucharist, I wish to address the topic of vocations, especially vocations to the Priesthood. We all know too well that without the Priesthood there is no Eucharist; without the Eucharist the Church is crippled. For this reason, Priestly Vocations are everyone s business. If you are a Catholic, you have a huge stake in the priesthood and vocations. Christ has given us, the Church, the gift of the Priesthood to perpetuate the Eucharist, to preach the Gospel, and to forgive sins. Because these things are so important to us, we must be attentive to what is happening in our world. Our priests are growing older, and fewer men are coming forth from the community to replace them. It has been a joy for us that in the last eight years we have ordained thirty new priests for the Diocese of Fall River. However, during this same time period, we have lost almost fifty priests from active ministry through retirement, illness, and death. What is the problem? Is God calling fewer people? I think not. God is still calling, but many are not heeding the call, like the rich young man in the Gospel whom Jesus invited to discipleship, but who declined because he was very rich and very attached to his wealth. The Gospel says that Christ looked on the man with love when He called him, but the story goes on to say that the man went away sad, because his possessions were many. When a vocation goes unanswered it is not only a sadness for the one who declines God s call, but also a sadness for the entire Catholic community who has just lost another priest. When I hear this Gospel about the rich young man, I wish I could have been there to say to him, Not so fast, give God a chance, trust Him, don t go away sad embrace your vocation and find true happiness. Unable to reach the rich young man of the Gospel, I want to try to reach out to today s rich young man whom Christ is calling to be a priest; and I want to appeal to my fellow Catholics to join me in this campaign to identify the young people God is calling. God in His loving Providence gives to the Church all the gifts She needs. The crisis is not a lack of vocations, but rather a lack of responses. Why is there a lack of responses? Perhaps because so many Catholics are unaware of what Priesthood is all about: the wonder and awe of making Christ present in our midst. A priest lends his voice to Christ who says at each Mass: This is my Body. This is my Blood. It is the priest who shares so intimately in Jesus ministry of Reconciliation. What a joy to be able to announce the good news to a suffering person: Through this Holy Anointing, may the Lord in His love and mercy help you with the grace of the Holy Spirit. As Catholics, we need to promote vocations in the Church. It is the responsibility of the entire community to pray for vocations and to invite our young people to consider the possibility that God might be calling them to a vocation as a priest or religious. Our ideal goal must be to instill in our young Catholics such a love and appreciation for the sacraments and the Priesthood that they will not only consider a vocation themselves, but also encourage their peers to be open to such an option, because too many vocations have fallen victim to peer pressure. Parents, priests, and catechists must form youth leaders who can help encourage vocations in our parishes, our schools, and our youth organizations. Situation in U.S. In 1792, the first Bishop of the United States, John Carroll, wrote: It is notorious to you all, that the present clergymen are insufficient for the exigencies of the faithful; and that they will be more and more so, as the VOCATIONS: EVERYBODY S BUSINESS BISHOP SEÁN P. O MALLEY, OFM CAP. 8 SEPTEMBER 2000 PAGE 1
population of our country increases too rapidly; unless, by providence of our good and merciful God, a constant supply of zealous and able pastors can be formed amongst ourselves. Two hundred and eight years later, most Bishops could pen the same lines. Nationwide, the number of Catholics continues to increase and now stands at over 61 million. This represents a growth of 17 million Catholics since 1965. While the number of Catholics has increased, the number of priests has dropped from 58,000 to 47,000 and the number of seminarians has shrunk from 8,000 to 3,000. Of the over 19,000 parishes in our country, more than 2,000 are without a resident priest. This means that 10% of the U.S. parishes have no resident priest. The reality of the present shortage of priests, coupled with the aging of our clergy, underscores the importance of promoting vocations. The vocations are there in the hearts of our young Catholics, vocations waiting to be nurtured and cultivated by our prayers and encouragement. Outreach to the young We have many young people today who lead good and generous lives, but are not involved enough in the life of the Church or familiar enough with the teaching of the Gospel to be able to identify a call or to respond. This reality confronts us with one of the greatest challenges of the Church today: how to be more present to young Catholics and to involve them in the life of the Community. The overwhelming response to World Youth Day this summer indicates that many young people are experiencing a hunger for God and are turning to the Church for answers. The Holy Father is teaching us that we must love young people and invite them to be a part of our spiritual family. Sometime Church leaders feel put off by modern culture or by a fear of being rejected by young Catholics. We need to reflect on the example of our Holy Father. In Rome this past August over two million young Catholics gathered around the Holy Father at Tor Vergata. There they renewed their Baptismal promises, witnessed to their faith, and participated in the Eucharist with Pope John Paul II. It was the largest gathering of youth in the history of Europe (which is a long history). No political leader, rock star, super model, athlete, scientist, or philosopher could accomplish such a thing. Two million youth translates into one out of every 500 Catholics in the world. As the Holy Father said at the opening celebration, those young people came to Rome seeking Christ in the city hallowed by the blood of Saints Peter and Paul and generations of martyrs. The Holy Father s love for the young and his ministry to them should encourage all of us in the Church to look for ways to allow our young Catholics to find their place in Christ s Church. Challenge of Discernment The call can come at different moments in life. Some people feel a vocation early on and persevere with the idea through high school. Today, more and more young men are discerning a vocation after college, or when they are already finished their professional training and are working. The independence and status that have been acquired can make it very difficult for some young men to answer the call, like the rich young man in the Gospel who turns his back on a vocation because, his possessions were many. We urge young men who feel an inclination to the Priesthood to enter into a discernment process to test their call. The process of discernment begins with a person working with a spiritual director in a gradual decision-making process. The decision, however, is not solely that of the individual. The Church must validate the call. For priests, the authenticity of the vocation is confirmed only when the man is accepted by the Bishop for priestly ordination. This takes place at the end of one s seminary formation and with the endorsement of the faculty. For religious, it is only when the religious congregation accepts the final vows of the candidate. One of the reasons the period of seminary training is so long is to allow the discernment process to go on. We know that a candidate may not be too certain about a call. The seminary experience allows a man time to reach a mature and firm decision concerning a vocation. Signs of a vocation When a person has the desire to serve as a priest or religious, and has the spiritual, physical, and psychological health necessary, and the Church pronounces on that vocation, one can be morally certain that God is calling that individual to priesthood or religious life. Some people think that a call is something dramatic like St. Paul being knocked off his horse. Most vocations are manifested in a growing awareness of the desire to serve God as a priest. The desire to serve as a priest needs to be tested. Why do I want to become a priest? is an important question. As a young lad, my cousin told me he wanted to drive a big car, so he thought he would like to be a priest. If someone wants to become a priest for social status or personal gain, or to avoid the responsibilities of marriage, or because he was just jilted by his girlfriend, such an individual does not have a vocation and should pursue other career opportunities. VOCATIONS: EVERYBODY S BUSINESS BISHOP SEÁN P. O MALLEY, OFM CAP. 8 SEPTEMBER 2000 PAGE 2
An authentic vocation is always contingent on a firm desire to know God s will in our life and put that will into practice. Each time we pray the Lord s Prayer, we say the words: Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. But sometimes what we really mean is my Kingdom come, my will be done. It takes great faith to really believe that what God wants is truly what is best. When we do God s will, heaven becomes present on earth. When we are guided by selfish ambitions, rather than make God s Kingdom more present and visible, we impede the growth of the Kingdom around us. Our ability to embrace God s will with trust presupposes that we know God and His love. If we really know that God is all loving and that He is at the same time allpowerful, we will not be afraid to entrust our lives into His hands. Sometimes people feel called to the Priesthood or religious life, but fear that it is too challenging and that they would fail to live out their commitment. We need to have trust in the Lord. If He gives us a vocation, He will also give us the strength we need. His grace and His love are enough for me. It takes a lot of trust to take the first step toward a vocation. Besides the desire or inclination, we must look to see if we have the spiritual and physical health, as well as the intellectual and human qualities, needed for a vocation. When the rich young man in the Gospel approaches Jesus with the question: What do I have to do? Jesus says that first you need to follow the Ten Commandments; and secondly, you have to be detached from some very legitimate goods in order to be completely available to be at the service of the Kingdom of God. The discernment process must take place in the context of a life of prayer and growth in virtue. Spiritual direction, confession, and frequent participation in the Eucharist are part of the path that leads to a knowledge of God s will and our own inner life. Because the call to Priesthood is a call to pastoral service, a man who is discerning a vocation should be involved in the life of the parish and the works of service of the community of faith. Oftentimes, young people are involved in serving Mass, or as lectors, Eucharistic Ministers, or in the choir; others are helping as catechists, or in youth ministry programs. Retreat programs and service projects with those in need are also valuable ways to grow in a priestly vocation. Academic Requirements The theological training required for a Catholic priest demands at least average intelligence and a capacity for intellectual development. The usual academic preparation consists in four years of college followed by four years of theology. When a man comes to the seminary with his undergraduate work completed, he would usually have a year or two of philosophy before beginning the four years of theology. The priest is called upon to be a teacher of the faith, and the seminary training is aimed at preparing him to do that and to have a love for learning that will be translated into an ongoing pastoral and theological formation after ordination. Lord, I am not worthy Sometimes very good candidates for the priesthood are overwhelmed by a sense of unworthiness. St. Francis of Assisi never aspired to the Priesthood because of his sense of not being worthy. Many great priests hesitated to take the step because of similar feelings of unworthiness. The Gospel should be reassuring when we see how Jesus calls ordinary people to be His disciples. Some of them had histories that would seem to preclude a vocation. Levi, a publican, worked for the enemies, the Romans, and enriched himself by exploiting the poor. Saul, the Pharisee, was an enemy and persecutor of the Church and even participated in the martyrdom of St. Stephen. Peter tried to kill the servant of the high priest; but, being a feckless swordsman, only manages to sever his ear. After this pitiful display of bravado, Peter flees and eventually denies Jesus three times, intimidated not by a soldier with a lance, but by a waitress who notices his accent. It is reassuring to see that the Gospels do not try to hide the defects and failings of Jesus first disciples. Obviously, no one is worthy to be a priest. A vocation is not a reward for a virtuous life, but does presuppose a conversion of heart and a spiritual journey that begins with repentance and a commitment to ongoing growth in the spiritual life. In Baptism we are all called to holiness of life. A vocation to Priesthood or religious life is a call to a radical form of discipleship that aspires to follow Jesus teaches an example ever more closely. Celibacy One of the stumbling blocks to a priestly vocation is that the gift of celibacy is not understood in contemporary society. Just as marriage as an institution has been debunked and trivialized by contemporary culture, the witness of consecrated virginity and celibacy has been dismissed as irrelevant and impossible. And yet so many of the problems of modern society are a direct result of the hedonistic approach to sexuality that is being promoted in our contemporary culture. VOCATIONS: EVERYBODY S BUSINESS BISHOP SEÁN P. O MALLEY, OFM CAP. 8 SEPTEMBER 2000 PAGE 3
The U. S. Bishops document on Priestly Formation defines celibacy as one of the most fundamental responses to Christ s invitation to radical discipleship for the sake of the kingdom: The ideal of a celibate, single life is based on Scripture (Mt. 19:12 and 1 Cor, 7:7 ff., and 36-38). Living without a wife and family as Jesus did is a powerful witness in the world. In addition, celibacy creates a heightened relationship between the priest and the people. This radical commitment makes a priest more available to serve God s people. The priest s life of celibacy does not mean a life in isolation and without friendship. Jesus celibacy did not cut Him off from other people; it made Him even more available for His mission to people. A priest s celibacy is not a rejection of marriage, but rather a call to be married to the community, the Church. Not everyone receives a call to celibacy; but the Church does receive all the gifts She needs. There will always be some of the baptized called to consecrate themselves to the Lord and the service of His people in such ways that marriage is not an option. It is one way that the Church continues to witness to our faith in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Church always needs new witnesses who proclaim with their lives that Jesus Christ is alive. This faith gives us the strength, with God s grace, to do difficult things for the sake of the Kingdom. Since the time of Jesus and the Apostolic Church, there has been a link between Holy Orders and celibacy. In the vocation of a priest in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, the call to celibacy is part of the vocation and needs to be a part of the process of discernment. If a young man determines that he cannot lead a celibate life, then it is clear that he does not have a vocation to priesthood or religious life. A personal prayer life, spiritual direction, and frequent reception of the sacraments of confession and communion are vital ingredients in the discernment process. The Program of Priestly Formation provides that psychological assessment should be an integral part of the admissions process into our seminaries. The Bishops also insist that those employed in the psychological evaluation of seminarians be well-versed in and supportive of the Church s expectations of candidates for the priesthood, especially in regard to celibacy. A Vocation is For Keeps Another difficulty in discerning a priestly vocation is the fear of making a commitment. Yet our relationship with God is built on a covenant, a commitment. Our Baptismal vows are our acceptance of God s plan that allows us to enter into the covenant God has made with His people. Love and fidelity are the heart of our commitment and require permanence, a direction in our life, an ongoing conversion, and a turning of our back on the false gods of our times: materialism, hedonism, and individualism. Without permanent commitments to God and to His plan of salvation, we risk jeopardizing the purpose of our existence. A life without commitments is a life adrift in the high seas of fads and impulses, peer pressure, and rebellion all without a compass. Commitment brings direction, purpose to a person s life. To a believer, commitments are based on our faith and trust in God and lend meaning to our existence. A sense of vocation and mission are essential for a believer. This inevitably demands a permanent commitment in life. Thou art a priest forever Priestly Ordination, like Baptism and Confirmation, is a sacrament that can be received only once in a lifetime because these sacraments change us forever. They confer an indelible spiritual character. Even if for some reason a man ceased to function as a priest, he is still a priest forever. This fact underscores the seriousness of the commitment to Priesthood. One cannot receive Ordination with a tentativeness or I ll try it mentality. One must embrace the Priesthood knowing that there will be trials, disappointments, and suffering but also knowing that it is worth it. Each day a priest works a miracle by changing simple bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ to feed God s people; a priest can say, I absolve you from your sins. A priest makes the Good News of God s love known. What could be more meaningful, more important, more beautiful? Recruitment During times of war, the recruiting posters depicted Uncle Sam pointing a menacing finger and the caption declared: Uncle Sam wants you! Many young people felt a need to respond to the challenge, to make the world safe for democracy, or to defend our shores from the threat of invasion. Anyone who could not respond to the call had to make an examination of conscience and question why he was not responding. In the Church, the Holy Spirit is the vocation director who plants the grace of a vocation in a person s heart. Christ wants you! The Church needs you! God s people need you! Sometimes the Holy Spirit s promptings are very clear in a person s mind and heart; but more often than not, the Holy Spirit relies on the help of other people to encourage and promote vocations. In our country, the Holy Spirit had very important collaborators in generations of religious women who formed the minds and hearts of millions of Catholic VOCATIONS: EVERYBODY S BUSINESS BISHOP SEÁN P. O MALLEY, OFM CAP. 8 SEPTEMBER 2000 PAGE 4
children. I don t think anyone could come in contact with the Sisters and not consider the possibility of a vocation to Priesthood or religious life. The Sisters explained the meaning of religious life, celibacy, Priesthood, and ministry. They challenged our youth to embrace a life of idealism and sacrifice in the service of Christ and the Church, and thousands of young people generously responded. Catholic Families Traditionally, Catholic homes have been a privileged place for a vocation to grow and be nurtured by parents who understood the importance of Priesthood and religious life. My own family was a great source of encouragement for my vocation. Today, we need to appeal to parents and teachers to instill a sense of vocation in our young Catholics. They should not confine themselves to asking their children: What do you want to be when you grow up? They must also ask and what do you think God wants you to be? We must help young people look beyond careers and professions and answer a call from God to be holy. For most young Catholics that call is going to be to married life. We must do all we can to help prepare them for that vocation. We can also be certain that some of our young people are being called by God to lives of special service in the Church, to priesthood, permanent diaconate, and religious life. It is particularly challenging to present the commitment of consecrated life and priest ministry in the context of contemporary culture. Without support, these vocations will go unheeded. Parents can do so much by praying with their children and teaching them to seek God s will in their lives through vocational discernment. Parents need to have a sense of vocation and mission themselves to pass on to their children. Parents receive their children from God and must be willing to give them back to God for service of His people. In faith parents need to understand that their children s true happiness depends on a generous response to God s call and that God is never outdone in generosity and love. Vocations tend to appear in families where the parents are actively involved in the faith formation of their children and instill in them a love and respect for priest and religious. Asking children to pray for priests is a way to signal to the child the importance of priests in our lives and at the same time indicates to the child that priests are human and need the support and prayers of the faith community to persevere in their service to the Church. Following the Church s calendar and making the seasons and feasts part of our family rituals is also a way to promote Church vocations. Likewise, by honoring the saints, we provide our children with Christian heroes and heroines whose virtues and lives of holiness and service offer challenging examples to new generations of Catholics. Their lives teach us that discipleship implies the cross, but where there is love and fidelity, life always has a happy ending. An appeal to teachers We no longer can count on the large numbers of religious sisters to educate our young people in the faith. Parents are now aided in this responsibility by thousands of lay teachers and catechists who generously serve our Catholic community. I want to appeal to all of our teachers, in all our CCD programs, and Catholic schools, as well as to our youth ministers to speak with our young Catholics about the call to holiness and the importance of discerning one s personal vocation. I appeal to you as well to speak specifically about the consecrated life and Diocesan Priesthood with our young Catholics. In doing so, you will be cooperating with the Holy Spirit in building up the Body of Christ. If we fail to inspire a sense of vocation in a new generation of believers, we will all suffer the consequences. Role of Priests Priests have a special responsibility to promote vocations. This is done first of all by, stirring up in your hearts the gifts you have received with the imposition of hands. We need to have a sense of wonder and awe in the presence of this mystery and gift, as the Holy Father calls the Priesthood. We are vessels of clay carrying treasures for God s people. We bring them treasures they need even when they do not know that they need them. There are countless frustrations and difficulties in the Priesthood, and yet the joys and consolations of a priest s life are part of the hundredfold Jesus promises to His faithful disciples. The more a priest is in touch with the gift and the mystery of the Priesthood, the more his life is an invitation to others to follow Christ in the same way. If each priest were to share his own vocational story, I am sure that the witness and ministry of some priest from his past would certainly figure prominently in every case. Indeed, it is important to share our own vocation stories with young people today. Oftentimes, they are intrigued by the thought of anyone choosing such a countercultural way of life; and the affirmation of the need to say Yes to God is often a powerful witness. A priest must speak about vocations in his homilies and in his visits to CCD Classes and parish schools. Youth VOCATIONS: EVERYBODY S BUSINESS BISHOP SEÁN P. O MALLEY, OFM CAP. 8 SEPTEMBER 2000 PAGE 5
Ministry is also a crucial venue for a serious discussion about vocations. An understanding of vocation needs to be an essential part of our religious formation. The witness of priestly fraternity is also an important factor in promoting vocations. Our Catholic people are always disappointed to see disunity among priests and bishops. Jesus High Priestly prayer for unity, that all might be one, has a special application to the Catholic Priesthood. Collaboration and fraternity are important aspects of a priest s vocation. A priest s sense of mission to lead people to Jesus Christ, is also a powerful motivator in promoting priestly vocations. It is essential to remind ourselves constantly that ministry is not about me, but about Christ. The sense of urgency that fills the preaching of Christ in the Gospels must find an echo in our hearts and in our ministry. Part of that urgency is expressed in the invitation to discipleship and to ministry. The priest, too, must be an inviter who challenges young people to search their hearts and to answer God s call to serve. Pray to the Lord of the Harvest Our quest for vocations in the Church is a spiritual one. We need to storm heaven with our prayers. The inexorable link between Eucharist and priesthood must be very clear to our people, and so Eucharistic adoration is a wonderful form of prayer for vocations. Over the last few years, we have tried to encourage Eucharistic adoration in conjunction with the traditional Catholic observance of First Friday and First Saturday. We have also encouraged the practice of perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in various parishes. I would ask that a conscious effort be made to emphasize prayer for vocations as an important element in the Eucharistic adoration and Holy Hours that take place throughout the Diocese. Faith and love for the Eucharist cannot allow Christ s presence in the tabernacle to remain alone. Already in the Old Testament we read that God dwelt in a tent (or tabernacle ) which was called a meeting tent. God desired meeting with His people. The tabernacles in our churches house Christ present among us so that we can have this meeting place with Him. I hope that my priests will be the first ones to enter the meeting tent, to visit Christ in the tabernacle for a daily talk, and to pray to the Lord of the Harvest to send more laborers into the harvest. The Curé of Ars once said: If we truly understood the priesthood, we would die, not of fear, but of love. May we discover this great truth each day in grateful adoration before our Eucharistic Lord. Parish Strategies Vocations come out of Catholic families and parish families. It is the young man in the CCD Class, the Confirmation candidate, the altar server, the member of the youth club, and the lector, who will be tomorrow s priest. The parish community needs to be very attentive to its responsibility to make use of every opportunity to promote vocations. As Bishop of Fall River, I am asking that: 1) Each pastor initiate discussions with the parish council and parish staff concerning the parish s role to promote vocations, especially to the Diocesan Priesthood. 2) That every parish should establish a Vocations Committee whose chairperson should be in communication with the pastor, the parish council, and the diocesan vocation director. (The Diocesan Vocations Office is prepared to give some assistance in the formation of parish vocation committees.) 3) That these committees be set up before the end of the Jubilee Year. It is our hope that these committees will help develop parish strategies for promoting vocations and engage the entire community of faith in this endeavor. We are very grateful to the parishes that have vocation committees already functioning and to the Serra Club International for the good work that they do. We thank all our parents, priests, teachers and youth ministers for all that they already do, and we urge you to redouble your efforts to encourage vocations. We must see this as a crucial part of parish life. It is in the community of faith that spiritual gifts are bestowed and discerned so as to be put at the service of God s people. We can ill afford to be complacent. We must storm heaven with our prayers asking the Lord of the Harvest to send us holy priests. Pope John Paul II expressed it so well: We need heralds of the Gospel who are experts in humanity, who know the depths of the human heart, who can share the joys, the hope, the agonies, the distress of people today, but who are at the same time, contemplatives who have fallen in love with God. Prayer to Mary, Mother of the Divine Shepherd Holy Mother of the Good Shepherd, turn your motherly care to our Diocese. Intercede for us to the Lord of the Harvest to send more laborers to the harvest. Inspire vocations in our time. Let the word of your Son Be made flesh anew in the lives of persons anxious to proclaim the Good News of everlasting life. Draw them near to the heart of your Son so that they can understand the beauty and the joy that awaits them when the Lord Jesus calls them to be his witnesses. Amen. Devotedly yours in Christ, +Seán, OFM Cap. Bishop of Fall River VOCATIONS: EVERYBODY S BUSINESS BISHOP SEÁN P. O MALLEY, OFM CAP. 8 SEPTEMBER 2000 PAGE 6