Last year during our very own Vocations Dinner, Bishop Dewane announced a brand-new initiative for the entire Diocese, a Vocations Ministry (and you can still get tickets for this year’s Vocations Dinner for this coming Friday night). This ministry should be developed in every parish, focusing on initiatives to educate and identify vocations in all the its members. From groups dedicated to praying for vocations on a weekly basis to a collaboration of all the various areas of the Parish Family that focus on youth and formation, this Vocations Ministry should become integrated into the rest of the efforts and activities of the community. And Father John echoed Bishop Dewane’s thoughts on this Vocations Ministry. There is no Catholic Church without vocations, there is no future church without youth engaged in their faith and discernment of their potential vocation. Youth cannot find it on their own. Pope Francis spoke about the need for the entire community to come together for Vocations:
The call of God comes to us by means of a mediation which is communal. God calls us to become a part of the Church and, after we have reached a certain maturity within it, he bestows on us a specific vocation. The vocational journey is undertaken together with the brothers and sisters whom the Lord has given to us: it is a con-vocation. The ecclesial dynamism of the call is an antidote to indifference and to individualism. It establishes the communion in which indifference is vanquished by love, because it demands that we go beyond ourselves and place our lives at the service of God’s plan, embracing the historical circumstances of his holy people…
Vocations grow within the Church. In the course of formation, candidates for various vocations need to grow in their knowledge of the ecclesial community, overcoming the limited perspectives that we all have at the beginning. To that end, it is helpful to undertake some apostolic experience together with other members of the community, for example: in the company of a good catechist, to communicate the Christian message; together with a religious community, to experience the evangelisation of the peripheries sharing in the life of the cloister, to discover the treasure of contemplation; in contact with missionaries, to know more closely the mission ad gentes; and in the company of diocesan priests, to deepen one’s experience of pastoral life in the parish and in the diocese. For those who are already in formation, the ecclesial community always remains the fundamental formational environment, towards which one should feel a sense of gratitude…
All the faithful are called to appreciate the ecclesial dynamism of vocations, so that communities of faith can become, after the example of the Blessed Virgin Mary, like a mother’s womb which welcomes the gift of the Holy Spirit (cf. Lk 1: 35-38). The motherhood of the Church finds expression in constant prayer for vocations and in the work of educating and accompanying all those who perceive God’s call. This motherhood is also expressed through a careful selection of candidates for the ordained ministry and for the consecrated life. Finally, the Church is the mother of vocations in her continual support of those who have dedicated their lives to the service of others.
– Pope Francis MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS ON THE OCCASION OF THE 53rd WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS
Please join us beyond this weekend’s Vocation Awareness and engage the Vocations Ministry, led by Marty Gautier, in determining how you can assist the Parish Family in developing vocations for every member of our community.