Homily 3

 

Serra International Convention

 

Archbishop Elden F. Curtiss

 

Dallas, Texas

 

Sunday, June 29, 1997

 

Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul (Acts 12: 1-11)

 

THE DIVINE INTERVENTION FOR VOCATIONS

The Church continues to be persecuted in many places in the world today, just as she was in the beginning. There are still Herods ruling in China and certain Islamic countries who directly oppose the successor of Peter and the mission of the Church. But for many Catholics throughout the world, the persecution that is experienced is much less obvious, and more subtle, than direct attack. Modern secular societies do everything they can to silence the moral voice of the Church, to discourage organized religion as much as possible, and to cause dissent and division among believers. The Church's insistence on the common good of all human beings contradicts the modern secular principle of promoting individual rights at all cost.

 

But despite these negative pressures on us, most of our Catholic communities experience in amazing ways God's saving power at work in their midst, just as Peter in the reading from Acts (12,1-11) was rescued from the clutches of Herod and the Jewish leaders who conspired against him.

 

It seems to me that vocation ministry in our countries today is experiencing the same kind of divine intervention. Despite negative influences from all directions which discourage vocations to priesthood and consecrated religious life, the Lord of the Harvest is breaking through these obstacles in response to the fervent prayer and action of many people of faith. Serrans in many places and many different circumstances are part of this vanguard of faithful people who are taking responsibility for vocations in their parishes and dioceses.

 

Adequate Support for vocation directors

Recently I published a paper regarding the necessity of greater support for vocation directors in the United States. So many directors are discouraged because they do not have the time and support they need to respond to potential candidates in their dioceses. They need strong personal support from their bishops first of all, and the constant encouragement and collaboration from their fellow priests who are the main recruiters for vocations to priesthood. They need a network of faith filled people who support vocation ministry in parishes, in Catholic schools (especially high schools), and on college and university campuses. Serra plays an especially significant role in this support base for vocation directors.

 

In this local diocese of Dallas, with 325,000 registered Catholics, one full time vocation director can manage the recruitment process provided he has an adequate staff and network of people in place to be able to spend the necessary time it takes personally to relate well with every candidate who surfaces. In the archdiocese of Chicago, with 2.4 million Catholics, the vocation office needs five full time priest vocation directors working with a large staff in order to begin to respond adequately to the potential vocations present in the archdiocese.

 

Vocation Directors indicate that it takes a great deal of time to meet personally and frequently with the prospective candidates who surface each year. And if these candidates do not receive adequate attention and encouragement over a period of time and with some frequency, many of them gradually drift in other directions. There are many counter forces against priesthood and religious life present in their lives. They have many questions which need answering. They have many obstacles to overcome. They need ongoing support, encouragement and challenge from vocation directors who have time for them.

 

Role of priests in recruitment

The vocation director in every diocese must rely primarily on his brother priests to identify qualified candidates for the seminary. They are in direct contact with young people everywhere in the diocese. They are most influential than they realize in encouraging vocations. They know and work with young people in schools, religious education programs, youth groups, retreat experiences, campus ministry, etc. They are the ones who must point out God's call, affirm a candidate's gifts, encourage him in prayer, walk with him in this struggles, and put him in contact with the vocation director. The priests of a diocese are the ones who provide the vocation director with the names of the most viable candidates for the seminary and diocesan priesthood. If every diocesan priest would surface and work with one potential candidate at a time, there would be no vocation shortage in a diocese.

 

In the Archdiocese of Omaha, we have many priests who personally encourage vocations with the result that our seminarian pool is increasing steadily.

 

Serra's support for vocation directors

In every diocese there are many lay people who have a vital interest in vocation ministry because it is essential to the future of the Church. When this interest and effort becomes organized and galvanized in a Serra club, the vocation director has a secondary support group which is immensely helpful to him in his ministry. Serra exists to promote vocations to priesthood and religious life. Here in the United States Serrans everywhere are committed to the national strategy for promoting vocations. More and more Serrans are willing personally to encourage prospective candidates for the seminary and novitiate. Serrans are working to promote vocations in families, parishes and schools throughout their dioceses. Serrans are developing useful vocation materials, training vocation teams in parishes and sponsoring visits of prospective candidates to seminaries and novitiates. And more than anything else Serrans are providing a strong pray base for vocations which is basic to vocation ministry everywhere in the world.

 

I am convinced that the Lord of the Harvest is calling adequate numbers of candidates to priesthood and religious life in all our dioceses to meet our needs. We together, bishops, priests, religious, deacons and lay leaders must work together to surface these vocations, nurture them and support them through a vocation ministry which is adequate to the task.

 

A shortage of full-time workers in the harvest

There are no shortages of vocations. They are only shortages of full-time vocation directors who have reasonable populations to cover and adequate resources and support systems to help them do what they need to do. If you Serrans are committed to daily prayer for vocations and are persistent in your efforts to support your vocation directors, and if they have the full support of their bishops and fellow priests, you will be amazed at the results.

 

"Then Peter realized what had happened to him and he exclaimed 'Now I know that it is really true! The Lord sent his angel to rescue me from Herod's power!'" His angels are among us now to rescue us from the prophets of doom who proclaim that the priesthood and consecrated life is in hopeless decline. We are the evidence of God's intervention and the great harvest which is coming. All we must do is continue to pray and work together to promote vocations -- God will do the rest!