Creating a Culture of Vocations

Oblate Year of Vocation LogoMany older Catholics have memories of parishes and schools staffed by priests and sisters. That's not common in North America anymore. Our youngest Catholics have grown up with little or no experience of women and men in religious life or priesthood. Our challenge today is to create a culture of vocation in home, church and school that will encourage and assist our youngest members to respond to God's call. In addition to nurturing marriage and single life, how can families and parishes help to nurture vocations to priesthood and religious life?

Where are they?

There are many reasons why contact with sisters, brothers and priests is rare for most Catholics today. Advancing age and declining numbers in the priesthood and religious life top the list. With the switch to lay attire after Vatican II, way back in the 1960s, many women and men religious are simply less visible than they once were.

After Vatican II, the Church experienced a renaissance of lay involvement. Over the next decades, as professionally prepared Catholic laypersons were available to assume service and leadership in schools, hospitals and parishes, many religious left institutionalised ministries to serve the poor more directly.

Today's shortage is true for both diocesan clergy and religious communities, but perhaps for different reasons.
Religious congregations take seriously the stewardship of their institutional commitments — schools, hospitals, and so on — but they must also constantly be listening for the call to serve unmet needs. Many sisters and brothers would say that their job description is to go where nobody else wants to go, and do what nobody else wants to do, for the love of Christ. It propels them to the margins of society, to the most risky and least lucrative of ministries. Today, despite declining numbers and advancing age, men and women religious can be found starting new ministries among the most desperate and forgotten of peoples: immigrants, gang members, the homeless, the mentally ill, persons with HIV/AIDS, and so on. Their life commitment not only supports but also encourages a deep availability to serve Christ in the poorest of the poor.

Why be a religious today?

Throughout Church history, the numbers in religious congregations and diocesan clergy have flourished and faltered. The years before Vatican II were a “boom time” for vocations that make today's numbers worrisome in comparison. In every generation, though, there have been men and women who have sensed that call and have had the grace and the courage to respond.

What characteristics will be needed by our future generations of priests and religious? For whom would this calling be a viable life choice? For starters, they are women and men with good physical and mental health who have demonstrated a capacity for generous service and a deepening commitment to Jesus Christ. The commitment requires an ability to embrace counter cultural values like celibate relationships, a simple lifestyle and a willingness to sacrifice for the common good. Today's religious and priests need to be flexible enough to flow with the changes that characterise this time in the history of our Church and world. They also need to be adventuresome enough to risk helping to create what clerical or religious life is becoming.

Finally, those who accept the call to priesthood, the permanent diaconate or religious life will need to overcome negative attitudes brought on by scandals in the Church that have damaged the public perception of these vocations. Perhaps, and more important, they may experience the lack of encouragement from traditional sources such as parents and teachers — even priests and religious.

Discernment

Research indicates the need to plant the seeds of religious vocation early and to keep them watered! Vocation discernment needs to be an integral part of the faith formation of youth, everywhere. Further data reveals that the most important influence on the religious practice of teenagers is the practice of their parents, even more for this generation than in the past. From choice of college to choice of career, the influence of parents is critical. Parental attitudes towards priesthood and religious life can determine whether or not those life choices make it onto a young person's radar screen. Discernment is a gradual process. Vocation ministers are committed to providing general information that helps young people listen and respond to God's call, even if they are called in a different direction.

What happens to those who try?

Let's say one enters seminary or religious formation. Now what? Discernment continues for some years before ordination or profession of perpetual vows. A big concern relates to the very human desire to keep all options open. Combined with what is perceived as intense pressure to make the right choice, this deters many young people from taking even preliminary steps to discern a religious vocation. To understand discernment as a gradual process allows one to live into a life choice. It helps to relieve the fear of closing doors prematurely or making a wrong decision. Given the small numbers entering congregations today, there is a natural fear of being “the last one.” Here it helps to take the broad historical view of religious congregations. Many communities began with just three or four members under situations of great adversity. To paraphrase Mother Teresa, it's not about numbers; it's about fidelity. And God is faithful.

Creating a parish vocation culture

What would a “culture of vocation” look like in the parish? How can existing programmes be more welcoming of the young? What resources can we develop for our youngest members? Are there obstacles or attitudes that discourage young people from exploring a religious vocation? What adult formation is needed to educate for broad participation in the five steps mentioned above? When a parish is asking these questions, it is on the right track. This is a hopeful time for vocations to religious life and priesthood! The needs are as great as ever, and God is still calling. Coming of age in a Church in need, millennial-generation, Catholics are open to the possibility of priesthood and religious life.

Diocesan and congregational vocation promotion efforts are in full swing, using the new media to reach young Catholics where they are. The Church needs parents, teachers, parish leaders and other youth and young adult mentors to be confident and committed, encouraging our youngest members to consider the call to be sisters, brothers, priests and permanent deacons.