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Saturday 4 August 2012

More on the vocations document....some amazing statements



This is the last post on the document on vocations. I want to stress three points which I find remarkable and which have been MISSED by commentators and priests. The first is so obvious as to be amazing.


This first point is that altar servers lead to vocations. Then, why do we have girl altar servers? I cannot believe the problem which has been set-up here.


The second point has to do with retreats for boys and men for vocations. This should be happening everywhere and is in some dioceses.


The last point strikes me as amazing as well. Minor seminaries were shut down in my life-time one after another, like falling dominoes. Now, the call for minor seminaries seems timely. I cannot understand how such chaos happened in the Church in the 1970s.


18. Altar service is often the first step to other forms of service in the Christian community. This experience, wisely integrated into education for liturgical prayer, listening to the Word and sacramental life, can be used as a real path leading to the possibility of a priestly vocation.
For this reason, vocational ministry for priesthood gives special attention to altar boys. Numerous priests and seminarians, before going to seminary, have been part of the group of altar boys and have served at the altar.
Retreats and vocational spiritual exercises, organized for young men, are extremely important in allowing them to live the experience of silence, of prolonged prayer and of encouThree more points selected from the document on vocations examined in the past few days show a remarkable statement MISSED by most Catholics, including priests. Note these three points:
ntering the Word of God. They can be special moments of reflection upon one’s life, a personal discovery of one’s own vocation.
“Residential vocational communities” can also help young men in finding and discerning a vocational direction leading to the seminary. They are a kind of ‘pre-seminary’, with the stable presence of properly trained priests who offer a ‘rule of life’ punctuated by moments of brotherly life, personal study, sharing in the Word, personal and communal prayer, celebrating the Eucharist and spiritual direction.

19. Minor seminaries can offer boys and teenagers the chance to be accompanied, educated and formed in discerning their desire to become priests. Furthermore: ‘In view of its nature and mission, the minor seminary could well become a significant reference point for vocations promotion in the diocese, with suitable formative experiences for young men seeking to discover the direction of their lives and their vocation, and for those who have already decided to set out on the path to ministerial priesthood, but are not yet ready to enter the major seminary.’1
1 Congregation for Bishops, Directory for the Pastoral Ministry of Bishops Apostolorum successores (22 February 2004), n. 86.