Recently in Vocations Category

Look at these beautiful young women following Christ as Poor Clare nuns of Lerma (Burgos), Spain! I can't believe my eyes!!! They're happy. They're alive. They're infectious.

Tonight 7 men made the Profession of Faith and the Oath of Fidelity (which I encourage you too read) at Vespers. These 7 men will be ordained to the Order of Deacon tomorrow here in the Saint Joseph Seminary Chapel by Bishop Dennis Joseph Sullivan, VG, auxiliary bishop of New York: James H. Ferreira, George LaGrutta, Steven R. Markantonis, Fredy P. Montoya, Thomas Roslak, Enrique J. Salvo, Daniel P. Tuite.

Speaking to the Serra Club dinner, renown for fostering vocations to the priesthood, diocesan and religious orders, Archbishop Timothy Dolan outlined 4 priorities:

1. Emphasize the vocation of marriage and family:"Taking care of the first crisis will take care of the second," said Archbishop Dolan. "Vocations to the priesthood and religious life come from lifelong, life-giving faithful marriages."

2. Re-create a culture of vocations: "There were no good old days in the Church. Every era in Church history has its horrors and difficulties. We need to recapture the climate/tenor/tone/ambiance in the Church where a boy or man isn't afraid to publicly say, 'I want to be a priest,' and where his family, relatives, neighbors, parish, priest, sisters, teachers and even non-Catholics are robustly supportive."

3. The laity need to not be afraid to ask their priests to help them be holy: "For a faithful Catholic, a priest is essential for growth in holiness because he gives us the sacraments, and without the sacraments we can't be holy. When you ask us to help you be holy, we realize that we must be holy, and you remind us that there is something unique in the Church that only a priest can do."

4. Priests must be reminded that they are here to help the laity get to heaven: "A priest is an icon of the beyond, the eternal, the transcendent. Heaven gives us hope and meaning in life."

Over the years New Haven area Catholics have nurtured the vocations of many men to the priesthood or religious life. In the coming days I am hoping to write more about those who have said "yes" to the Lord in His call to religious life and priesthood. But for the moment let me note here those from the New Haven area that are studying for a religious order or a diocese:

... the character of the Good Shepherd is branded on your hearts.. at ordination. 

Not sure about you but I am getting a bit annoyed by some of the oxygen being sucked out of the "Catholic newsroom" by the multiplicity of stories of how unhappy the many sisters' congregations are that there is a Vatican sponsored visitation of active religious sisters which is focussed on the charism of the particular order and the living the charism today AND a second visitation being done to know what the sisters are teaching and practicing in their convents and schools when it comes to the Catholic faith. The apostolic visitation wants to see what needs to be done to help the active religious order (vs the monastic ones) so that they live their vocation and thrive. The second visitation is to see what Catholic character of the orders; that is, what content is being adhered to. Some religious orders of sisters don't teach the Catholic faith as it is proposed by the Church especially when it comes to sotieriology & Christology, and ecclesiology & sacraments. So, what do the sisters follow in terms of the path set out by Christ and the Church when it comes to unicity of Jesus Christ, the Church as a sacrament unto salvation and the ordination of men to Order? Do they hold so rigidly to their own opinions so as to reject any fidelity to the faith as it has passed down from the Apostles? Some will undoubtedly see doctrinal questions interference and dealing too much with money, power and fame and not to the "true nature of what Christ wanted" or what the Vatican 2 Fathers wanted.

It is about a growth in love, in your life and in the Church. A calling in the Church is never a call to a job or function, but a call to a person. A vocation is an appeal to grow into a relation, a relation with God's love. A call to the three evangelical counsels is a journey of growing in love. This journey begins of course with less of His love, so that more of His love can be given to me. The One, who is more than everything else in this world, must grow in me.

Recently, the National Catholic Register published an article on the life of nuns at the Valley of Our Lady Monastery, located on 112 acres in Prairie du Sac, outside of Madison, Wisconsin. The author brings out some salient points that contribute to the "success" of this particular monastery. Let's be clear, success is not defined here in terms of secularity but ways that allow for a vocation to thrive according to the Divine Plan. Let me draw your attention to two things that struck me. Mind you, these items (see below) are not new at all but they do spell out what is needed to help contribute to the resurgence of religious life if it's God's will. Sadly groups like the Sisters of Mercy, the Sisters of St Joseph, the various Franciscan and Dominican sisters' congregations to name a few, would think these comments are inaccurate, too shrill and not relevant for the "modern world." Truthfully, I think these groups want to die because they are too "relevant" matter. BUT when you see women attracted to congregations like this monastery, the Alma Mercy Sisters and the Franciscan Sisters of the Martyr Saint George and not to the secular-looking groups, then one has to ask the hard questions. Having defend the general thesis of the article, let it be known I am not totally in agreement with Father Mullady's acceptance of BlackBerries but I can't have everything.