Franciscan Friars of the Renewal Postulant Class of 2009

(l-r) Fr. Gabriel Bakkar, Vocation Director; Br. Pius Gagne; Mark Ames (California); Rusty Montgomery (Nebraska); Simeon Lewis (Vermont); Eric Pesce (Pennsylvania); Eric Chloupek (Nebraska); Adam Boyden (Ohio); Andrew Pasternack (Ohio); Anthony Redfield (Delaware); Brendan Laracy (Massachusetts); Br. Aloysius Mazzone; Fr. Luke Fletcher, Postulant Director

From the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal website:

Grace and peace to you!

On September 8th, the Feast of the Birth of the Virgin Mary, the friars and sisters gathered to receive and welcome our nine new postulant brothers. Earlier in the day, the sisters gathered to do the same for their six new sister candidates, who will become postulants in February. Thanks be to God for his grace and mercy at work in the lives of our new brothers and sisters! Thanks be to God for this abundant harvest of vocations for the Church. Thanks be to God for their simple “yes” because it was through one particular “yes” that the Creator of the universe took flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary.

The men and women who join us each year are for us a real sign of God’s provision, mercy, and grace. This day is for us an opportunity to grow in a humble awareness of God’s blessings. The Lord increases our numbers, he multiplies our works, he gives us his joy, he anoints us with his Holy Spirit, he disciplines us as his sons and daughters, and he leaves us with his peace and joy even during the most difficult struggles – often with our own sinfulness.

Please pray that we learn more and more each day that it is only through God’s grace and mercy that he chooses to bless us as he does. Whatever good we do is not ours but is his alone. The Lord clearly has no problem using weak and rusty tools to carry out his work, because he certainly knows our faults, failures, and sinfulness. Let all the glory be his…please pray that we do not take any for ourselves!

Please pray for our nine new brothers who will now begin the six-month formation period prior to becoming friar novices, and the first stage of their lifelong formation period prior to becoming friar saints.

May Jesus and Mary reign in our hearts!

Ave Maria!

Br. Aloysius Marie Mazzone, CFR

St. Joseph Friary
Harlem, NY

"Laypeople have duty to nurture vocations, says N.Y. archbishop"

By Ashlee Schuette - Catholic News Service

New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, keynote speaker at the 67th Serra International Convention in Omaha, Neb., said the lay faithful of the church have a duty to nurture vocations to the priesthood.

"Ordained priests have the duty to call forth the gifts of the lay faithful as they share in the role of Jesus of teaching, serving and sanctifying,” Archbishop Dolan said Aug. 30.
“And the lay faithful have the duty to take care of vocations to the sacramental priesthood.”

The archbishop is the episcopal adviser to the Serra Club, an international organization that promotes and fosters vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life. He was one of several speakers at the convention held at Omaha’s Qwest Center and attended by more than 500 people.

Need for vocation culture

Archbishop Dolan said one way to start promoting religious vocations is to begin with emphasizing the vocation of marriage and family.

“Only 50 percent of our Catholic young people are approaching the sacrament of matrimony,” he said. “Vocations to the priesthood and religious life come from vocations to lifelong, life-giving and faithful marriages.”

“There is a climate of fear, suspicion and discouragement when it comes to vocations to the priesthood and consecrated religious life,” he said. “Many boys or young men are afraid to publicly say, ‘I want to be a priest.’”

During the late 1980s, Archbishop Dolan said, only 51 percent of Catholic parents said they would be happy if their son wanted to be a priest. Today, however, he believes that perception is changing because of Serra International and other similar groups.

Serra International has more than 1,100 Serra clubs in 46 countries. Thirteen of those countries, including the U.S., were represented at the convention.

Serra International’s president, Cesare Gambardella of Italy, said the greatest trait of Serra is its internationality and its ties with the clubs of the world.

Some of those attending the convention said they like to take advantage of those connections.

Reaching out to youth

Patrick Ugbana, president of the Serra Club of Lagos in Nigeria, said he is inspired by the work of his fellow Serrans and noted that their work inspired him to attend the convention.

He said eight new Serra clubs are forming in Nigeria and half of the members are under 35.

“We want more young people to join,” he told the Catholic Voice, newspaper of the Omaha Archdiocese. “But I also want my older members to serve as long as possible because service to God never ends.”

Thomas Wong, a member of the Serra Club of Hong Kong for 15 years, said his club of 40 members is beginning to get some young people to join.

“The energy and enthusiasm of these young members will make our club stronger,” he said.

"Seminary in Uganda is “Bursting at the Seams”"

From Catholic Exchange
by ACN-USA News

The seminary for mature vocations in Kampala, Uganda, can now scarcely accommodate the many candidates who want to study for the priesthood. This was the report of the rector of the seminary, Father Joseph Sserunjogi, to international Catholic pastoral charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).

The lack of space in the seminary has now reached a point where even the office rooms within the seminary and other rooms in a nearby monastery are being converted into dormitory accommodations. Even with these changes as many as 15 students have to cram into a dormitory area of just 15 square meters, Father Sserunjogi told ACN. This was hardly a fitting state of affairs, he observed, adding that in many rooms there is a lack of fresh air and a consequent danger of ill-health.

At the same time, Father Sserunjogi finds it very hard to turn away vocations simply because of the shortage of space. For the coming academic year, beginning in September, there have been 48 applicants, and the seminary has only been able to accept 28 due to the lack of suitable accommodations.

This is a "very regrettable" situation, according to Father Sserunjogi, because "priests are needed everywhere and yet for lack of space we have to turn away those who feel themselves called." The priest told ACN that the seminary is trying everything possible to turn away as few potential candidates as possible. He continued by saying he believes that in future it will be essential to extend the seminary, since they cannot allow themselves to lose possible vocations.

The mature vocations seminary was opened in 1976. The diocese had a building available and the then Bishop of Kampala recognized that there are many men who have already learned a trade or profession yet subsequently feel themselves called to the priesthood. It all began with just a handful of seminarians, and of the 17 candidates in the "first wave," nine have now been ordained to the priesthood and two of them have go on to become bishops. Since the seminary first opened, no fewer than 180 priests have issued from it.

At the present time there are 155 men studying for the priesthood in the seminary, and the number is growing steadily. All have had other trades or professions before entering the seminary; many were teachers, others were white collar workers, policeman or veterinarians. The oldest candidate, who is now a priest, was 56 years old when he entered the seminary, the rector told ACN, but most are aged between 24 and 31 and come from one of the 15 dioceses in Uganda or from neighboring countries like Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Sudan.

In Father Joseph’s experience, the advantage of these late vocations lies in the fact that the men are "already more mature" and have reached their decision independently and with conscious deliberation. On the other hand they tend sometimes to take longer than the young seminarians to get used to life in the seminary.

The priest said that the most important thing is to communicate a sense of joy in the priesthood. At the same time it is important to prepare his seminarians for the real situations they will face as priests in Uganda. Many people in Uganda live in extreme poverty; they have no shoes, no watch, and yet they are willing to walk for hours in order to get to Holy Mass.

The longing of the people for God is great, Father Joseph told ACN. When a priest is held up by the appallingly bad roads and arrives late in a village, the faithful are willing to wait patiently many hours for him. Yet, at the same time, they expect a great deal from the priest. "They expect him to take care of everything," the rector explained to ACN. This can be a severe challenge for a priest to represent in every respect the only hope for many people, and he must at the same time make clear to people that what matters above all is Jesus Christ.

Father Joseph also explained how seminarians must learn how to deal with the still widespread belief in witchcraft that exists in many regions. The rector explained that it was ineffective to ban such practices. Instead, the right way is to show the people that the Christian God is the true God, who is everything that they need.

"Many people believe for example that a particular stone will bring rain," Father Joseph said, "but we must above all do something for the people, so that they will understand that Christianity is the true religion. Our deeds are more important than our words here!" Social commitment was also important, he said, since "a hungry man will not listen to our preaching."

In Uganda, the number of vocations is rising each year. According to Vatican statistics, every fifth seminarian worldwide now comes from Africa. At the same time, the number of Catholics is also rising so that in many regions there are still far too few priests. ACN is particularly committed to the training of priests in Africa and supports seminarians throughout the continent. The charity also helps to fund the construction, extension and renovation of seminaries.

"Vocations and the Contemporary World"

From Catholic Exchange
by Br. (Nov.) Gregory Symonds, O.S.B.

Peace be with you! My name is Br. Nov. Gregory Symonds. I am a novice at St. Bernard Benedictine Abbey in Cullman, AL. I would like to share with you in this article some thoughts and reflections about vocations and contemporary American society.

You might have heard about the crisis in the Church on the dearth of vocations. Much of what has been written on this is true. I would like to point out an often neglected aspect to the discussion—debt.

Fr. Anthony Bannon once wrote that debt is the number one vocation killer and he is correct. In the “dearth of vocations” talks, we often hear about a “liberal regime” squashing “orthodox” men and women from formation programs. What we do not hear much about are the many stories of men and women who wish to dedicate their lives to God vis-à-vis religious life or priesthood but have accrued debt and are hindered in their desire.

In the lives of such men and women, the Lord has called them to do some other work for Him before calling them into holy service. Such work is a type of “preparatory stage” for these men and women so that they may make vows or holy orders with a better mind and heart for the life of a priest or religious. This usually means that some human or intellectual formation is necessary. Whatever the reason, the Lord has providentially willed the work but it sometimes comes at a price.

Many of our young Catholic men and women are asked to attend college by vocation directors. This request is often made because the directors see something lacking in the character of these men and women. This “lacking” will vary from person to person but whatever it may be, vocation directors wish it to be addressed before entrance to seminary/religious formation can take place. Believing it to be the Will of God, these young men and women do enter college and obtain their degree.

Attending a four-year college educational program, however, does not come without a price tag and this fact is often overlooked.

By the end of a four-year degree program at a reputable University, the average student will have paid roughly $80,000. Some of this is reduced by grants and scholarships but a large bulk of that cost is taken up in educational loans. These loans must be paid back before a person can enter the religious life or in the case of diocesan priesthood, reduced to a certain amount (which varies from diocese to diocese).

Fifty or so years ago, the cultural and financial situation was not like it is today. A number of religious communities and dioceses accepted young men and women out of high school in larger numbers than they do now. The order or diocese educated them and paid the costs because the person was dedicating their lives to Christ through the order/diocese. The cultural situation, however, shifted in the last forty years with the reforms in the Church after Vatican II and in the secular world with the onset of greater lay-involvement in the Church and higher education being pushed more in American society respectively.

Many vocation directors now value prior education and the experience that comes with it so as to have more well-rounded social individuals able to meet the challenges the Church faces in contemporary society. As a direct result, more vocations were becoming “delayed” and others were lost entirely in a monumental task of repaying their academic debts.

To put it simply, the Church was not prepared for the shift in culture and has suffered casualties. To rectify the situation, efforts are currently underway to answer this need in the Church. I would like to point out one in particular—The Laboure Society in Eagan, MN.

In 2001, Minnesota businessman Cy Laurent realized that vocations in the Church were becoming compromised due to academic debt. Together with other people, Laurent founded the Society in order to help these men and women retire their debts by instituting an attractive 501(c) (3) program for benefactors. In addition to the program, the Society provides hope and encouragement through personal and individual coaching to the men and women seeking the benefit of the Society’s program. These men and women are called “aspirants” in Society parlance.

The Society does not have its own funds and operates solely upon donations given by generous benefactors through the individual aspirant. Thus, each aspirant has to raise awareness of their cause in order to find benefactors. To do this, the aspirants have come up with creative ideas. Outside of standard employment, some examples of their creative efforts include making music CD’s, hosting fundraisers and even appearing on the radio. These efforts have met with success and the Society takes great pride in the over 100 men and women it has helped so far to enter the consecrated life/priesthood.

I would like to make a personal appeal for every reader to support the work of the Society by assisting its aspirants. The Society is available on the Internet at www.labouresociety.org where you can find more information about the program, how it works and how you can help. Vocations are depending upon you—mine included.

Br. (Nov.) Gregory Symonds, O.S.B. is a novice at St. Bernard Benedictine Abbey in Cullman. You can visit him on his blog at http://d-rium.blogspot.com.

Nashville Dominicans Attracting Most U.S. Postulants

From The Tennessean
By Bob Smietana

When it comes to ultimate Frisbee, the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia don't mess around.

On a recent afternoon, a dozen young sisters, dressed in full-length habits or in postulant uniforms — white shirts, black skirts, black vests — and wearing sneakers and blue aprons, gathered at the edge of the convent's playing field.

Then they screamed at the top of their lungs, and rushed another group of nuns as a white Frisbee flew overhead. "Did you see that?" said Sister Mary Emily, watching over her young charges. "They're trying to intimidate the other team."

There are 23 postulants this year at the Motherhouse of Nashville's Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia. It's the largest group of new nuns in training in the United States.

While many religious orders in the United States are declining, the Nashville Dominicans are flourishing. Most of the new sisters are in their 20s and want to be traditional nuns — wearing full habits and living in a convent. They say that life as a nun offers more than the secular world could ever give them.

The new sisters, known as postulants during their first year, are a diverse group. Sister Maria, from Pennsylvania, is 17 and straight out of high school. One, a nurse of Vietnamese descent, came from Sydney, Australia. Another sister is from the Ivory Coast. Others are from Ohio, Michigan and other Midwestern states. One is from Knoxville. Three were engineers before coming to the convent.

They love Pope Benedict XVI and the retired nuns at the convent, as well as Christian rock bands Third Day and Jars of Clay. And they've left everything behind — families, friends, careers, even their iPods, cell phones, laptops and Facebook accounts — all for the sake of Jesus.

"God showed me that everything I longed for in my heart was here," Sister Angela said. "My vocation was a romance with the Creator."

These sisters are younger

The 1940s and '50s were the glory years of American convents, says Sister Mary Bendyna, senior research associate for the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, which studies American Catholicism.

"In the '40s, '50s and '60s, we saw large numbers of people in the Catholic Church going into religious life," she said. "That was unusual.''

By 1965, there were 179,954 nuns in the United States. Today, there are 59,601. Most are senior citizens, said Sister Mary, who recently completed a study of American Catholic religious orders.

"There are more over 90 than under 60. That was particularly striking," she said.

By contrast, the average age of the 252 Nashville Dominican sisters is 36. And they have 54 candidates in their training program, known as the novitiate.

It takes seven years to become a full-fledged sister. The postulant year gets the incoming sisters accustomed to life at the convent. Then they become novices. In their third year, they take temporary vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, followed by permanent vows at the end of the process. At that point, most go out to teach in Catholic school through the order's 22 missions, each with about four to five nuns.

Those first two years are a kind of spiritual boot camp.

"They get up at 5 a.m. and begin the day in the chapel, with prayer, including meditation, the Divine Office, and then the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass," Sister Mary Emily said.

Breakfast is at 7 a.m. Then they are off to class until 12:30 p.m. at Aquinas College, or, if they are novices, in silence meditation or study at the Motherhouse until 12:30 p.m. In the afternoon, they have recreation and classes at the Motherhouse, followed by vespers.

All the nuns eat in silence, while a sister reads from the Bible or a spiritual book — currently they are listening to a biography of Cardinal Stritch, a Nashville native who became archbishop of Chicago. There's another hour of recreation in the evening, followed by spiritual reading, night prayer and an evening service, and then silence. Lights out at 10 p.m.

Postulants and novices are not allowed to make phone calls. Their only contact with family is through twice-a-month letter-writing days or a family visiting day. There's no going home for the holidays.

"It's a real immersion," said Sister Mary Angela, who oversees the novices. "They can't live one foot in and one foot out. They have two solid years where they are really separated, and they can see, 'Can I do this with God alone?' "

Driven by love of God

Life at the order has changed a great deal since Sister Mary Angela first entered the convent 49 years ago. She and many of her peers came straight out of high school, inspired by the nuns who taught them as Catholic schoolchildren.

Sister Mary Angela is encouraged to see all the new sisters coming to the order. Like many Catholic religious orders, they went through a hard time in the 1970s, after Vatican II had modernized many church practices. Some sisters left. But unlike other orders, many of which abandoned wearing the habit, the Nashville Dominicans retained many of their traditional practices.

John Allen, senior correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter newspaper, said that in the 1970s, many nuns rebelled against the Catholic culture they had grown up in, which was seen as stifling and over-controlling.

"That world no longer exists," he said.

The young nuns in Nashville don't seem driven by conservative theology or ideology. Instead, they seem driven by a love for God.

Sister Mary Emily said that the nuns are glad to have the young women join them.

"We love our life, and we want to share it with others," she said.

"Is the Vocation Crisis a Myth?"

Archbishop Dolan on Promoting Vocations

From the National Catholic Register

The newly-installed Archbishop of New York City, Archbishop Timothy Dolan, uses this Year for Priests to give us laity four distinct ways of promoting vocations:

The first, said Archbishop Dolan, is by emphasizing the vocation of marriage and family. Citing data from a Pew Research Center study, Archbishop Dolan stated that only about 50% of Catholic young people are approaching the sacrament of marriage.

“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.”

Secondly, Archbishop Dolan spoke of re-creating a culture of vocations.

“There were no good old days in the Church,” said Archbishop Dolan. “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.”

Thirdly, Archbishop Dolan said that 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,” said Archbishop Dolan. “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.”

Finally, Archbishop Dolan said that 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,” said Archbishop Dolan. “Heaven gives us hope and meaning in life.”

Pope Benedict XVI - Connection between the Blessed Virgin Mary and the priesthood

BENEDICT XVI
GENERAL AUDIENCE

Papal Summer Residence, Castel Gandolfo

Wednesday, 12 August 2009

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The celebration of the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, next Saturday, is at hand and we are in the context of the Year for Priest. I therefore wish to speak of the link between Our Lady and the priesthood. This connection is deeply rooted in the Mystery of the Incarnation. When God decided to become man in his Son, he needed the freely-spoken "yes" of one of his creatures. God does not act against our freedom. And something truly extraordinary happens: God makes himself dependent on the free decision, the "yes" of one of his creatures; he waits for this "yes". St Bernard of Clairvaux explained dramatically in one of his homilies this crucial moment in universal history when Heaven, earth and God himself wait for what this creature will say.

Mary's "yes" is therefore the door through which God was able to enter the world, to become man. So it is that Mary is truly and profoundly involved in the Mystery of the Incarnation, of our salvation. And the Incarnation, the Son's becoming man, was the beginning that prepared the ground for the gift of himself; for giving himself with great love on the Cross to become Bread for the life of the world. Hence sacrifice, priesthood and Incarnation go together and Mary is at the heart of this mystery.

Let us now go to the Cross. Before dying, Jesus sees his Mother beneath the Cross and he sees the beloved son. This beloved son is certainly a person, a very important individual, but he is more; he is an example, a prefiguration of all beloved disciples, of all the people called by the Lord to be the "beloved disciple" and thus also particularly of priests. Jesus says to Mary: "Woman, behold, your son!" (Jn 19: 26). It is a sort of testament: he entrusts his Mother to the care of the son, of the disciple. But he also says to the disciple: "Behold, your mother!" (Jn 19: 27). The Gospel tells us that from that hour St John, the beloved son, took his mother Mary "to his own home". This is what it says in the [English] translation; but the Greek text is far deeper, far richer. We could translate it: he took Mary into his inner life, his inner being, "eis tà ìdia", into the depths of his being. To take Mary with one means to introduce her into the dynamism of one's own entire existence it is not something external and into all that constitutes the horizon of one's own apostolate. It seems to me that one can, therefore, understand how the special relationship of motherhood that exists between Mary and priests may constitute the primary source, the fundamental reason for her special love for each one of them. In fact, Mary loves them with predilection for two reasons: because they are more like Jesus, the supreme love of her heart, and because, like her, they are committed to the mission of proclaiming, bearing witness to and giving Christ to the world. Because of his identification with and sacramental conformation to Jesus, Son of God and Son of Mary, every priest can and must feel that he really is a specially beloved son of this loftiest and humblest of Mothers.

The Second Vatican Council invites priests to look to Mary as to the perfect model for their existence, invoking her as "Mother of the supreme and eternal Priest, as Queen of Apostles, and as Protectress of their ministry". The Council continues, "priests should always venerate and love her, with a filial devotion and worship" (cf. Presbyterorum Ordinis, n. 18). The Holy Curé d'Ars, whom we are remembering in particular in this Year, used to like to say: "Jesus Christ, after giving us all that he could give us, wanted further to make us heirs to his most precious possession, that is, his Holy Mother (B. Nodet, Il pensiero e l'anima del Curato d'Ars, Turin 1967, p. 305). This applies for every Christian, for all of us, but in a special way for priests. Dear brothers and sisters, let us pray that Mary will make all priests, in all the problems of today's world, conform with the image of her Son Jesus, as stewards of the precious treasure of his love as the Good Shepherd. Mary, Mother of priests, pray for us!

"Families are “fertile ground” for priestly vocations, says the Pope"

From Asia News

Castel Gandolfo (AsiaNews) – “When husband and wife devote themselves generously to the education of their children, guiding and steering them towards the discovery of God’s loving plan, they prepare the spiritually fertile ground from which vocations for the priesthood and consecrated life spring and mature. This shows how closely tied and mutually enlightening marriage and virginity are, beginning with their joint rootedness in Christ’s nuptial love,” said Benedict XVI during his reflection before today’s Angelus in Castel Gandolfo.

The Pontiff said that in this ‘Year for Priests’ we must pray so that “through the intercession of the Saint Curé d’Ars, Christian families may become small churches, and every vocation and every charism, given by the Holy Spirit, may be welcome and valued.”

In order to highlight the importance of family education in stimulating vocations for the consecrated life, Benedict XVI gave as an example the life of Saint Monica, Saint Augustine’s mother, whose liturgical memories were celebrated in the last few days. Saint Monica is in fact viewed as a “model and matron for Christian mothers.”

“A lot of information about her is provided by her son in his autobiographical book, the Confessions, one of the most read masterpieces of the ages. In it we learn that Saint Augustine drank the name of Jesus with his mother’s milk and that he was educated in the Christian religion by his mother, and that its principles remained with him during years of spiritual and moral disorientation. Monica never stopped praying for him and his conversion, and was rewarded for this when he came back to the faith and was baptised. God answered the prayers of this holy mother, to whom the bishop of Thagaste said: ‘it is impossible that the son of these tears should perish.’ In fact, not only did Saint Augustine convert, but [also] chose to lead a monastic life and, upon his return to Africa, founded a community of monks. In a quiet house in Ostia (Italy), the final spiritual exchanges between him and his mother —who was waiting to return to Africa— were moving and uplifting. For her son Saint Monica had become ‘more than a mother, the source of his Christian faith.’ For years her one wish was to see Augustine convert, and now she could see him even consecrate his life to the service of God. She could thus die a happy woman, which occurred on 27 August 387 AD, at the age of 56, after she asked her children not to worry about her burial, but to remember her, wherever they were, on the altar of the Lord. Saint Augustine used to repeat that his mother had ‘generated him twice’.”

The history of Christianity, the Pope stressed, “is marked by countless examples of holy parents and truly Christian families, who accompanied the life of generous priests and pastors of the Church.” As an example, in addition to Basil and Gregory of Naziansus (4th century), who came from a “family of saints”, the Holy Father mentioned Luigi Beltrame Quattrocchi Mr and his wife Maria Corsini, who lived from the late 19th century till the middle of the 20th, both of whom were beatified by John Paul II in October 2001.

After the Marian prayer, Benedict XVI said that in Italy ‘Save Creation Day’ will be celebrated on 1 September this year; its theme, “air, an element indispensable to life.” He explained that working on behalf of the environment is ecumenically significant because it is an issue that fruitfully brings together Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants.

“As I did during the general audience last Wednesday, I urge everyone to do more for the protection of God’s gift, Creation. In particular I encourage industrialised countries to work together responsibly for the future of the planet so that the poorest populations are not the ones to bear the heaviest burden for climate change,’ he said.

"Priest, Who Are You?"

From ZENIT

Photo Exhibition Explores Vocation

CANCUN, Mexico, AUG. 27, 2009 (Zenit.org).- The diocese of Cancun-Chetumanal is promoting culture and art along with the priestly vocation in a unique traveling photographic exhibition.

The diocese, headed by Bishop Pedro Pablo Elizondo, organized this initiative surrounding the Priestly Year, which began in June.

The exhibition titled "Priest, Who Are You?" is the first project of its kind in Mexico.

The project has seven parts, containing some 300 photos, and will be progressively displayed at important moments in the life of the diocese's priests.

The first part consists of over 40 photographs with text and images that aim to reflect the real and spiritual meaning of God's ministers, and their work of preaching, service, and pastoral care of souls.

This first section of the project was opened by the bishop on Aug. 15 at Our Lady of St. John of the Lakes, following a Mass celebrated by the pastor and official promoter of the exhibition, Legionary Father Mario Gonzalez.

In the Mass also opened the official construction of the new Church for the parish, with a blessing of the first stone.

Parishes throughout the state of Quintana Roo, on the Yucatan Peninsula, can request and receive the exhibition to create a venue of culture and artistic appreciation for their communities.

The display, which is free, is open to the public and is currently located in the parish of Our Lady of St. John of the Lakes, in Cancun.

"Father Raymond J. de Souza: Why priests don't have kids"

From the National Post

By Fr. Raymond J de Souza

Childlessness advocates tell us, in sum, that children require a lot of sacrifices. That's not news. What may be new is that people now feel confident enough to argue publicly that those sacrifices are too great -- in short, that the child is not worth it. I say "may be" new because while the technology has changed over the millennia, the human heart has not. No doubt in every age there were a few who thought children not worth the bother.

The book excerpted in these pages this week makes the argument that life would be more convenient, and therefore happier, without children. That does not really follow. Many things, including most things that give meaning to life, are inconvenient on one level or another. A life of great ease and convenience and even wealth is not necessarily a happy one. Surely the mother at home with toddlers is more constrained than the jet-setting sybarite, but if you know people in both categories, you know that the latter is not necessarily happier than the former.

But any father or mother could tell you that. I, as you would correctly intuit, have no children. Catholic priests of the Latin rite are celibate (the Catholic eastern rites have married clergy).

Understanding the celibacy of the priest requires an understanding of what marriage and children are all about. If they were bad things, or wicked things, or merely things constraining human flourishing, then celibacy would simply be required for everybody. Only if they are good things, very good things, does it make sense to sacrifice them for something greater. So if children are such a good thing, why does the Catholic priest remain celibate?

The first answer is that is how Jesus lived. He chose not to marry and have children, contrary to the norms of his time--and our time too. In the Catholic sacramental world, the priest acts not merely as a representative of Christ, but in the person of Christ Himself. What a priest does no merely human power can do--baptize, forgive sins, consecrate the holy Eucharist. So when the priest acts in the sacraments, it is Christ who acts. The priest then is meant to be an icon of Christ. That is understood, incidentally, even by those who are not Catholic, which is why priestly wickedness occasions so much attention and legitimate opprobrium.

The identification of the priest with Jesus Christ is deeply rooted in the apostolic tradition. Though the apostles were certainly drawn from married men, the biblical witness indicates that they left married life behind, or never married, in response to their vocation. The apostolic tradition has roots even farther back, in the priests of the Jewish covenant, who refrained from conjugal life when engaged in their sacred duties.

There is another dimension at work -- what we call the eschatological dimension. The priest lives now as we all hope to live one day, in the blessedness of heaven. In heaven, there is no marrying or giving in marriage, as Jesus teaches. Marriage and family are for this world. To be sure, it is precisely through marriage and family that most learn the virtues that prepare them for blessedness in heaven. But it remains a preparation.

The priest, and others in consecrated celibacy, lives now as a sign of the world to come, with his life fixed upon the promise of the eternal fulfillment God provides. In freely renouncing the great good of married life and children, the priest points to the world to come. Indeed, without the world to come, the celibacy of the priest would make little sense.

The childless by choice are aiming to maximize some of this world's goods -- education, professional advancement, travel, wealth and, to be blunt, consequence-free sex. For this they are willing to sacrifice their most enduring stake in this world: The only enduring thing we leave in this world is our children. The priest's motivation could hardly be more different. He sacrifices his enduring stake in this world not for more of this world's transitory goods, but for those things that are more enduring than this world itself.

The child by his very nature points to the future. The childless advocates reject the future in favour of the present. The celibate priest points to the future beyond the future even children promise-- eternity.

Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles groundbreaking on new convent

Kansas Catholic has a great post about the ground breaking for the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of the Apostles new convent. Too many pictures and captions to copy here. Please take the time to visit and enjoy the post HERE.

Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist

H/t to Fr. Schnippel

"10 Episcopal nuns in Archdiocese of Baltimore to join Catholic Church"

From the Catholic Review

By George P. Matysek Jr.

View beautiful slideshow about the sisters HERE.

After seven years of prayer and discernment, a community of Episcopal nuns and their chaplain will be received into the Roman Catholic Church during a Sept. 3 Mass celebrated by Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien.

The archbishop will welcome 10 sisters from the Society of All Saints’ Sisters of the Poor when he administers the sacrament of confirmation and the sisters renew their vows of poverty, chastity and obedience in the chapel of their Catonsville convent.

Episcopal Father Warren Tanghe will also be received into the church and is discerning the possibility of becoming a Catholic priest.

Mother Christina Christie, superior of the religious community, said the sisters are “very excited” about joining the Catholic Church and have been closely studying the church’s teachings for years. Two Episcopal nuns who have decided not to become Catholic will continue to live and minister alongside their soon-to-be Catholic sisters. Members of the community range in age from 59 to 94.

“For us, this is a journey of confirmation,” Mother Christina said. “We felt God was leading us in this direction for a long time.”

Wearing full habits with black veils and white wimples that cover their heads, the sisters have been a visible beacon of hope in Catonsville for decades.

The American branch of a society founded in England, the All Saints’ Sisters of the Poor came to Baltimore in 1872 and have been at their current location since 1917.

In addition to devoting their lives to a rigorous daily prayer regimen, the sisters offer religious retreats, visit people in hospice care and maintain a Scriptorium where they design religious cards to inspire others in the faith.

Throughout their history, the sisters worked with the poor of Baltimore as part of their charism of hospitality. Some of that work has included reaching out to children with special needs and ministering to AIDS patients. Together with Mount Calvary Church, an Episcopal parish in Baltimore, the sisters co-founded a hospice called the Joseph Richey House in 1987.

Orthodoxy and unity were key reasons the sisters were attracted to the Catholic faith. Many of them were troubled by the Episcopal Church’s approval of women’s ordination, the ordination of a gay bishop and what they regarded as lax stances on moral issues.

“We kept thinking we could help by being a witness for orthodoxy,” said Sister Mary Joan Walker, the community’s archivist.

Mother Christina said that effort “was not as helpful as we had hoped it would be.”

“People who did not know us looked at us as if we were in agreement with what had been going on (in the Episcopal Church),” she said. “By staying put and not doing anything, we were sending a message which was not correct.”

Before deciding to enter the Catholic Church, the sisters had explored Episcopal splinter groups and other Christian denominations. Mother Christina noted that the sisters had independently contemplated joining the Catholic Church without the others knowing. When they found out that most of them were considering the same move, they took it as a sign from God and reached out to Archbishop O’Brien.

“This is very much the work of the Holy Spirit,” Mother Christina said.

The sisters acknowledged it hasn’t been easy leaving the Episcopal Church, for which they expressed great affection. Some of their friends have been hurt by their pending departure, they said.

“Some feel we are abandoning the fight to maintain orthodoxy,” said Sister Emily Ann Lindsey. “We’re not. We’re doing it in another realm right now.”

The sisters have spent much of the past year studying the documents of the Second Vatican Council. They said there were few theological stumbling blocks to entering the church, although some had initial difficulty with the concept of papal infallibility.

In addition to worshipping in the Latin rite, the sisters have received permission from the archbishop to attend Mass celebrated in the Anglican-use rite – a liturgy that adapts many of the prayers from the Episcopal tradition. Mother Christina said 10 archdiocesan priests, including Auxiliary Bishop Denis J. Madden, have stepped forward to learn how to celebrate the Anglican-use Mass.

The sisters expressed deep affection for Pope Benedict XVI. The pope exercises an authority that Episcopal leaders do not, they said. The unity that Christ called for can be found in the Catholic Church under the leadership of the pope, they said.

“Unity is right in the midst of all this,” said Sister Catherine Grace Bowen. “That is the main thrust.”

The sisters noted with a laugh that their love for the pope is evident in the name they chose for their recently adopted cat, “Benedict XVII” – a feline friend they lovingly call “His Furyness.”

Click here to read how the Episcopal sisters hope to form ‘diocesan institute.’

Click here to see a slide show of the All Saints' Sisters of the Poor.

"The real 'Sister Act': Black nuns in America"

From The Grio
By Anthony Calypso

Sister Loretta Theresa on the steps of The Franciscan Handmaids of the Most Pure Heart of Mary in Harlem, NY (Photo courtesy: Ceci Marquette)

When Sister Georginah Githinji arrived in the U.S. from Kenya she thought of her trip as a miracle.

Githinji, a Kenyan Catholic nun, came to the States in 2004 to look for membership in a new congregation of sisters, or nuns. After visiting a group of Kenyan sisters who were already living in New York, Sister Githinji found the Franciscan Handmaids of the Most Pure Heart of Mary, an order of African-American nuns based in Harlem. Although Sister Githinji was a lifelong Catholic, who attended Mass daily back home, meeting the Franciscan Handmaids in the U.S. marked the first time that she had ever come across an order of sisters who happened to be African-American.

"I didn't know that there were African-American sisters," says Sr. Githinji, "I saw them for the first time in New York [and] I decided to join the Franciscans."

Read the rest of the article here.

"Pope Benedict XVI: Priests Should Be Witnesses of Love"

From ZENIT

Reflects on St. John Eudes' Devotion to Christ and Mary

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, AUG. 19, 2009 (Zenit.org).- A priest must be a witness and apostle of the love that is in the hearts of Christ and Mary, says Benedict XVI.

The Pope affirmed this today during the general audience in Castel Gandolfo in which he reflected on St. John Eudes and the priesthood, in the context of the Year for Priests. The feast of the 17th-century French saint is celebrated today.

Noting the difficulties in 17th-century France, the Holy Father said that "the Holy Spirit inspired a fervent spiritual renewal, with prominent personalities. […] This great 'French school' of holiness also had St. John Mary Vianney among its fruits. By a mysterious design of Providence, my venerated predecessor, Pius XI, proclaimed John Eudes and the Curé d'Ars saints at the same time, on May 31, 1925, offering the Church and the whole world two extraordinary examples of priestly holiness."

Speaking about the formation of diocesan priests, the Pontiff recalled how in the 16th century, "the Council of Trent issued norms for the establishment of diocesan seminaries and for the formation of priests, as the council was aware that the whole crisis of the Reformation was also conditioned by the insufficient formation of priests, who were not adequately prepared intellectually and spiritually, in their heart and soul, for the priesthood."

"This occurred in 1563," he said, "but, given that the application and implementation of the norms took time, both in Germany as well as in France, St. John Eudes saw the consequences of this problem."

The saint, Benedict XVI went on to explain, was moved "by the lucid awareness of the great need of spiritual help that souls were feeling" and as a parish priest, he "instituted a congregation dedicated specifically to the formation of priests."

Path of holiness

The Pope noted that St. John Eudes' proposal for holiness was founded on "a solid confidence in the love that God revealed to humanity in the priestly Heart of Christ and the maternal Heart of Mary."

"He wanted to remind people, men and above all future priests, of the heart, showing the priestly Heart of Christ and the maternal Heart of Mary. A priest must be a witness and apostle of this love of the Heart of Christ and of Mary," the Holy Father affirmed.

He contended that today as well, there is the "need for priests to witness the infinite mercy of God with a life totally 'conquered' by Christ, and for them to learn this in the years of their formation in the seminaries."

Benedict XVI said that like Pope John Paul II, who in 1990 "actualized the norms of the Council of Trent," he emphasizes the "need for continuity between the initial and permanent moments of formation."

"The time in the seminary should be seen," he proposed, as the "actualization of the moment in which the Lord Jesus, after having called the Apostles and before sending them out to preach, asks that they stay with him."

"In this Year for Priests," the Holy Father concluded, "I invite you to pray […] for priests and for those preparing to receive the extraordinary gift of the priestly ministry. I conclude by addressing to all the exhortation of St. John Eudes, who said thus to priests: 'Give yourselves to Jesus to enter into the immensity of his great Heart, which contains the Heart of his Holy Mother and of all the saints, and to lose yourselves in this abyss of love, of charity, of mercy, of humility, of purity, of patience, of submission and of holiness.'"

"Pune seminary closed as swine flu spreads"

What could be coming for our American seminaries...

From Indian Catholic

A Catholic seminary, billed as Asia’s largest, was closed on Aug. 11 as swine flu spread rapidly in Pune, western India.

“Precaution is better than cure and therefore we have shut down Asia’s largest seminary for one week from Aug. 11,” said Jesuit Father Job Kozhamthadam, president of the Pune-based Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth (University of Knowledge Light), earlier known as the Pontifical Athenaeum.

By Aug. 12, swine flu had claimed its sixth victim in Pune, which reported India’s first death from the disease on Aug. 3. Elsewhere in the country, the virus has killed nine other people.

“The airborne disease is entrenched in the city and the virus is spreading fast,” Father Kozhamthadam said, adding that the seminary followed a state health directorate advisory to close all educational institutions. “We don’t want to lose any candidates training for the priesthood” as the virus can be easily transmitted “through coughing, sneezing and human contact,” he added.

The Jesuit priest also said more than 770 students of philosophy, theology and doctoral courses stay at the campus. About 10 percent of students are women and 15 percent are from overseas.

The Indian students come from 68 dioceses and 49 religious congregations. The 116-year-old institute has 30 resident and 25 visiting teachers.

On Aug. 12, Bombay archdiocese closed all its 150 high schools and five colleges for a week. “We don’t want to expose our students to the virus, which is now spreading rapidly,” Father Gregory Lobo, secretary of the Bombay Archdiocesan Board of Education, told UCA News.

On the same day, the Maharashtra government ordered the closure of all educational institutions for a week and shopping malls and cinemas for three days.

Meanwhile, two Vatican officials have confirmed their participation at a national seminar the Indian Bishops’ Committee for Science, Religion and Society plans to hold in Pune from Aug. 18-20. Its theme is “The Christian Faith in a World of Science: Challenges and Opportunities.”

Father Kozhamthadam, an organizer, said Polish Father Tomasz, executive director of the Dicastery of the Pontifical Council for Culture, and Pilar Father Theodore Mascarenhas, undersecretary of the council’s Asia Desk, have said they will attend the seminar despite the swine flu outbreak.

“Some Indian participants have canceled their visit to Pune and we will make a decision whether to hold the seminar or not in a couple of days in consultation with Archbishop Thomas Menamparambil of Guwahati, the chief organizer of the seminar,” Father Kozhamthadam said.

The more than 100 invitees to the seminar include bishops, provincials and other Church leaders from India, the priest said.

Kenrick-Glennon Seminary launches capital campaign

Due to INCREASED enrollment, Kenrick-Glennon Seminary is almost filled to capacity and there is a need to expand and improve the seminary to meet the needs of all the new seminarians. They have launched a capital campaign, "Faith for the Future" to respond to the blessing of the largest incoming classes of seminarians in twenty years.

NY PRIEST - Ordination 2009

The lastest from Grassroots films...

The Secret Garden

Life inside the Pontifical College Josephinum is structured in solemn study punctuated by prayer (and an occasional beer)

From the Columbus Dispatch

This article is part of a weeklong series "Answering the Call" which includes daily articles and slideshows.

By Todd Jones

Photo at left: Deacon Robert Bolding, left, gives the kiss of peace to new deacon David P. Miller during an ordination ceremony for deacons in April. Photo by Fred Squillante

Traffic snaked along N. High Street near I-270 in a bumper-to-bumper line of frustration as the sun rose over the Pontifical College Josephinum.

The taillight-flashing bustle of commuters contrasted with the serenity a few hundred yards away, where students flowed quietly into a chapel inside the seminary's College of Liberal Arts building.

Some carried Bibles, others small prayer books. Each was bleary-eyed and silent.

The mid-February morning was like every morning for those men studying to be Roman Catholic priests at the Vatican-owned school on the Far North Side.

The students were gathering for the 7:30 a.m. recitation of the Liturgy of the Hours, a quick prayer they also gather to say in the evening -- and offer in private three other times each day.

"It sets a rhythm to your day," said Deacon Robert Bolding, a fourth-year theologian assigned this day to lead the undergraduates in prayer. "It sanctifies time."

To help replenish its thinning ranks, the Catholic Church needs men willing to dedicate nearly a decade to priestly training that is disciplined, demanding and, Robert said, as slow as a stalactite's growth.

"That's one of the great challenges," said the Rev. Jeff Coning, vocations director for the Diocese of Columbus. "That's eight years that you need a student to sit there and work, and kids today are used to living life by a Palm Pilot. "

Seminarians say the adjustment doesn't come easy, and even those close to becoming priests struggle at times with the rigid structure.

"It's like a real long boot camp," said Robert, a Phoenix native. "Sometimes, I feel choked by the whole routine of it."

His routine has been basically the same -- prayer, Mass, classes, homework -- since he entered the St. John Vianney College Seminary in St. Paul, Minn., eight years ago, and enrolled in the Josephinum's School of Theology in 2005.

To describe seminary life, he uses the analogy of a tree being surrounded by other trees: it only has one place to grow, and that's up.

"It helps discipline your soul and helps us grow to God," Robert said. "That's the value of formation and living accordingly to the external rules. That's part of what makes you a priest. That's part of learning obedience and self-sacrifice. But it gets old."

Robert, 27, lived his final seminary year alone in an undecorated room without a TV or stereo (although Josephinum rules permit both) in a dorm hall with a community bathroom.

He owned few clothes other than his black clerical garb. He drove his parents' car because he has never owned one.

"Somebody sets my schedule," said Robert, bound by the Josephinum's curfew of 11 p.m. weeknights and midnight on weekends. "If I miss something, I have to have an excuse. It's understandable why it has to be like that in the seminary, but I'm approaching 30."

Still, Robert considered seminary life to be a great blessing, enabling him time to concentrate on studying and discerning God's call.

Each Josephinum student is assigned a Director of Spiritual Formation from the faculty to help guide him through the four pillars of formation -- spiritual, intellectual, pastoral and human -- directed by the Vatican and U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

"You spend hours in prayer to give your will over to God: Is this what you want for me?" Robert said.

Mystery is part of that divine process and also part of this place.

The Josephinum's bell tower rises nearly 200 feet and was the highest point above sea level in Franklin County until the Rhodes Tower was built Downtown in the 1970s.

Every day, thousands of commuters drive by the brick and limestone tower along N. High Street, yet few have stepped inside the Gothic-style administration building or seen its 900 windows, the terrazzo floors or the inlaid wood paneling.

"I think the Josephinum is like the Wonka Factory of Columbus," said third-year theologian John Eckert. "Everybody knows it's there, and they've seen it, but they have no idea what goes on behind the gates."

Seminarians who venture off their private campus, 11 miles north of downtown Columbus, hear their home described by outsiders as the castle in Harry Potter movies.

The Josephinum sits on 75 pastoral acres, with manicured fields (including a cemetery) and a front driveway lined with trees. The collection of four buildings houses dormitories and four chapels.

A curious Ohio family once stopped by the school -- the only pontifical seminary outside Italy -- and visited with its rector and president at the time, Monsignor Paul Langsfeld.

"They thought it was a monastery where we milk cows, make our own bread and make curd," said Langsfield, who left the school in July for a new assignment.

With the Catholic Church need- ing more priests, the Diocese of Columbus' vocations director often finds himself addressing misconceptions about seminary life.

"Parents want to know: How often am I going to see my kids?" Coning said. "The big concern of (candidates) is: Are they going to be able to socialize and have friends like they would at other places?"

Josephinum students discover that they have time for social and athletic recreation. The school offers intramural sports and hosts a basketball tournament each February for visiting seminary teams.

J.J.'s Pub, the campus bar in the basement of the theology building, has a flat-screen TV and is home to karaoke, the "Pub Olympics," trivia nights, Mardi Gras and Super Bowl parties, and fantasy football league arguments.

"Guys have fun," said Deacon Michael Ross, the Josephinum's academic dean. "They like their rock 'n' roll. They're not walking around here uptight and never smiling. They're young American guys. It's not monks. It's not prison."

Demands were different when Monsignor John Joseph Jessing, a German immigrant, founded the Josephinum in 1888 at 17th and Main streets, near Downtown. (The school moved to the Far North Side campus in 1931.)

Before the Vatican II conference, during which bishops made liberal changes to church doctrine and practices in the mid-1960s, the Josephinum was more rigid. Students spoke only German in the first half of each month. Their mail was censored. A priest chaperoned them off campus.

"Those days are long since gone," Ross said.

To get out that message, the Josephinum, which had a high school until 1967, conducts campus tours. Students' families are invited to spend a weekend at the seminary each fall, and the public is welcome at the school's annual Irish Festival in February.

"It's good for people to interact with vocations and see that priests just don't fall out of the sky," Robert said.

The call to priesthood is more mysterious than momentous.

"It's the still, small voice -- an idea you can't get out of your head," Robert said. "It's something you're drawn toward."

Although the seminary helps with discernment, doubt still creeps in.

"You're never certain you can do it," Robert said. "I know being this close (to ordination), I could not do what a priest needs to do without the grace of God."

Robert was reminded of that in late February when he assisted in a Mass attended by 68 Josephinum undergraduates, most of them barely removed from high school.

Some were nearly a decade younger than Robert, and many won't become priests.

Langsfeld said the Josephinum sees up to 20 percent of its undergrads drop out each school year.

"It's normal for a collegian to come and realize over a certain part of time that this is not for him," Langsfeld said. "We've had guys come, leave, and come back after several years."

Robert did so. Three semesters shy of his undergraduate degree, he withdrew from St. John Vianney College Seminary.

He was 21, struggling with faith issues and "just not feeling it."

"I didn't have the maturity then to stick it out with the ups and downs of the seminary," he said.

Robert stayed in St. Paul, moved into an off-campus apartment, took a catering job and continued school as a nonseminarian at the University of St. Thomas.

His parents, Patty and Al Bolding, never questioned their son's decision.

"We just supported him," said his mother. "We told him, 'Robert, you've got to follow your heart and listen to what God is telling you.'"

Free from the seminary, Robert dated a woman for six months, but the relationship ended. He traveled to Rome and felt stirred to return to the seminary.

When he returned to Minnesota to finish school, he met an attractive woman.

"It was a platonic relationship, but I really loved this girl, and she reciprocated that love," Robert said.

That love, however, couldn't eclipse his heart's calling. Robert decided to re-enter the seminary and was accepted back by the Diocese of Phoenix, which sent him to the Josephinum in 2005.

"Anytime I have a moment of second-guessing, I always have that to rely on: I loved somebody, she loved me, and I still knew I was called to the priesthood," he said.

Now, four months shy of the priesthood, Robert gave the Mass homily to undergraduates who face their own questions about the future.

"Jesus says, 'If you want to follow me, you have to take up the cross and come after me,' " Robert preached. "If you want to live, you have to throw your life away. That tells us the Christian life is about death."

He understands now that the seminary is a place you go to die -- to give up your secular desires and rise to God's wishes.

Homily complete, Robert sat down in the silent chapel.

A priest stood up.

"For an increase to the priesthood and the religious life, we pray to the Lord," he said.

The young seminarians answered in unison:

"Lord, hear our prayer."

Could I be back to posting?

I don't want to speak to soon, but it seems that I could begin posting again. The past few months have been interesting to say the least. Disregard all the things in our personal lives, work has provided a full plate. The exciting news is that we are putting the finishing touches on this year's vocations poster and a brand new website for the Office of Vocations in the Diocese of Raleigh. The new website will also have a blog, which I will be PAID to maintain. As a part of that, I will keep this blog up as well, since there will be some natural overlap. I'm sure many people have long since stopped visiting this blog, but hopefully word will go out that it may be coming back to life.

Pope Benedict XVI - early days of his vocation

Cardinals' Vocation Stories

Vatican to Prepare Document on Seminarians

From ZENIT

VATICAN CITY, AUG. 19, 2009 (Zenit.org).- The Vatican is aiming to prepare a "brief, forceful and very clear" document on the formation of seminarians as one of the elements to close the Year for Priests.

This was affirmed by Archbishop Jean-Louis Bruguès, secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education, in an interview with L'Osservatore Romano today.

The archbishop explained that the preparation of the document over upcoming months will imply a meeting of the congregation's permanent commission, made up of members of various dicasteries who deal with the formation of future priests.

The congregation, the prelate added, wants to send a message to priests that they have been "chosen, [the priesthood] is an honor. Be happy to be a priest."

Archbishop Bruguès added that "a good number of the youth who apply to the formation centers in nations such as Italy, Spain, France, Germany and the United States have a very good professional formation, sometimes high level university education, but they lack general culture, and above all, a Christian culture."

The archbishop recommended compensating for this lack with a preparatory year at the beginning of seminary formation, such that the formation process itself is adapting to the profile of present generations.

The congregation oversees 2,700 seminaries, 1,200 Catholic universities and 250,000 Catholic schools around the world.

In these institutions, Archbishop Bruguès said, "we are developing a culture of excellence, putting special emphasis in the integral formation of the person, especially his spiritual dimension, which runs the risk of being forgotten in a secularized society."

Cardinal Bertone Tells His Vocation Story

From Zenit

By Jesús Colina

VATICAN CITY, JULY 17, 2009 (Zenit.org).- For this week's contribution to "God's Men," the column with which ZENIT is celebrating the Year for Priests, we present an exclusive interview with Benedict XVI's secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

* * *

ZENIT: When did you discover your vocation to the priesthood?

Cardinal Bertone: I discovered it precisely when I was studying the fifth year of gymnasium -- what would today in Spain be the first year of bachillerato, or in Mexico or the United States, the second year of preparatory or high school -- in the Salesian Institute of Turin, in Valdocco, which is the first institute founded by Don Bosco.

There, I studied secondary school and bachillerato (liceo) and honestly, before that, I had not felt any desire to be a priest, despite living among exemplary priests who were my professors and educators. Instead, I wanted to study languages and dedicate myself to seeing the world, and thus, something very different -- something like international relations, in a certain sense.

Later on, a Salesian priest who was my Greek professor, made a proposal to me: "We are organizing a three-day priestly discernment encounter. You can come and think about your future." I accepted and after these three vocational discernment days, I decided that inasmuch as it depended on me, I would become a priest and join the Salesian congregation.

On May 24, 1949, I gave this news to my parents, who traditionally made a pilgrimage to the Basilica of Our Lady of Help in Turin. They were somewhat surprised, given that they had never heard me speak of plans to be a priest. They told me, "If the Lord wants this, we will not object. Indeed, we are quite happy. But remember that it will depend on you to be faithful and therefore, it is you who has made this decision."

That's how I began the path of my vocation, with the novitiate and then, with the whole program of studies, etc.

ZENIT: And who helped you to follow this path?

Cardinal Bertone: In a special way, the Salesian educators, and particularly at the beginning, the master of novices. I lengthened the novitiate four months because I was so young. Theoretically back then, the novitiate began at age 15 and ended at 16, with the first profession. I still hadn't turned 15 when I entered on Aug. 16, 1949, and therefore, I extended the novitiate until I turned 16 in December of 1950. That's when I made my religious profession. Afterward, the Salesians and excellent confessors accompanied me.

I should mention that at the beginning I asked advice regarding this decision from a confessor -- an 84-year-old priest -- who heard confessions behind the main altar of the Basilica of Our Lady of Help, and to whom I regularly went to confession. He gave me his counsel. He told me: "Look, this is a very large task. You will have to prepare yourself very well. But remember that I have been a priest for 60 years and I have never regretted it." So, encouraged by this testimony too, I followed this path, though in visiting home, I had a bit of a problem, a bit of nostalgia. But my parents told me: "Finish the whole testing period and the study program, because it was you who made this decision. And after that, you can make a more mature choice." And at the end, I made the decision to continue to priestly ordination, which happened July 1, 1960.

ZENIT: Along this path, what was the role of the Salesians' founder, Don Bosco?

Cardinal Bertone: Certainly Don Bosco was an extraordinary model of a priest, and his followers, his sons, who were my professors and educators, represented him very well. They offered me beautiful testimonies that sparked in me the desire to follow this path and encouraged me in it. In my life, Don Bosco has always been present. He has guided me in my growth toward the priesthood and afterward as a priest, in the missions that I have had as a Salesian, from being major rector of the Pontifical Salesian University, here in Rome, and formator of many candidates to the priesthood -- very many.

Later on he has guided me in my life as a bishop: first as the archbishop of Vercelli and then in Genoa and now, as the secretary of state, as the closest collaborator of the Pope. Don Bosco taught me to be faithful to the Pope, to give my life for the Pope and for the Church, something which I try do with my limits, but with all my strength.

ZENIT: What have been the greatest difficulties and the most beautiful satisfactions?

Cardinal Bertone: As I mentioned, I had some difficulties during my formation, as I felt a certain nostalgia for the past, for life with my companions and friends. But I stayed strong in following my vocation. Those who were my age, who didn't think that I would follow this path, especially my classmates from liceo -- I studied liceo as a Salesian but with 30 companions who now have professions and a beautiful role in Italian society and have supported me -- they told me: "If you are a priest, you should be like Don Francesco Amerio." He was our great professor of liceo, of history and philosophy and also religion. For me, he was a model, one who has supported me -- and I've still got my notes from his religion classes. That is proof of the influence had by this priest, this professor, who my companions presented to me as a model.

Afterward I had difficulties, especially in the years from 1968 to 1972. I was here in Rome -- I was a professor at the Salesian University and also a formator for candidates to the priesthood. We had a large number of theology students in what was then the Pontifical Salesian Atheneum: 140 theology students who felt the pressure and the influence of the changes of '68, of the debate and the whirlwind of opinions. It was after the [Second Vatican] Council. But we had had moments of a lot of friction and of clashes of opinions and people, and as the superior, I had to make decisions on these students' admission to holy orders. We kept up a very intense dialogue with the students. Those were times of great student meetings, with discussions that lasted hours, even late into the night. Thus, moments of tension, but also of overcoming these tensions.

Then as a bishop, and as an archbishop of the two dioceses that I have guided, both of them by appointment of Pope John Paul II, I also had moments of confrontation, sometimes taxing situations, with this or that problem that arose in the local Church. When I was secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, there were also some doctrinal problems given us to analyze and judge, and sometimes they were very grave problems at the doctrinal, moral or disciplinary level.

But in this role I have also had very beautiful satisfactions: The fact of having guided and of having had a fraternal community, I would say relationships of fraternal communion, of strong friendships, which continue even to today, when I run into old students or bishops from all over the world.

I have had moments of authentic communion, of fraternal friendship in the joy of fidelity to the Pope, in the joy of fulfilling our priestly and episcopal ministry, or because of the fact of having led many youth to the priesthood. Then there is the episcopal fatherhood in priestly ordinations and in episcopal ordinations, which now are more and more frequent in my role as secretary of state, with the ordination of many collaborators of the Pope and also of many local bishops.

This is a great satisfaction: The great people of God is made up as well of the pastors of the Church, with their various responsibilities, with their diverse roles, according to the vocation and charism that the Holy Spirit distributes. This people that journeys in profound unity is truly a beautiful sign of the benevolence of God for the Church and all of humanity. I experience this in the meetings I have with the local Churches, with the pontifical representatives all over the world, and with the leaders of states who come to visit the Vatican and express their appreciation, their recognition of the Church's work, of the testimony the Church gives, whether it be in the field of formation, above all in the area of education, or in the field of promotion of the human person, social promotion, or special assistance to the weakest classes of society.

Thus, I give thanks to the Lord for the gift of the priesthood and also for the gift of the episcopacy. And I wish everyone a good Year for Priests!

[This interview can be seen in its original Italian at www.h2onews.org]

[Translation by Kathleen Naab]

The Rome Experience - A Summer Program for Diocesan Seminarians

The Rome Experience Blog

"In the Name of the Father: Life's journey leads to the altar for Tim Gallagher"

From the Morgan County Citizen

By Meg Ferrante

The Mother’s Day brunch at St. James Catholic Church in Madison was just starting to break up when a stranger entered the social hall. He was covered from head to toe in grime. He almost looked like he’d been in a fire.

There were some murmured whispers. A few people jumped to get him some food. But one man sat down with him. Prayed over his meal and offered to listen as the stranger, in clear agony, clutched his head and shared his story. Homeless and hungry, the stranger had hitchhiked from Maryland and was waiting for a ride to Texas where he hoped to start his life over. He was ashamed to be there, ashamed to be asking for help, but he didn't know where else to turn.
As the last few families scrambled off to pamper their mothers, one man reached out to touch this stranger’s arm, let him know he had time. All day if necessary. In fact, just weeks away from giving himself to God as a Catholic priest, Tim Gallagher just happened to have a lifetime.

A lifetime ago, Tim Gallagher was a tight end for the Morgan County Bulldogs, chasing girls and trying to fit in just like the rest of his classmates. He joined the Army because he didn't want his parents to have to pay for college. He served in Operation Desert Storm and then attended the University of Georgia like so many of his friends. He had a career as a physical therapist, did volunteer work building houses in Mexico and was looking forward to marriage and a family.

A bit adrift in his Christian identity, Gallagher was involved with a Protestant missionary group and not even going to Catholic Church all the time. Then something happened. Not a lightning strike or a miracle. More like a slow-growing seed that began to bear fruit. Or the pieces of a complicated puzzle falling into place.

He decided to settle his questions about Catholicism by praying the rosary. He studied with an Apologetics class to learn more about the reasoning behind Catholic teaching. He joined a young adult ministry and social club. And the capstone on his reconversion was returning to the sacrament of reconciliation--confessing his sins to a priest--which he had not done in a decade.

"When my faith was awakened to the fact that the [Catholic] Church was really the true Church, my belief in the sacraments was awakened," Gallagher said. "I came to see priesthood and marriage as gifts from God. Priesthood became an option. But deep inside I thought I could never do that."

This past Saturday, the Archdiocese of Atlanta ordained eight new priests in a three-hour ceremony at the Cathedral of Christ the King. And Sunday morning at Madison's tiny St. James, a record crowd crammed the sanctuary to celebrate Fr. Timothy Joseph Gallagher's first Mass. Nearly 300 were in attendance, with overflow in the social hall watching on closed-circuit television. At the altar, Gallagher was surrounded by seven priests, three seminarians, two Franciscan brothers of the Primitive Observance, one deacon and four altar boys.

The choir was tripled in size for the occasion. Mothers and grandmothers were escorted to their seats in front of 58 family members. Pomp and circumstance was on full parade. "There's no stopping an exuberant celebration, especially when the congregation is so proud of one of their own," said Monsignor Peter Dora, priest at St. James.

But there were many solemn moments as well. Fr. Brett Brannan, the Vice Rector of Mount St. Mary's where Gallagher attended seminary, spoke of Gallagher's coming responsibilities.

"A priest is a priest not for himself. A priest is a priest for his people," Brannan said.
He reminded Gallagher that he will be tempted and discouraged by the devil, as Satan knows that a priest's job is to bring people to Jesus and Jesus to the people. But he praised Gallagher's joy for life.

"People need joy in their priests. And why not? We have the greatest message in the world to share!" Brannan shared with the congregants.

Gallagher took the lead at last when he gave voice to the liturgy of the Eucharist for the first time.

"This is the point where I bring about true body and blood of Jesus," he explained in an earlier interview. "It is the apex of every priest’s existence, to consecrate the bread and wine into the true presence of Jesus." This, he said, was one part of the planning making him nervous. "I'm just going to try to do my part to keep a prayerful presence with the Lord in the Mass and hopefully I won’t mess it up."

"The Lord be with you," he sang, beginning the commemoration of the Last Supper, the final meal that Jesus shared with his disciples.

"And also with you," answered the church.

"Lift up your hearts."

"We lift them up to the Lord."

And on he sang. His voice cracked, but only once. He slowly relaxed into the prayer like a man born to pray it.

Following his reconversion, Gallagher made a fateful move by telling an old friend. He was a priest Gallagher didn't realize was working to advise Catholics in Atlanta who might be interested in priesthood. The priest shepherded Gallagher through classes to help him understand God's will and eventually forced an application for priesthood on him. It sat on his desk for more than a year.

The application might well have continued collecting dust if not for divine intervention.

"God made it obvious he wanted me to take next step," Gallagher said.

While in Jamaica, doing physical therapy for the handicapped children of Mustard Seed mission, he made a bold offer to the mission's priest. "I'll leave it all to do this," he told Fr. Gregory. He loved mission work and secretly hoped it would be a way out of priesthood.

Gregory turned him down, telling him he was needed more as a priest.

"It was those kind of things..." Gallagher said. "God giving me voices here and there, putting people in my life at different times, me resisting it all the way. It was a battle."

He finally decided to put off deciding. He would become a seminarian and pray more about it.

Seminary was no less a challenge for Gallagher. He had to readjust his attitudes about priesthood in general. "I thought only weird guys pursued that. But there were normal guys, going through the same process, guys praying to follow in the steps of Jesus. The attraction to women and marriage was still very strong , but we just prayed and tried to listen to God."

He fought another battle trying to understand God's will for which order of priest he should join. He spent a year with the Franciscans of the Primitive Observance, who live in ultimate simplicity, pray all day, sleep on the floor, hitchhike rides and beg for their food. Ultimately he felt himself called back to Archdiocesan life where his interaction with a congregation is assured and where, thanks to his time with the Franciscans, he plans to live, like his hero St. John Vianney, as a "simple parish priest."

Every story has a back story, and the interesting one here lies in Tim's mother, Becky, who is Baptist.
She said that she and Tim's dad, John, spent 90 percent of their dating days wondering how a Catholic and a deep-south Baptist could ever make it work. She's as proud as anyone about Tim's choice and credits Tim's insight and deep beliefs to being brought up in a home with two separate practices of faith.

"We would visit my parents and go to Baptist church to honor them," she said. "The four-hour car trip would usually spawn a discussion of our faith. Sometimes heated. We all came to the conclusion that our faith was the same, though our practice was different."

Becky, who attends Antioch Baptist in Godfrey, was overjoyed when her 90-year-old mother agreed to attend the ordination and first Mass, the only family member to do so.

"She's been telling people, 'When everybody gets to heaven, everybody's going to be rubbin' elbows with people of all different religions, even Catholics, so we'd better get used to it here on earth.’”

John has his own interesting tale to tell. In the seminary himself for three years, he never pushed it on his kids. "I wonder if I might have done more," he said. "I prayed that they would do what God would want them to. So this was God's will. I knew it would work out."

In two weeks, Gallagher begins his first assignment, as a parish priest right down the road at St. Pius XII in Conyers. St. James' priest says this poses only one problem. Loss of bragging rights. "We could say we had the largest number of seminarians proportionally speaking of any congregation in the Atlanta archdiocese, possibly in the whole country,” he said. “All of that came to an abrupt end yesterday." He was quick to point out that as God has blessed this little congregation with a priest, the church will continue to pray for another. (And a return to distinction.)

Gallagher ended the Mass telling the youth of the church to listen for God's calling and have the courage to answer. After all, in his case, he says, "for me to do this is evidence of God’s mercy and grace in the world. I think He really had to change my heart for me to pursue this. In His mercy and patience, Jesus is calling men to be priests. Jesus is calling all of us to follow Him. Any sacrifice is worth gaining heaven."

"PASTORAL CARE OF VOCATIONS: SOWING TRUST AND HOPE"

VATICAN CITY, 4 JUL 2009 (VIS) - This morning the Holy Father received the 120 participants in a European congress on the pastoral care of vocations which was held in Rome and focused on the theme: "The Gospel of vocation for young people in European culture". The Pope reminded them how "concern for vocations is one of the pastoral priorities for all dioceses, and assumes even greater importance in the context of the recently-inaugurated Year for Priests".

The parable of the sower was the focus of the work of the congress, in which context the Pope noted how "the sower scatters the seed of the Word of God, well aware that it may find inadequate soil that will not allow it to grow. ... Nonetheless, the sower does not lose heart, because he knows that part of his seed is destined to find 'good soil', in other words ardent hearts capable of giving a ready welcome to the Word".

"The image of the earth can evoke the situation of families, good or bad as it may be; the working environment, sometimes arid and harsh; days of suffering and tears", he said. "The earth is, above all, the heart of man, in particular that of the young: ... a heart often confused and disoriented yet capable of containing unexpected energy and capacity to give, ready to open itself to a life spent in love for Jesus ... with the certainty that comes from having found life's greatest treasure.

"It is always God and God alone Who sows in man's heart" the Pope added. "Only after the abundant and generous sowing of the Word of God can we then venture along the paths of accompaniment and education, of formation and discernment", he said. "Like Christ, the priest and the animator must be a 'grain of wheat' who sacrifices himself to do the Father's will; who knows how to live hidden from clamour and strife; who abandons the search for visibility and image which so often today are the criterion and even the goal of life for such a large part of our culture, and which fascinate so many young people".

"Be sowers of trust and hope", the Holy Father told his audience. "Many young people today often experience a profound sense of confusion. Not infrequently human words lack future and perspective, they lack also a sense of wisdom. An attitude of frenetic impatience is spreading, an inability to wait. And yet this could be the moment for God: His call, mediated by the force and effectiveness of the Word, generates a path of hope towards fullness of life".

Finally, turning to consider the figure of St. John Mary Vianney who "dedicated his life to the spiritual guidance of others", the Pope said: "The Year for Priests offers us a fine opportunity to rediscover a profound sense of vocational pastoral care, and of its fundamental methodologies. These are: simple and credible witness; shared and harmonious communion within each particular Church; educating people to follow the Lord in everyday life; listening guided by the Holy Spirit in order to direct young people in the search for God and for true happiness; and finally, truth, which is the only thing that can generate inner freedom".