Viewing Single Post From: Why Are There So Few Vocations?;

Viewing Single Post From: Why Are There So Few Vocations?;
Joe Valente	Tuesday, 26. May 2009, 20:43
Posts: 407 Group: Members Member #227 Joined: April 3, 2009	In my young days priests from the diocese, priests from religious orders visited the school and parishes to promote vocations. This was a full time task to these priests and their other duties were light, giving them time to concentrate on the task in hand. Now with the shortage of priests neither the Diocese or the Orders can afford a full time Vocations Promoter. So the laity must try to help but help in a constructive manner. Earlier in this thread I recall some one suggesting that God allowed this shortage to enable the laity to become more involved in "our" common priesthood. I actually disagree with that. I think the mass rush of laity to get involved is perhaps a factor in today's shortage. So many of these people wanted to take over that young men propably thought that there was no need for more priests. In many cases their short lived enthuism left the priest almost an onlooker. So in my humble opinion lay involvement in the sacerdotal duties is no help in promoting vocations. Twenty years ago, when I had less free time but was much more active, I took our local Parish Centre for one week with the intention of putting on an old fashioned Vocations Exhibition. I contacted our local Bishop and got his permission, I contacted almost every religious order, male and female, in Ireland and invited them to participate. The response was overwhelming and some had to be turned away. The question of cost then arose, so with a few helpers I organised a few fund raising events and we were able to fit the place out with exhibition stands and hire a caterer to provide meals. We when wrote to every Grammar and Secondary School in N.Ireland (Catholic of course) we contacted the University chaplains and many local Youth and sporting clubs. We opened on a Monday morning with 42 stands and a time table for visiting schools etc which took us through from 9.00am on the Monday morning to 9.00pm on the Friday evening. A packed house every day. It is a week that lives in my memory for two reasons, unconnected with vocations. On the Wednesday evening at about 7.30pm I was having a smoke outside the entrance door with the Vocations Promoter from the Carmelites. We were enjoying the brief respite from the inside when a car approached and slowed to a crawl. Suddenly loyalist gunmen were firing at us, I never realised that a monk in his long habit could move so fast. ( If you are reading this now, Fr. Willie I bet you break into a cold sweat again) and I kept up with him. Needless to say we closed somewhat earlier that night for some "spiritual" fortification. The second memory is more pleasant, just a month before our exhibition Down had won the All Ireland Football final and we were lucky enough to have the team captain (Conor Deegan from Downpatrick) and a few of the winning team visit us and the bring the Sam Maguire Cup along. The two representatives from the Jesuits, showing true Ignatian initiative quickly commandeered Mr. Deehan and the cup and had themselves photographed and the photo was on the front page of the next issue of their magazine. Since that exhibition there have been at least 15 ordinations from the schools that attended and a few lay people have given a few years of their life to voluntarily work with religious orders on the missions. Not a lot but some success. There is nothing to prevent others doing some thing similiar in their own parish, or two or three parishes co operating. Give the young people an opportunity to meet with priests, to discus the life, to discover that priests are human. So come on, get to it. Just a little effort, a bit of letter writing, a bit of begging (we also managed some sponsorship from local traders) and there you go. For anyone living in Glasgow you can meet Fr. Willie Moran at the Carmelite Priory there, I am sure he will give you a more descriptive tale of the shooying than I have.
	What doth it profit a man if he gains the whole world but suffers the loss of his soul

Why Are There So Few Vocations?; · The Mass , Liturgy, Sacraments, Priesthood