Parish leads way in vocation strategy

"A Future Full of Hope," the U.S. bishops' national religious vocation strategy, calls for vocation awareness committees to be formed at the parish level. One local parish can guide the way: The Church of St. Vincent de Paul in Cobleskill has had a vocation awareness committee for more than two years.

"We would be glad to share our experience," said Sylvester Huse, coordinator of the committee. "We've been pretty successful as far as awareness."

"If you go back to Vatican II documents, [you find that] the whole body of Catholics is responsible for nurturing vocations to the priesthood," Mr. Huse said.

Birth of committee

"We started wondering what was our responsibility in staffing the church," Mr. Huse said.

The group decided to focus on vocations, and the vocation awareness committee was formed. The eight members meet once a month for an hour. Committee membership is varied, with representatives from several ministries present.

The committee has made arrangements for speakers to talk to the parish about vocations, has incorporated vocation awareness into the religious education curriculum, writes to a seminarian on a regular basis and prays for vocations. The committee found 52 people to pray the Rosary for vocations so that one Rosary a week is being said.

"Prayer is our secret weapon," Mr. Huse said. "Guided by the Holy Spirit, how can we lose?"

Room for more

"It's easy to include," said Lillian Pindiak, a committee member. "I'm very active in the parish, but it's an easy time commitment."

"The committee accomplishes quite a bit," said Larry Joyce, a member of the committee. "We have a tight agenda. I can fit it in."

To those who are concerned about fitting another committee into parish life, Mr. Huse asks: "In the order of things, what is more important than the vocation of priests?"

Zeal necessary

"I was involved in management consulting," he said. In his work, he would encourage businesses to find a zealot to lead a project. "I would say find the person in your parish who would really work at vocations."

Mr. Huse serves as the zealot at St. Vincent's. "They call me the vocation nut," he said. "I think there are people out there who are committed to vocations."

Family-style

Mrs. Pindiak said that while she would have supported her children in a religious vocation, she didn't encourage it. "None of us really encouraged our children in that direction," she said of the committee members. "There were plenty of priests and nuns, so let someone else worry about it."

Mr. Huse said if any of his three sons approached him to say they were going to be a priest, he would be thrilled. "I'd say: `Thank God,'" he said. "I'd thought I'd died and gone to heaven."

Parents and parish priests are the primary influences when it comes to religious vocations, Mr. Huse said. "Parents provide the right climate," he explained.

Personal experience

Mr. Joyce agreed. "It seems for many youth, this way of life is alien," he said. "We have to make them see it as an attractive lifestyle."

Merely discussing the shortage of priests will not spur on new vocations, Mr. Joyce said. "People aren't going to consider a vocation because there is a problem," he said. "No one is going to make a life choice because there is an institutional problem."

(For more information on St. Vincent de Paul's Vocation Awareness Committee, contact Mr. Huse at 234-7575.)

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