Vocations drive goes to grassroots

"Hope" is the key word in a new, national strategy for vocations soon to be implemented in the Albany Diocese.

Passed unanimously by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB), "A Future Full of Hope" will encourage Catholics to recognize their role in encouraging vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

The new strategy is the latest in a series of vocation awareness efforts in the Diocese, according to diocesan vocations director Rev. John Molyn.

Many efforts

From the "Called by Name" program (in which fellow Catholics were encouraged to recommend peers whom they believe would be good candidates for religious life) to vocation awareness work on the local level, Father Molyn said, the Diocese has a history of encouraging vocations to flourish.

Already, the Diocese boasts support groups for those interested in vocations, a Vocation Awareness Council that looks at vocations to religious life, "days of recollection" with Bishop Howard J. Hubbard for potential candidates to the priesthood and such events as vocation rallies for young people.

The difference between the efforts already taking place and "A Future Full of Hope," explained Father Molyn, is that the latter is a national effort: "The plans and materials we get have drawn upon the resources of a much wider community."

New effort

The new strategy calls for a national prayer campaign for vocations, for the expansion of vocation-fostering organizations such as Serra International, for parishes to begin vocation awareness committees, and for diocesan vocations offices to distribute nationally-produced materials and coordinate diocesan vocation efforts.

In the Albany Diocese, said Father Molyn, vocations awareness committees will be formed in parish clusters rather than individual parishes.

"Heretofore, there has not been on the local level a group of people who say, `We need to discern [vocations],' and are provided with the materials so they can do their ministry," he said. "Our initial goal is to get this team in place. Most people currently in formation [for the priesthood or religious life] say they are there because someone they respected invited them."

Influences

Surveys says the key people who influence the discernment of a vocation are parents, priests and religious, Father Molyn said. With the new strategy, he added, families and cluster committees can "create a climate" where vocations are encouraged, and "we can help religious and priests recognize that they can issue invitations [to others to explore religious life], and are encouraged to do that."

Ironically, one problem in helping young people respond to a call to religious life has been the emphasis on the importance of lay ministry. Since Vatican II, Father Molyn explained, people have become aware that they can minister in the Church as laypersons, so "a clericalized Church is not a force in people's lives."

"A Future Full of Hope" will serve as a reminder that "we can't forget the fact that we do need ordained ministry as part of our community."

Exploring the call

The vocations director cautioned that the new strategy is not a recruitment effort. Instead, "we're saying that the call's out there, and trying to provide an atmosphere to explore that call. We naively said years back, `This program will bring in all these people.' I don't think any program will do that. Our objective is not to create a call from God; it's to create a climate where someone can hear that call."

The effort will include a "speakers' bureau" of clergy and religious available to speak in parishes and schools about their own vocations. Many volunteers have already come forward to offer to share their stories, said Father Molyn.

Leaders in religious education, schools and parish life will also be asked to help with the effort, he said; however, the most vital aspect of the strategy will be the efforts of the cluster vocation awareness committees.

"We're going to do this from the ground up, not the top down," the director stated. "People need to be a part of it, to have some part in its shaping and administration."

Outcome

While a dramatic increase in vocations is not an expected result of the strategy, Father Molyn hopes that those considering religious life will feel more comfortable exploring that call when the strategy is implemented.

"I don't think this is going to produce people clamoring at the doorsteps next June, saying, `I want to be a priest; I want to be a woman religious,'" he said. "We're trying to create a climate where young people who are considering that can see it as an alternative. In the long run, I think this is going to be one of the most effective things we've done."

(Four "town meetings" to promote vocation awareness and introduce the new strategy are planned: on Oct. 14 at St. Peter's Church, Delhi, with Rev. Joseph Manerowski; on Oct. 15 at the Pastoral Center, Albany; on Nov. 17 at Annunciation, Queensbury, with Rev. Joseph Anselment; and on Nov. 24 at Annunciation, Ilion, with Rev. Joseph Benintende. All meetings will start at 2 p.m. For more information, call 453-6670.)

(09-25-97)