Vocations group adds laypeople to team

But as she scanned the column by Bishop Howard J. Hubbard, in which he described his own vocation and his hopes for the new team, she realized something was missing.

The team members -- Rev. James Walsh, Rev. Thomas Konopka and Sister Kitty Hanley, CSJ -- were "the most wonderful people, and all the things they were doing were wonderful," Mrs. Berkery said. "But we also need to take a look at our families."

Family touch

The council was originally composed of representatives from religious communities in the Albany Diocese. Then some diocesan priests joined.

Eventually, Sister Kitty said, the 30-member council became a "combination working group, support group and idea group." But today, the council is widening its circle to include lay men and women.

"Lay people are doing massive ministry" in parishes, explained Sister Kitty. "They very well might be the ones people would go to" when exploring an interest in religious life.

Expanding the team

"We want people who share that theology of vocation: How does God want you to live joyfully and generously?" Sister Kitty said. "We want people who are in touch with the contemporary Church."

Most of all, she declared, "I don't ever want vocations work to be crisis-driven or desperation-driven. A crisis mentality can lead to, `We'll take anybody we can get.'"

Chance to contribute

Vocations are "something I've thought about for years, in terms of the `parent part' of this process," she explained. "We need to educate parents and families to have that interest. I don't know of any parents that right now are encouraging their children to go in that direction, and I'm speaking as a person who's very active [in the Church]."

As a teacher, Mrs. Berkery makes it a practice to mention religious life to her students. But "that still could not compare to what a parent could offer to their children," she said.

Positive light

One of Mrs. Berkery's first steps will be the creation of a children's book on the priesthood. If a child wants to be a firefighter or police officer, she said, parents can buy a book on that career. But very few books are available on religious life.

Mrs. Berkery hopes to write about a local priest's childhood, letting kids know that he once had a paper route, got in trouble and played baseball -- just like them. She noted that it's important for children to get to know people in religious life as "real people."

She quoted a parent who told the National Religious Vocation Conference, "How about priests and religious inviting families to their place for dinner? Why is it always the other way around?"

"What they were expressing in that was, `We need to have some interaction. Children need to have some interaction'" with clergy and religious, Mrs. Berkery said.

Making a difference

Mrs. Berkery is excited to be a laywoman and parent who will be part of the Vocation Awareness Council. "It can't always be from the top down. It can't always be priests and sisters who are encouraging vocations," she observed. "If the people in the pew don't share that concern, that's 99 percent of the people!"

(To find out more about the diocesan Vocation Awareness Council, call 453-6670.)

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