THE CALL FROM GOD

TO BE a Christian is to have a vocation. But Fr PETER VERITY here shows that 'God's answer to our fervent prayer for vocations' may, in the modern world, be a surprising one.
VOCATIONS is a tricky subject.
I want to begin by asking a question first posed by the author of the Book of Revelation, "What is the Spirit saying to the Churches?" In other words, taking this as the context of vocations, is God leading the Church in a particular direction by allowing an increasing shortage of vocations to the priesthood and religious life?
No one would deny that there is a shortage. Convents are closing, dioceses are having to tighten their belts, and there is a growing awareness that in the next few years things are going to get even more critical.
Each year people look with trepidation at the numbers entering the seminaries and novitiates to see if there is any sign of an improvement in the trend. But why is there a shortage, and is there anything we can and should be doing about it?
Some time ago, a priest was telling me that the mother of one of his best altar servers, a boy of about twelve, had asked to see him. "Father, I don't want my son to be a priest," she had declared emphatically. "Don't pressure him."
The parents had then stopped coming to Mass, presumably to try to discourage the boy from any thoughts of a religious vocation. In fact this had had the opposite effect and the lad had got himself up on a Sunday morning and had become an even better server.
"Why don't you want him to become a priest?" the priest asked at a later date.
"Because I want grandchildren," replied the mother.
"But what about his brother? He could provide grandchildren for you."
"Yes, but I want grandchildren from this son, not the other," I'm not saying this is by any means typical and that the main reasOn for a decline in vocations is the selfishness or lack of generosity on the part of Catholic families. Far from it, there are many families who would welcome a vocation in the home. But the reply of the parish priest is interesting.
"I can't force your son either to become a priest or not. If it is God's will he should become one, then nothing you or I could do or say would stop
Most people would agree with this statement. We do believe a religious vocation is not just another job but a call from God.
That is the reason why we pray for vocations. We are asking God to give his grace to young men and women and to call them to serve the Church in this particular way.
Perhaps where we are going wrong is in anticipating the answer to our prayers. We expect God's answer will be to actually increase the numbers entering seminaries and novitiates.
We almost go as far as to put the solution and the means to it 'into God's mouth'. We pray, "Give us a vocation from our parish in the next five years." Or "Let so many enter our novitiate", or, "Inspire young people to be generous in answering your call".
Maybe God's answer to our prayer for vocations is what HE wants and not what we want.
And here is the twist in my argument. Could it be that God's answer to our prayers is not the expected one of increased numbers, but rather an increased awareness among all Christians of their primary vocation as Christians.
Could it be that God is trying to help us to develop lay ministries in the Church? Could it be that he is trying to form all Christians to be active in the faith rather than merely passive?
Let me illustrate this: Parish A is in a diocese where there is as jet no shortage of priests. There are three priests in the parish, all working hard, and there is plenty to do. As well as the sacramental administration there is an active social life with many societies and groups, all of which one of the priests attends regularly.
Parish B is in a diocese where there is an acute shortage of priests. Ten years ago there were three priests in the parish, which is a similar size to Parish A. Now there is only one, but it is still an active parish.
The result of this is that Parish A has very little lay participation. There are no special lay ministers of Communion, no sick visitors, and very little lay leadership at any level. After all, the priests can manage on their own without needing to call on the help of the laity.
Parish B has a large team of people who are actively engaged in all forms of the apostolate. The youth club, senior citizens, and many other groups are run entirely by lay people.
There is a large team of parish visitors, a group who concern themselves with hospitality, and xan evangelisation team, not to
mention the readers (trained by a
lay person) and the ministers of Communion and the liturgy group.
Parish A has continued in the traditional way with the priest being the main worker, organiser and jack-of-all-trades. Parish B has been forced by circumstances to rationalise and involve lay people.
Could it be that this is God's answer to our fervent prayer for vocations?
One thing is certain; if we pray for vocations our prayer will be answered. But is may not be the answer we expect.
God will fill the need in his However, we must still pray for and encourage vocations; we must still plant the seed in our young people and still work for vocations, and leave the result to God.
Above all, we must realise that vocations to the priesthood and religipus life will only spring from communities which are aware of the vocation of each and every individual to be Christian and which actively pursue this by various forms of apostolic lay ministry.
This is what the Spirit is saying to the Church, and it is the way we must follow in the future.
own way.