My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,
This week, on the Feast of St. John Vianney, Aug. 4, the Diocese initiated the Year of Vocations: Reawakening the Call. In my letter to the priests announcing this year, I began by saying, “Pray to the Lord of the Harvest so that He may send laborers into His harvest.”
This is not just a suggestion coming from myself; rather it is the command of the Lord Jesus, Himself. If we are to have sufficient laborers in the vineyard of the Kingdom of God, we need to pray. We need to reawaken the call which is coming to many young people, and some not so young. We have to be the instruments of the Lord’s hands of making the invitation that the Lord has instilled in the hearts of many.
Several years ago, we worked with St. John’s University to figure out what obstacles prevent young people from responding to the call to a vocation. We were surprised when we found that most prevalent reason young people did not consider a vocation to the priesthood or religious life was “no one ever asked.”
Various Method and Programs
Remembering that important fact, this year we have begun our Year of Vocations so that we, through various methods and programs, will truly try to reawaken a call that we know is already in the hearts of many. The Lord will not leave His Church and His flock unattended.
In preparation for our Mass this week with our seminarians and their families to open this Year of Vocations, I began to reread the definitive biography of the Curé d’Ars, St. John Vianney, by Abbot Francois Trochu published in the last century. The book is nearly 600 pages and I just put a dent into rereading some of the chapters which I read some time ago.
In reading, I was looking for what effect St. John Vianney had on the increase of vocations in the France of his day. Unfortunately, I could find no significant fact that even the life of this great saint made a difference in the number of young people who were responding to a vocation call during that time. In rereading the history of the time, however, it is a marvel that anyone ever was able to preserve their faith.
Recalling the situation in the late 18th century, the results of the French Revolution which tried to dismantle the Church and ban even the celebration of the Mass and the sacraments, especially for those who would not take an oath to the government, was a terrible time in the history of the Church in France. This was perhaps no less than some of the difficulties that we face in our own day and age. The clergy sexual abuse scandal and the deep-seated secularization of our culture have been two of the determining factors that have lead many people to stop practicing their faith, and certainly to discourage young people from considering to dedicate their whole life to Christ and His Church.
It is certainly a difficult time in which we live, but no less difficult than the days of St. John Vianney. In rereading his life, I found that this young man who had missed a formal education during his formative years found it very difficult to study, especially to apply himself to the study of language which was so necessary in those days. With God’s grace, however, John Vianney came to be ordained a priest. He was assigned for some years to another priest who would train him in the ways of the priesthood. He was assigned to the poor village of Ares, where the church, itself, had been abandoned by most of its people.
Simple Advice, Soulful Wisdom
But little by little, especially by his catechesis to the little children of the village, people began to return to their Catholic faith. The greatest glory of John Vianney was his special love for the confessional. By the end of his days, people from all over France and beyond came to make their confession to the Curé d’Ars, who with his simple advice and soul-penetrating wisdom was able to bring many people back to the practice of the faith.
Clearly, St. John Vianney was a missionary, even if he did not ever leave Ares once he was assigned to that small village. Today, our own priests truly have a missionary vocation. In our diocese in Brooklyn and Queens, it has been a challenge for some to change assignments, as has been promulgated by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. There is a six-year pastorate or a maximum of 12 years unless otherwise needed With the newly ordained having their first assignment for five years, and sometimes less, before they move to another assignment. When one looks at this from a distance, this truly makes our priests missionaries. Not being ever so comfortable in one place, but as one author recently said, “Our priests are involved in a relay race.”
Zeal, Energy and Sacrifice
In writing on the spirituality of a diocesan priest, Father Joseph Cisetti compared the life of a diocesan priest to handing off the baton in a relay race to someone else. It seems to be that one sows and another reaps. The life of a diocesan priest is one of constant change. As the old adage goes, a stagnant stream produces foul water. But when the stream runs freely, it brings life-giving water to anything it touches.
And so it is with the life of a diocesan priest, moving from one place to another with new zeal and energy accomplishes the New Evangelization, not without sacrifice to himself.
During this Year of Vocations that we have just begun, we will call upon priests, deacons, religious and the laity of Brooklyn and Queens to make a special effort, first of prayer for vocations, and then to try the many programs and proposals recently sent to pastors and administrators. For some, it might seem overwhelming, however, I am sure that some can accomplish at least one, if not several, of the activities proposed.
Before the end of the year, I will be writing a pastoral letter on vocations entitled, “Reawaken the Call,” where I will give my own insights into how we can make this year a special one and a fruitful one in the life of the Church in Brooklyn and Queens.
Just as the Lord told us, we must sow the seed not knowing where it may fall and if it will take root. It is putting out into the deep by following the command of the Lord.
Please join me in praying as we begin this Year of Vocations that by listening to the Lord’s command, we will bring more priests and religious sisters and brothers to serve the people of Brooklyn and Queens.
