By David H. Powell
It was the weekend of Dec. 4, 1959 and my Giants were playing the Cleveland Browns for the Division title that Sunday. My father had season tickets and I could have gone except that my senior homeroom at Brooklyn Prep had a mandatory retreat.
The retreat master noticed that I was saying some interesting things during group discussions and at one point, he asked me if I had ever thought about the priesthood. I said that I had thought about it a little bit a couple of years earlier. He replied that since I was so much on the ball I should think about it again since I had nothing else to do this weekend anyway. I felt like saying, “I could be at a Giants football game this weekend,” and then thought better of it.
Amazingly enough, I did think quite a lot about it and went to see my young parish priest the next weekend.
“Good,” he said. “We’ll contact Cathedral College seminary right away and get the ball rolling.”
To which I replied, “Wait, Father, I said that I was just THINKING about it.”
He said matter-of-factly, “Of course, Cathedral is for guys like you who are thinking about it – the worst that will happen is that you will get a good education and leave if you realize priesthood is not for you.”
This is exactly what transpired after six years, including an amazing two years at the Canisianum seminary in Innsbruck, Austria, which totally transformed my life.
Thank goodness, the “vocation discernment” process in the diocese nowadays is more sophisticated than in my time when the bottom line was pretty much: “If you want to devote your life to God, then become a nun or a priest or a brother.”
When I left the seminary, I was stunned to learn that laypersons were teaching religion full-time. I discerned quickly that teaching was definitely my vocation. Then about six years later, I married Carol, who seemed to know me through and through, and could talk about God as easily as most people talk about the weather. Now I can look back at my own evolution, and that of the Church as a whole, and see vocation in a new light.
For one thing, I remember distinctly Msgr. (now Bishop) Frank Caggiano’s charge to us professional religious educators to “think outside the box.” In addition, I am always impressed by how Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio ends all of his columns by connecting the particular topic with his episcopal motto to “put out into the deep.”
We see many new approaches to vocations in the Brooklyn Diocese, which I believe go hand-in-hand with imaginative approaches throughout the world under the inspiration of Pope Francis. For example, the pope has publicly encouraged bishops’ conferences to “think outside the box” and discuss the possibility of the ordination of married persons to the priesthood. After all, the policy of mandatory celibacy was put into effect 1,000 years ago to correct the abuse of married priests passing church property onto their children. The pope has also been explicit that such a change in policy would be done by bishops’ conferences in terms of local needs, and in no way should be seen as a disparagement of the tradition of optional celibacy, which dates back to the time of the Desert Fathers.
Pope Francis has also set up a commission to study the question of the female diaconate. This commission is doing historical research into whether there were female deacons in the early Church. Such research could lead to further investigation into all forms of female ministry in the early Church.
Each year, Bishop DiMarzio “puts out into the deep” by inviting resigned priests and their wives to a luncheon in which he addresses the men as “fellow presbyters.” In other words, “once a priest always a priest.” Can we not imagine some of these men being reactivated on a temporary emergency basis to say Mass in parishes with a severe priest shortage?
Sometimes necessity can be the mother of invention under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit continually guiding the Church. Let us remember the bishops of Vatican II who were encouraged by St. John XXIII to revitalize the Church in their time. In doing so, they rediscovered ancient traditions, like the RCIA and permanent diaconate. Let us pray that bishops today, encouraged by Pope Francis, may be guided by that same Spirit to “think outside the box” and revitalize the Church by being open to new – and yet, perhaps very ancient, traditional – forms of vocations in the church today.
Powell and his wife direct the faith formation program at Our Lady of Mercy Church, Forest Hills.