It takes a Family to raise Fathers

05 Sep 2013

By Robert Hiini

Perth vocations director Fr Jean-Noel Marie recites the Divine Praises at the Holy Hour for Vocations on August 11 at St Mary’s Cathedral. PHOTO: Robet Hiini

At the Holy Hour for Vocations last month, you quoted Pope Benedict XVI’s 2012 message for vocations in which he quotes Paul VI at length, that a want of priests was “the precise and inescapable indicator of the vitality of faith”. What is the significance of that quote?

We are being indicted because it is an indicator of the vitality of the faith of the diocese and the parish and is evidence of the moral health of Christian families.

It is true to echo the sentiments of Pope Paul VI in a radio address in April 1964 that wherever numerous vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life are to be found, that is where people are living the Gospel with generosity.

It is like a gauge by which we can measure the pulse of the Archdiocese.

If we are not getting a response that we should get from the people, because Christ hasn’t stopped calling people in the Archdiocese, this is because there are blockages, noises, turbulence that are preventing our young people from responding generously.

What and where are those blockages?

We need to make a concerted effort in reinforcing the religious education of our children, in encouraging families to understand their vocation in the nurturing and fostering and encouraging their children’s spiritual growth, not discouraging and nipping vocations to the priesthood within their own milieu in the bud – something that can cause a lot of damage.

I think that religious vocations should be celebrated by respective faith communities as a precious gift that needs to be allowed to flourish rather than this sense of apprehension and foreboding that accompanies… for example, when a young man says to his parents “I have met this wonderful lady and I’m going to marry her”, the parents would be overjoyed.

The vocation of marriage is a wonderful and beautiful vocation and it comes from God.

But if someone were to go to their mum or dad and say, “I think I’m being called to be a priest”, their first reaction would most probably be something like “have you really thought about this?” It always lands like a thunderbolt from a clear, blue sky. It shocks and is questioned.

It’s sometimes a matter of culture as well. Where there were once large families, say if one family had six or seven sons, if one of them said he wanted to become a priest it wouldn’t be quite an issue.

But if you have someone who has an only son, and the Lord is calling that only son, it’s like Abraham and Isaac.

“Give me your son, your only son.” It’s quite a big sacrifice for some people because in their culture their son must carry the name of the family.

What issues or attitudes lie at the heart of that view?

The question of celibacy needs to be explained as a way of life that needs to be embraced and celebrated rather than this insurmountable obstacle or a thorn in one’s side.

It was the first thing, when I was working, that came up when I first said I was studying to be a priest. “What about celibacy?”

It is at the back of people’s minds but it shouldn’t be the first thing that people think of when considering the priesthood if we are prepared to give everything.

It’s about Jesus, stripped of everything, the Son who comes down from heaven, who gives everything out of love for us in the marriage of the Lamb.

The Church is the bride, and Christ is the bridegroom, and the priest being configured to Christ, head and shepherd is also the bridegroom married to the people, married to the Church. That’s why the bishop wears a ring. He is “married” to the people of God.

How are we to tackle what has been dubbed the “crisis of priestly vocations” in the Church, at least in the developed world?

I see vocation being addressed at two levels. There is one that is being addressed now but it is not enough. That is the tactical approach.

We in the Western world have a “crisis”. We don’t have enough priests. What are we going to do? The immediate reaction because we have an urgent need is to appeal for men to listen and respond.

Approaching young men and saying “the Church needs more priests. Have you thought about the priesthood? What are we going to do?” That’s one aspect of it.

The other aspect is the strategic approach. It begins at the baptismal font. It is our duty to remind all Catholic families that it is their responsibility, not just the priest’s and the bishop’s, to raise their children in the spirit of service and mission.

We ask the parents “are you prepared to accept the responsibility of training them in the practice of the faith… and all that this promise implies?”

There is the universal call to holiness and then, through Baptism flow all the other vocations: married life, single life, religious and priestly life.

All these flow from Baptism and it is the parents’ responsibility to keep that flame alive.

The candle that the God-parents hold in their hands implies that commitment that they make which the parents and families may not realise.

If they shift this responsibility onto the priests and the vocations director alone, by the time the topic of vocations is raised, say when the young man is 20, if he hasn’t been nurtured in the faith by his parents who have the responsibility to do so, then this opportunity may have passed by.

The sower would then find himself sowing on arid and rocky road.

Are parents the only factor in explaining the vocations “crisis”?

Not the only one. But maybe parents in these confusing times we are living in don’t feel equipped enough to meet those requirements; they need to be encouraged and deserve to be supported in every way possible so that they can fulfil their duties as Christian parents.

We are very blessed to have a considerable number of overseas priests serving across the Archdiocese of Perth. This diversity brings richness, both culturally and spiritually.

We must do everything we can to foster unity and focus on the beauty of our faith and the treasures and richness of our Catholic heritage rather than the artificial boundaries that are unnecessary and harmful to the Body of Christ.

The first thing is to have a heart that yearns to serve; to love the people; to be like Christ; to heal; to listen; to uplift, to comfort and to guide; that’s the most important aspect of our lives – to be able to be like Christ to people.

Saying “if they don’t do this way or that way” then I don’t want to be a priest, displays a lack of understanding and acceptance of the true mission of the Church and what Christ is calling us to do and to be for his people.

The people are there, they are hungry and thirsty for good shepherds, they are lost, they are confused. We cannot leave them in the dark to fend for themselves. They have lost even the very basics …

You’ve been vocations director since the beginning of this year. How do you feel you are going?

It is not something I was prepared for. You are not trained to be a vocations director.

You don’t go to a class or get any manuals that would prepare you for this.

So at this stage, I am learning. I’ve got a lot more to learn.

While I’m assisting these men to discern, I am finding myself in a position where I too have to do some serious discerning of my own.

Together with the whole community, I have been praying for people to respond. I have received some expression of interest from overseas and also from Perth.

What is important is that the message is slowly getting through and there seems to be an awakening in people’s minds and hearts of the centrality of vocations within our faith communities. We need to keep vocations at the top of our agenda.

I have been talking to other vocations directors over east in Melbourne and Brisbane recently with a view to sharing ideas and resources. “I have a dream.”

I am very much interested, in due course, in setting up a Vocations Office in Perth that would liaise and collaborate with the other agencies within the Archdiocese.

I would like to see a much broader and more cohesive approach to vocations. This mission must not be a “solo performance” but rather a concerto that involves and engages every aspect of our faith journey ie our Sacramental programmes, appropriate use of technology, etc.

As I said before, this is not a recruitment program but a noble and resolute attempt to remind all Catholics of their responsibility to live up to what it really means to be a Christian by virtue of our baptism.

All Catholics are called to holiness and mission and also to foster and support vocations from their midst [families, schools, universities].

With God, it’s never too late. What seems impossible to us is possible to him.

From a practical point of view, as happens in other dioceses, I would like to set aside a day or evening where once a month young people could gather around the vocations director or someone else to reflect on Scripture, to share their hopes and dreams and pray for the wisdom and courage to embrace what the Lord is calling them to be.

There will be an enquiry evening for all men discerning a call to the priesthood at St Charles’ Seminary in Guildford on Saturday, September 14 at 4pm. If you are interested please call Fr Jean-Noel Marie on 9223 1372.