Apostolic Nuncio to the United States

The Priestly Vocation as “Gift” and “Mystery”:

The priestly vocation is ultimately a mystery and a gift. The Servant of God John Paul II recounted the story of his own vocation in his memoir written on his 50th Anniversary of Priestly Ordination: Gift and Mystery. I would like to share some points from that memoir with you today. The Holy Father’s reflections begin:

The story of my priestly vocation? It is known above all to God. At its deepest level, every vocation to the priesthood is a great mystery; it is a gift which infinitely transcends the individual. Every priest experiences this clearly throughout the course of his life. Faced with the greatness of the gift we sense our own inadequacy.

A vocation is a mystery of divine election: “You did no choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide” (Jn 15:16). “And one does not take this honor upon himself, but he is called by God, just as Aaron was” (Heb 5:4). “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations” (Jer 1:5). These inspired words cannot fail to move deeply the heart of every priest.

Pope John Paul II Story of his Vocation to the Priesthood

I. Vocational “Signs”:

A young Karol Wojtyla was chosen to give the welcome address in his secondary school for the metropolitan Archbishop of Krakow, Prince Adam Stefan Sapieha. When the Archbishop asked what the future Pope’s study would be after secondary school, his religion teacher said “Polish language and letters”. The archbishop replied “A pity it is not theology”.

However, as Karol began his studies in language at the Jagiellonian University, he discovered that the mystery of language brings us back to the inscrutable mystery of God himself. As he came to appreciate the power of the word in his literary and linguistic studies, he inevitably drew close to the mystery of the Word, that Word of which we speak every day in the Angelus: “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn 1:14). Polish language and literature for him prepared the ground for an encounter with philosophy and theology

These studies came to an end with the German occupation and the outbreak of the Second World War. The former Holy Father began working as a laborer in a stone quarry to avoid deportation and forced labor in Germany. There he witnessed the death of a fellow laborer in a detonation. He wrote: “They took his body and walked in a silent line. Toil still lingered about him, a sense of wrong.”

When he became assistant to the rock blaster, his co-worker Franciszek said “Karol, you should be a priest. You have a good voice and will sing well; then you’ll be all set”. He said this in all simplicity expressing a view then widely held in society about how priests lived. Those words stuck in Karol’s memory.

In the Theater of the Living Word, he admits “the whole experience of the theater left a deep impression on me, even though at a certain point I came to realize that this was not my real vocation”.

Finally, he discovered his real vocation was to enter the seminary and become a priest. This was 1942, formation was clandestine, and seminarians were still working as laborers as well as studying. But through it all he recounts:

Today I think back with deep gratitude on all the superiors, spiritual directors, and professors who contributed to my formation during my time at the seminary. May the Lord repay their efforts and sacrifice!

II. Vocational “Influences”:

Pope John Paul recalls that there were many influences on his vocation. This influential priestly presence is something that you, as Diocesan Vocation Directors, are called to be for men discerning vocations today. Pope John Paul writes:

I have spoken at length about my seminary experience because this was the greatest influence on my priestly formation. But looking at the fuller picture, I clearly see that a number of other situations and individuals had a positive influence on me, and that God was using them to make his voice heard.

Among them were:

• His Family: his parents and brother, especially his father who was a widower at an early age, and a deeply religious man. “We never spoke about a vocation to the priesthood, but his example was in a way my first seminary, a kind of domestic seminary”.

• The Solvay Plant: his experience was that of a worker-seminarian. H wrote: “I knew quite well the meaning of physical labor. Every day I had been with people who did heavy work. I came to know their living situations, their families, their interests, their human worth, and their dignity”.

It is extremely important this aspect one of the signs of vocation is when somebody through his prayer and conversation with Jesus Christ is capable to go out of himself. To think of the need of the others and to dedicate himself for this. The enemy of vocation is selfishness, his egoism. Why the capacity of dedication is a great sign that the spirit of the Lord entered in this person and can guide him very far.

• His Parish in Cracow: the Salesian fathers and their work among the youth, headed by Jan Tyranowski, who created a network called The Living Rosary, engaging them in spiritual formation.

• The Monastery of the Carmelite Fathers: making retreat with them.

It’s not bad. If I can say an experience of mine a few months before deaconate, I was troubled if to take forever. This is the season of my life. I was studying at the Roman Seminary and I went to a Trappist convent in Rome and a Father with an angelical face, use to silence and to prayer, came to receive me and I entrusted him with my interior troubles. And, he gave me a great serenity with his answer and I still remember, “Don’t worry to be Priest forever, because God loves you forever.”

• His Confessor and Spiritual Director: Father Figlewicz.

• The Blessed Virgin Mary: “In speaking of the origins of my priestly vocation, I cannot overlook its Marian Thread”.

• Brother Saint Albert: the Polish tradition of radical Gospel idealism.

• The Experience of the War: He writes: My priestly vocation took definitive shape at the time of the Second World War, during the Nazi occupation. Was this a mere coincidence or was there a more profound connection between what was developing within me and external historical events? It is hard to answer such a question. Certainly in God’s plan nothing happens by chance. All I can say is that the tragedy of the war had its effect on the gradual choice of a vocation.

• The Sacrifices made by Polish Priests: the arrests and deportation to concentration camps of an immense number of Polish priests, in Dachau alone about 3000 were interned. I had the blessing of beatifying many of them.
• Goodness: he experienced goodness and love even “amid the harshness of war”.

I can understand that after the sex scandal can be felt a little bit of difficulty to speak about vocations. And maybe you can imagine how the people in front of you can receive the message a new vocation will be new Priest who will violate our children. But I would say that as the Pope was encouraged to take a final decision by the great number of priests in Poland who were brought to the camp of concentration, you today, you should be pushed in your many strengths by the fact that so many priests have abandoned their mission or have been forced to abandon their mission. The church in America will pass through a difficult time of poverty of priests. But a new springtime will come. With more priests and better quality and you is the instrument of this springtime of Priesthood in the Church of America.

Without memory there is no future

On Sunday afternoon, 4 July, during his Pastoral Visit to Sulmona, the Holy Father spoke to the young people of the region in the Cathedral of St Pamphilus. The following is a translation of the Pope’s Address, which was given in Italian.

You have just asked me:  how does one recognize God’s call? Well, the secret of the vocation lies in the capacity for and joy of distinguishing, listening to, and obeying his voice. But to do this it is necessary to accustom our hearts to recognizing the Lord and to having an awareness of him as a Person who is close to me and loves me.
As I said this morning, it is important to learn to live in our days moments of inner silence in order to hear the Lord’s voice. You may be sure that if we learn to listen to this voice and to follow it generously, we have nothing to fear, we know and feel that God is with us, that God is Friend, Father and Brother.
In a word:  the secret of the vocation lies in the relationship with God, in prayer that develops, precisely, in inner silence, in the capacity for listening, hearing that God is close. And this is true both before the decision, that is, at the time of deciding and setting out, and afterwards, if one wants to be faithful and to persevere on the way.
St Peter Celestine was first and foremost this:  a man of listening, of inner silence, a man of prayer, a man of God. Dear young people, may you always make room in your day for God, to listen to him and pray to him!
And here I would like to say something else to you:  true prayer is not at all foreign to reality. If prayer should alienate you, remove you from your real life, be on your guard it would not be true prayer! On the contrary, dialogue with God is a guarantee of truth, of truth with ourselves and with others and hence of freedom. Being with God, listening to his word, in the Gospel and in the Church’s Liturgy, protects you from the dazzle of pride and presumption, from fashions and conformism, and gives you the strength to be truly free, even from certain temptations masked by good things.

State of California Vocations Program

Awakening the Passion of Vocations within Our Hearts & Minds

California State Deputy Ivan Reeks has proclaimed that along with Culture of Life, Vocations will be one of his top priorities for the Columbian Year 2010-2011.

Pope John Paul II in his encyclical “Pastores Dabo Vobis” says that we all are responsible for priestly vocations.  He calls upon every Catholic to make vocations a part of their lives.  In particular he singles out the Married Couple, the Family, the Laity, Parish Communities and Catholic Organizations

Pope Benedict XVI compares fostering vocations like seed that falls on good soil.  We are all called to become that good soil.  He also called the entire leadership of the Church from Bishops to Priests and Laity to utilize the contemporary means and forms of communication to proclaim the Good News to all.  This includes internet and social networking as well as the more traditional forms of communications.

As Knights of Columbus, our Order from its very beginning has supported our priests, sisters and brothers in many ways, especially through financial contributions and prayer.  If we are to heed the call and challenge of Pope John Paul II, it is only fitting that our Order adopts a major focus on vocations in today’s society and begin a deeper journey of instilling and bringing alive a passion for vocations that is within the hearts and minds of every Knight, their wives and family.  We are being called to become that good soil and to awake the very essence of it in every human being we come into contact with in our daily lives.  We do this simply by the way we live our lives as Catholic men in our marriage, our family, as individuals, in our parishes, our dioceses and through our participation in the Knights of Columbus.

Over 300 men were ordained to the priesthood of Jesus Christ in the U.S. this year including the three men pictured below for the Diocese of San Diego.  From left to right Fr. Jacob Bertrand, Father Efrain Bautista and Fr. Christopher Tozzi.

Vocations do not happen overnight but rather they are gifts from God that have to be nourished for years.  This nourishment is the responsibility of all Catholics if the church is to continue to grow and be the voice of Christ’s teachings even when they are contrary to today’s society.  The Knights are a prime example of how vocations can be supported and nourished.  The Order has been called “the strong right arm of the Church,” and has been praised by popes, presidents and other world leaders, for support of the Church, programs of evangelization and Catholic education, civic involvement and aid to those in need.  Part of this unending support for the Church is in the charism of supporting priests and vocations.

Overview of 2010 – 2011 Program

Vocations are not confined simply as a church program but rather VOCATION AWARENESS is a function that is present in some way in all Council, Squire Circles, Assembly and Chapter activities as well as its members.  It is therefore the function of the State Vocation Committee to provide guidance and support in promoting VOCATION AWARENESS and FINANCIAL AND SPIRITUAL SUPPORT FOR SEMINARIANS AND RELIGIOUS IN FORMATION through various programs and activities.

Knights of Columbus State Vocation Awareness Website

To help create this awareness and to offer help in achieving this goal a new website has been developed.

The vocations website goals are

• To increase the awareness of a vocation to the priesthood or religious life.
• An interactive website that draws all ages to explore the possibility of a vocation in the church.
• Sections earmarked for youth, young adults, parents and individuals already in other careers.
• Testimonials from seminarians, novices, priests, religious, their parents and families.
• Education and Exploration in the discernment process.
• Links to Diocesan vocation websites.
• Sharing of ideas, programs and successful vocational events.
• Knights of Columbus Training Module for Vocations

Vocation Awareness through Activities and Programs

Detail information can be found on the Knights of Columbus Vocation Website and through the training programs that will be offered throughout the year.  There will be an ongoing flow of ideas and successful activities shared through the vocation website and newsletters.   Some of the areas that can be used for activities and events include:

1. Public Relations, Advertising & Communication

• Promoting Vocation Awareness in your area through various activities.

2. Awareness & Education Programs (Council, Squire, Assembly & Chapter Level

• Catholic School or Religious Education Programs
• Parish, Assembly or Chapter Education and Awareness Programs
• MATRIMONAL COUPLE “SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY” (Understanding what it means to be a married couple in relationship to vocations)
• CHRISTIAN FAMILY (The role of the family in fostering vocations)
• LAY FAITHFUL (The role of all Catholics in fostering vocations)

3. Prayer Support & Participation in Other Vocational Activities and Programs

• PARISH, COUNCIL, SQUIRE CIRCES, ASSEMBLY ACTIVITIES
• DIOCESAN, CHAPTER, STATE  & NATIONAL ACTIVITIES
• SUPREME & NATIONAL ACTIVITIES

4. Financial Support

RSVP Program

• Educate yourself on the RSVP Program and implement it in your council, assembly or chapter.  It is the responsibility of everyone to assist your local seminarians in their preparation and formation.

Vocation Scholarships

• Publicize and promote the various Vocation Scholarships available.

5. Diocesan and Other Organizations Collaboration

Establish a relationship with

• Parish  & Diocesan Vocation Director
• Serra Club in your area or diocese
• Culture of Life Organizations

Plan, participate in or sponsor an activity

• At the diocesan level
• With your local Serra Club or a Catholic Culture of Life Organization
• With your Squires Circle, Council or Chapter

State Program Awards for Vocations

Awards will be given for outstanding vocation awareness programs, events or activities for Councils, Squire Circles and Chapters.  Activities and programs submitted for these NEW AND SPECIAL AWARDS can also be submitted under the award category of Church.  Detailed information will be on the Knights of Columbus Vocation Website www.vocationsawareness.org under the heading Knights Training.

Squire Circle Award

1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd Place Plaques and Certificates for 4^th through 10^th Place

Council Award

1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd Place Plaques and Certificates for 4^th through 10^th Place

Chapter Award

1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd Place Plaques and Certificates for 4^th through 10^th Place

Special Recognition Extra Credit will be given for participation in

1. The RSVP Program
2. St. John Vianney Family Novena
3. The Religious Ed or Catholic School Curriculum

Councils, Squires, Assemblies and Chapter Focus and Challenge for 2010 – 2011

It is the call and challenge from Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI for the Knights to become the good soil on which vocations can flourish.  As the right hand Catholic Organization that supports the Church, the Knights are challenged at all levels to increase their Spiritual and Financial Support for Seminarians and Religious in formation and to apply the values of creating a vocation awareness in their marriages, families and through  activities and programs developed and offered through their councils, squires, assemblies and chapters.

Our new State Vocations Chairman John Bertrand is looking for Knights and their wives who have a passion for vocations and would like to be part of this great and important undertaking this year.  Like one of the newly ordained priests Fr. Jacob said when asked about what happened to him to lead him to acknowledging and accepting the call of a priestly vocation, he replied “When I was attending World Youth Day, Pope John Paul II spoke to us and when I heard and saw him, I said to myself that this is a great and holy man who is going to change the world and I want to be part of that as one of his priests”.

Please contact John if you want to work with him to help create awareness for vocations in your local area or throughout the state.

State Vocations Chairman:

John D. Bertrand

12457 Greens East Rd. San Diego, CA 92128

Email: jdbertrand@san.rr.com

Home Phone:  (858) 674-4128

Cell      Phone:  (858) 395-4123