In the parish: That's where vocations grow

By JOHN WOODS

As she received the Salus Animarum (Salvation of Souls) Award for promoting vocations and assisting seminarians in the Diocese of Brooklyn, N.Y., last year, Virginia Hoyns had a gold-medal idea.

The former member of the U.S. Figure Skating Team and current coordinator of vocations awareness at Queen of Peace Parish in Queens, N.Y, thought that having students in the parish and religious education program write letters to God asking for vocations to the priesthood and religious life seemed like a natural.

The contest was set up in Olympic fashion, with gold, silver and bronze medals (and an honorable mention ribbon) going to the best of the letter writers in each grade. Judging was done by a panel of 12 lay ministers in the parish and prizes were distributed at a Family Mass. All 165 youngsters who wrote received a certificate of participation and their letters were presented at the altar. Some were then sent to Bishop Thomas V. Daily of Brooklyn.

The letters followed the P-A-S-T prayer formula: Praise God, Ask for our needs, Say we are sorry for our sins and Thank God for his gifts.

Fifth-grader Vivek Hari took his work seriously.

"Dear God - This is the first time I'm writing to You," he wrote. "It's not like the letters I write to Santa, because I don't want some small, silly gift.... I cannot stress how important priests are to this changing world, when there are so many temptations to lure people away from the Church. We need priests to remind people to repent and come back to You.... Send the Holy Spirit to touch the hearts of young men and make them aware of the priesthood as a possible vocation."

The subject of religious vocations pops up often at Queen of Peace, especially at the weekday Mass that classes at the parish school attend every month with Father Ralph Caputo, the pastor. Afterwards, he fields questions on religious life and other topics from the students.

Parish vocations awareness also leads to parish support for seminarians. Cuong Pham, a native of Vietnam, who is now studying at Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington, N.Y., for example, received some financial assistance from Queen of Peace parishioners and the Knights of Columbus during his college seminary days.

When people are this involved, "it shows them it's a viable occupation for a young man," Hoyns said. "When they see a seminarian, it gives them a bit of a feel for what kind of job it is and the education they have to undergo."

Vocation promotion tools vary around the country. One tool is the traveling cross, which is popular in the Archdiocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph in Missouri.

Father Michael Roach, vocations director and pastor of St. Patrick's Parish in Kansas City, said the cross goes from church to a parish family's home back to church and then on to another family in the course of a month. The cross reminds people to pray for the family and vocations to the Church and to live as committed lay people.

"It helps the family focus on something to pray for and to spend time together," Father Roach said. "People want to do something. They want to see continued priestly leadership in the Church."

In the Diocese of Syracuse, N.Y., Bishop James M. Moynihan, after he was installed in 1995, announced "Vocations are my first priority!" Parish vocations committees operate in 160 of the diocese's 170 parishes.

Vocation promotion includes open houses at the rectory and convent at Blessed Sacrament Parish in Syracuse and profiles of priests and religious published in the bulletin at Holy Trinity Parish in Syracuse.

Father Stan Mader, co-director of vocations in the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis in Minnesota, said the key to successful parish vocations committees is to keep the members motivated, even when results are not immediate. About 50 of the archdiocese's 224 parishes have committees.

The eight Serra Clubs and their 500 members in the archdiocese also have been a force for vocations. One popular activity is the Called by Name program in which the importance of Church vocations is stressed in homilies, prayers, bulletin announcements and other aspects of parish life. Parishioners are then asked to nominate individuals who they feel would make a good priest or religious. The nominated are invited to a dinner where the archbishop and their pastors talk about challenges and joys of religious life. As a follow-up, the individuals are asked whether they are interested in pursuing a vocation to religious life further.

At St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Minneapolis, children pray for and correspond with seminarians during the school year. Seminarians also were invited to First Holy Communion ceremonies at the parish. It was an upbeat event for the future priests who were impressed by their welcome by parishioners.

"It was like we were movie stars," one told Father Mader.