August 2014
National Vocations Awareness Week
3–10 August 2014
National Vocations Awareness week is an annual event, set aside by the Bishops of New Zealand Catholic dioceses, dedicated to promoting all forms of vocation in the Church.
The week earmarks time for parishes and schools to consider their role in promoting vocation through prayer and education. Vocations come about in our community through people responding generously with open hearts and willing spirits to God’s call.
The Sunday readings, which bookend the week 3–10 August, all speak of responding to the Lord’s call and the blessings and life that flow from the response. From the First Reading on 3 August (Isaiah 55:1-3) that speaks of those who are thirsty coming to the water and being renewed in the everlasting covenant, through to the Gospel reading on 10 August (Matthew 14:22-33) that retells the story of Jesus calling Peter to walk on water, listen to these readings with an open heart.
During Vocations Awareness Week we pray for all of us to be open to God’s call to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ through the life we are called to. The call or summon to vocation through various forms of commitment is explored in this series of short articles.
Dr Elizabeth Julian rsm
Recently, a young woman asked me how and where I ‘nunned’. She had already asked me the ‘who’ and ‘what’ questions when I said I was a sister. There was a blank look. I added, ‘You know, a Catholic nun.’ So that’s what sparked ‘nun’ as a verb. I’ve been nunning (no sex, no money and no power) as a Sister of Mercy in Wellington since 1976, the year I also began teaching after five years at Massey University and Palmerston North Teachers College.
Almost 40 years is quite a long time these days to spend in one commitment and ministry. How do I know if I’m in the right place? Or doing the right thing? The same way as everyone else knows: I’ve heard God’s voice many, times.
Where do I hear God’s voice? God’s voice comes through Scripture, the liturgy, people, creation and the events of my day. I just have to listen for it.
When I was at Teachers’ College and running out of excuses as to why I should not at least try religious life, I used to sit in the Palmerston North Cathedral during the afternoon.
I think Margaret Anne Mills was sometimes there at the same time thinking about the Sisters of Compassion. (Sr Margaret Anne is now congregational leader of the Sisters of Compassion.)
We probably used Kiwi – ‘Yeah-Nah-Yeah’ – when trying to answer God’s persistent niggle. My cousin, Richard Shortall, had joined the Jesuits a couple of years earlier.
The three of us are all religious today trying to live out the Gospel according to the charism of our congregations.
At my baptism in the Palmerston North Cathedral, I was anointed as priest, prophet and king.
I am called to the same holiness as all the baptised. Like all the baptised I am called to proclaim and witness to, the death and resurrection of Jesus wherever I am.
However, as a religious I live out that call in a different way.
I have professed publicly, visibly and forever that God can fulfil the longings of my heart. That is my vow of celibacy.
My vow of poverty shows it is possible to live through sharing resources rather than accumulating wealth.
My vow of obedience means I am committed to discerning, with other Sisters of Mercy, God’s voice in the midst of the all the voices around me.
These three vows are not ends in themselves. They are ways to help me be about God’s reign for the sake of the world.
They help me keep the God question and the questions of God on the front burner, whether I’m in pottering in the garden, at work, or buying groceries.
Catherine McAuley, the foundress of the Sisters of Mercy, was a woman of wild and daring imaginings who accomplished amazing things for the poor of Dublin.
I wonder if she thinks I should be more wild and daring in my nunning?
Sister Dr Elizabeth Julian rsm is Distance Education Coordinator for The Catholic Institute of Aotearoa New Zealand.
Mary-Ann Greaney
Many religious congregations all over the world are open to promptings of the Holy Spirit and are welcoming lay people to share their founding charism.
My ‘Associate’ relationship with the Order of the Presentation Sisters was formalised just over 25 years ago. Knowing I have been gifted with the charism informs all I am involved in both at home, work, and leisure hours.
‘Associates’, ‘Family’, Friends’, ‘Companions’ and so on, are broad terms used to describe numerous relationships between laity and
religious institutes.
Many Associates recognise they have been gifted with the charism of a particular institute and seek to express it in their daily lives.
While they are not members of that institute they share a close relationship based on a common charism, which enables collaboration for mission.
The Associate movement has taken its lead from a number of documents post Vatican II. Lumen Gentium (1964) recognises the Church as the whole people of God where our vision is to be inclusive. The Decree on Ecumenism (1964) calls all to greater collaboration. Christifideles Laici (1988) calls on the ‘lay faithful, by reason of their secular character, obliging them, in their proper and irreplaceable way, to work towards the Christian animation of the temporal order’.
Various New Zealand Associates recognise they have been transformed in some way. To quote some of them: Alexander Henderson said, ‘I began to listen more carefully, to reach out to people in a quietly different way’.
Margaret Craig said, ‘It has enriched our lives and given us real purpose, and to know there are like-minded people around New Zealand gives a real sense of identity’. And from Teresa Homan, ‘I am less self-orientated and realise I have a duty to care not only about my own needs but the collective needs of those around me.’
Father Paul Darroch, who ministered in parishes where Associates have been active said, ‘It would be impossible to estimate the number of volunteer hours Associates put in or the number of people who benefit from their services directly or indirectly.
Belonging to the Presentation Associates is the motivating force behind much of what they are involved in.’
The Associate movement is based on the principle of people recognising they have been gifted with a particular charism.
The Sisters of the Presentation are a community of Catholic religious women called to follow Christ in the spirit of their foundress, Nano Nagle, and to bring the good news to the poor by promoting God’s kingdom of truth and goodness, justice, love and peace.
Presentation Associate Mary-Ann Greaney is a Pastoral Advisor and Justice, Peace, and Development A
dvisor at the Catholic Centre, Wellington.
Sue Devereux.
Sue Devereux
There is always a great sight in Spring. It is the newly-in-love couple wandering down the street sharing ‘that look of love’. We all smile and some of us remember fondly that heady time of our lives when a love relationship started heading into marriage. That time of dreaming of us – and us alone – sharing our lives forever.
But marriage is more than that. What we believe about the vocation of Christian marriage is a couple’s relationship is more than simply a choice for themselves, but a choice that involves a call from God. It is a call to build a lifelong, faithful partnership of love and life in a way that shows the world God lives among us in the ordinary and extraordinary events of our lives. The call comes through baptism and is deepened in marriage. The couple expresses their love through their sexual union, which brings them together in the closest intimacy and opens them to the gift of new life. They build not just a relationship but a home and a family and a place of welcome for others too.
Marriage reveals the Easter story. As it goes through cycles of romance, disillusionment, misery, and awakening to joy and new life, the marriage relationship mirrors the agony, death and resurrection of Jesus. This cycle a out over and over again in family life becomes a sign of the radical love God has for each of us.
‘Who am I?’ is a question asked by each of us throughout our lives as we make sense of the events of our life. Through the permanent, committed, fruitful relationship of marriage, our spouse reveals to us more fully who we are than any other relationship does. We bring to our relationship the hurts of our childhood, the things we are frightened of, the things that hurt us, the things we don’t like facing. In a destructive marriage these are deepened and made worse. In a life-giving marriage they are accepted, held lovingly and healed. In
marriage we discover who we are and who we are capable of becoming.
To see the young lovers in Spring always brings joy, but there is another sight we love – an old couple holding hands and smiling at each other. This touches us all deeply, because we know there has been a huge journey to get to this point.
We all want that kind of loving. One that lasts a lifetime and still brings joy.
Sue Devereux, Family Life Adviser, Archdiocese of Wellington Pastoral Services.
Pursue your goals with courage and God’s grace
Most Reverend Owen John Dolan
May it be that those who feel a call to priesthood or religious life will follow it through.
May they bring it to prayer, seek the audience of counsel of trusted friends, priests, religious. Then act on the grace that God offers.
To fail to pursue a goal is sometimes a temptation.
There are so many different ways to follow life’s dreams.
There is a caution which says ‘don’t do it, in case you make a mistake’.
But there is another caution, ‘yes, follow the dream in case you fail to do something very good’.
Our Lord’s fishermen friends spent the night on a lake but caught nothing.
They must have hesitated when Jesus, not a fisherman, encouraged them to try once more. ‘Launch into the deep.’ And they caught a wonderful draught of fish.
A call to give one’s life to Jesus through his Church, to spreading the Good News, to serving God’s people, may mean risk facing the unknown deep water. ‘But know I am with you.’
If prayer and discernment seem to lead in that direction, take courage.
We are not, servants of the Lord, motivated by the rewards.
God is faithful to his promises. A God of surprises.
This is verified by 60 years of living the life of a priest.
The Reverend Dolan recently celebrated 60 years of priesthood and is Emeritus Coadjutor Bishop of Palmerston North.
Fr David Dowling
In December 2013, two Vietnamese students for the priesthood arrived in Wellington after being accepted by Archbishop John Dew.
Nien Le, 26 and Minh Nguyen, 27, both feel called to priesthood and are willing to enter formation in New Zealand and be ordained for the Wellington Archdiocese.
Nien and Minh both come from Vietnam’s Vinh Diocese with the blessing of their local bishop. In Vietnam Minh worked on his family farm and Nien studied tourism management.
This year Nien and Minh are studying at a language school in Wellington city to improve their English language skills and are coming to grips with Kiwi culture. Many words and phrases used in everyday language can cause confusion and amusement for Nien and Minh.
For example, someone asking for a ‘doggy bag’ when leaving a restaurant or receiving an invitation to a ‘barbie’, but they are enjoying learning and familiarising themselves with our colloquialisms.
Nien and Minh reside with Fr David Dowling in the Island Bay presbytery and are members of St Francis de Sales parish. When Nien and Minh are proficient in English they will apply for admission to enter Holy Cross Seminary in Auckland They are deeply grateful for the opportunity to come to Wellington and offer themselves in service as future priests of the Archdiocese.
Fr David Dowling is Parish Priest at St Francis de Sales Church, Island Bay.
My vocational journey to priesthood
Fr Simon Story
Mum was a strong influence on my faith from an early age and she still tries to be. Dad was always more interested in the sporting world and I have become a blend of both. I was born on 1 May 1970 in Waipukurau, raised in Waipawa at 73 Abbotsford Road, together with my two sisters and five brothers. Schooled at St Columba’s Primary in Waipawa and St John’s College, Hastings, I was an average student. Strong memories of home include repetitive swimming and sun-bathing, Mondaay night roast meals and cricket on the front lawn with the Couper family from up the road. Apparently first borne are more serious and responsible than their siblings – I was, still am. Planning my future from twelve or thirteen came naturally to me, although I was frequently undecided.
It was at age 14 I felt a strong sense of the call to life as priest. It did not sit easily with me but I was interested. The Marist priests at St John’s College made an impression. I watched and listened to them eagerly. I loved religious education classes. Faith seemed to me the most important thing; few of my class mates thought so. Unbeknown to me, Marcus Francis from my year was also considering a priestly vocation. On leaving home at 17, I was given a position in Palmerston North Hospital and trained as a medical laboratory technologist for five years. After losing interest in this I then worked on a farm at Great Barrier Island for two years. Then I spent four months at Southern Star Abbey in Kopua, Takapau, living the monastic life. The Cistercian monks there were and are still significant to me.
In 1996 I entered H
oly Cross College in Mosgiel to train as a Diocesan priest. In 1998 we relocated to Holy Cross Seminary in Ponsonby, Auckland. Ordained a priest on 9 February 2002 in the Waipawa Town Hall by Bishop Owen Dolan, I have served five years in New Plymouth as assistant priest and seven in Hastings where I became parish priest. I enjoy the everyday freedom priestly life brings and the beauty of the Gospel message means a lot to me.
I also enjoy trying to keep up with the B grade in the Ramblers Cycling Club, scuba diving holidays in the Pacific Islands and friends and family. Mum and Dad are retired and live in Napier. Their presence in Hawke’s Bay brings my brothers and sisters and their children here often.
The priestly life can make demands on me, so I try not to be weighed down by them but live in Christ’s peace. If I have a funeral in the morning, a wedding in the afternoon and a vigil Mass in the evening I will slow the in-between times down. I cannot hide parts of myself from everyone. I bring my whole self to priestly service so I have to be authentic and the trust people place in me is moving.
I’ve found the support and friendship of fellow priests restorative.
Fr Simon Story is parish priest at Sacred Heart Hastings.
Kitty McKinley
The source of my vocation as a single lay Catholic woman is the gospel of Luke 4: 18-19.
‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’
This is my call – my personal invitation to share in Christ’s mission. It is a vocation blended with my God-given personality, life and family experience and within the political and social context of my upbringing and time.
A child and youth of the 1960s and 1970s I was informed by the peace, social justice, equality and ‘let’s work to make our global village a better place dream’.
In the Catholic Church a smiling, liberating John XXIII opened up the institutional windows and commissioned me and other ordinary people as unique, essential members of the pilgrim people of God. I was to play my part to bring about the reign of God as priest, prophet and leader.
Liberation theology provided the intellectual and faith paradigm and basic Christian faith communities were the bridge and vehicle for transformation.
Living out this radical call was not in a careers’ pamphlet. So how did an idealistic ‘hard-out Catholic’ young person find a path that paid the rent? Social and community work was my option. Firstly as a Social Worker at Catholic Social Services and then, as the Founder of Challenge 2000, I said ‘yes’ to my vocation to live Luke 4 on the margins of society with some of the most poor, suffering and disadvantaged oaf Aotearoa New Zealand. This ‘YES’ is a privilege and life giving. It can also be very hard and painful.
My vocation has changed and deepened over time and now as well as doing hands-on ministry I have a role of forming the many young Challenge 2000 Catholics and life searchers who wish to live out their missions as priests, prophets and leaders. For this reason I completed a Diploma in Pastoral Leadership and a Diploma in Theology to complement my previous professional training. My passion for ministry continues to be fuelled by the energy of prayer, regular retreats, scripture and the counsel, advice and example of wise holy people who faithfully lived or live the gospel.
I have been anointed by the Spirit to be a living word of God. These are challenging times to have a Luke 4 missionary vocation. Poverty, captivity, oppression and blindness are rife. Yet the signs of goodness, life and hope are there. Pope Francis calls us to open the doors of our Church and lives, to be a passionate, serving, risk-taking, loving, joyous Church. To proclaim this is the Lord’s year of favour. It is a great time to be part of the Church that Christ’s mission has – a mission and vocation to love. I know deep inside that love works.
Kitty McKinley is founder and trustee of the Youth Development and Family Centre for Challenge 2000, based in Johnsonville, Wellington.
Catholic education and a religious vocation
Pat Lynch
New Zealand has 239 Catholic Schools that educate 66,000 young people. In the last 16 years 11 new schools have opened with several additional schools now on the drawing boards.
Fundamentally, as a community of 500,000 people, we believe in the vital importance of Catholic education in passing on our precious faith to the new generations of young Catholics.
Those of us involved in running our schools stand on the shoulders of countless forebears, including priests, sisters, brothers, who during the 20th century largely staffed the nation’s Catholic schools.
The challenge our Catholic schools face today is to be more and more authentically Catholic, and unabashedly so, since they transmit the heritage of our Church.
How wonderful is the inspiration Pope Francis displays with his gestures of simple humanity ina our secular world. He has succeeded in capturing the
attention of billions of people through his demonstration of love for individuals.
Clearly, the world is thirsting to hear about the importance of love, kindness, compassion and human dignity, to combat blame, corruption and plain evil.
As Pope Francis has stated so succinctly, ‘There is an eclipse of the sense of God in the world’s affairs.’ Hence the need for standing up and being counted in what we do and say!
All Christians are called to do this. Today there are only about 20 priests, sisters and brothers working in our 239 schools, when 60 years ago there were many, many hundreds.
Often boards of trustees, principals and teachers say to me, ‘We would love to have some of these especially dedicated people working in our schools.’ This is because in a special way they are a sign of God’s presence in our communities and in the world.
As a De La Salle Brother, I am greatly honoured to be able to serve the New Zealand Church in my role with the New Zealand Catholic Education Office. The position has opened a vast number of doors both within and outside of the Catholic community. I am deeply grateful to the New Zealand Bishops and the other proprietors of our Catholic schools in giving me this wonderful opportunity to interact with a very wide group of New Zealanders. Previously, I spent over 30 years teaching and leading a Catholic secondary school.
Wouldn’t it be inspiring if some young people in our schools could come to see just what a great life being a priest, sister or brother actually is? Our Church, internationally, is able to display the great diversity of Christian callings there are in the Catholic community – expanding numbers in the religious life calling would be to reinforce this reality.
Catholic schools are a statement of Christ’s presence in the 21st century. Our students, their families and the Church community of our towns and cities are a tan
gible and visible presence of Christ in our daily lives.
May we boldly capitalise on the ‘Pope Francis effect’. This is a great time to be bold and confidently Catholic.
Pat Lynch is the Chief Executive Officer of the New Zealand Catholic Education Office based at the Catholic Centre in Wellington.