70 per cent of seminarians in the US say they were initially prompted to explore their vocation to the priesthood when a priest asked them to, according to Kildare and Leighlin vocations director Fr. Ruairi O' Domhnaill. He is encouraging priests of the diocese to invite men interested in learning more about the path to priesthood in the diocese to a gathering in Carlow this Sunday 25th January.
He and the vocations team are personally handing out posters to the priests of the diocese to publicize the vocations afternoon.
“More than ever before we are realizing that the priests of the diocese need to take the initiative and if they see someone they think is a potential candidate, they need to ask. It’s not even about sowing the seed; it’s about recognizing and prompting a fella who might be thinking about it but mightn’t have thought to actually do something about it.
"Vocations are not just for the vocations director or team - all of us have a responsibility,” Fr. Ruairi told ciNews.
The gathering from 2pm to 5pm in the Presbytery, Dublin Road, Carlow, is for anyone ranging from those curious about the priesthood to those who feel they may be called to priesthood.
“Priesthood can be a bit of an enigma and as can the life of a priest. People ask me ‘After you say Mass in the morning what does a priest do for the day?’ So this meeting lets them know what we do from day to day in the diocesan priesthood,” says Fr. Ruairi. “It is not necessarily for people ready to sign up but for those who might be interested to know what priesthood is all about.”
Speakers include a man who studied for diocesan priesthood for a time but went on to get married and how his time in the seminary stood to him later. A priest and a seminarian will also tell their stories.
From the initial meeting Fr Ruairi hopes to launch a discernment group of young men who “might want to journey for a while”, as he puts it, and explore how would they know if they have a vocation or not.
In the Kildare and Leighlin diocese there has been no major increase in vocations but two men are to start in the seminary this September.
Whilst there may be talk in the media that people are turning to God or the priesthood in the current economic climate, there hasn’t been a rush as yet.
“Priesthood and religious life is a bit more challenging than a secure job for life. But some people might be more inclined now to look at certain things in life that they once thought of as sure - it might be the money in the bank or the job in the building trade but in the current climate they realize there are no sureties, that the rock they think they are building life on might be a bit more sandy,” says Fr Ruairi.
The role of the priest will be much more one of evangelization in the future, he feels.
“I was ordained 10 years ago to a church that wasn’t one of evangelization. I was ordained for a Church of 'maintenance and administration' that I would be able to organize the finance of the parish and so on. But now we are looking at areas we are involved in like the First Holy Communion which is an opportunity for evangelization of the whole family and community.”
Likewise the notion of authority within the Church is changing according to Fr Ruairi who says: “I think it was the Pope who said we have moved from the paradigm of the ‘experience of authority’ to the ‘authority of experience’.
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(Source: CIN)