At the close of the Year of Vocation, enquiries and entrants to religious orders are up. The Dominican Order is in the happy position of having to move its novitiate as the expected number of entrants exceeds the places in their Limerick novitiate which can cater for six.
The Presentation Brothers are opening their novitiate in Killarney this fall, with an expected three new entrants – the first vocations to the order in several years.
“We are expecting double the numbers this year,” Fr Gerard Dunne OP, vocations Director with the Dominicans told ciNews. The order had about 60 enquiries in the calendar year, and is hoping for the largest inflow of novices in many years, perhaps in double figures.
However according to Fr Gerard, the seeds were sown well in advance of the Year of Vocation. More than 85 per cent of enquiries come through the Order’s internet site, and enquiries are taken seriously.
“There is a pastoral approach to vocational discernment. We build a relationship, one to one, we give them time, information about the history of the order, and then try to accompany them for at least a year,” he said.
After this period, if the candidate’s experience is leading them towards exploring more, they make an application to become novices.
This month and next, the order will be working through the process of admissions, with psychological assessments and interviews. Until this process is complete, Fr Dunne said he would not comment on the final numbers due to enter the order in September.
However he is adamant that the increase is not due to the recession. “Most of the people I’m accompanying and who are applying to enter this year, have been in touch for two years.”
The applicants are aged between 25 and 35, and most are university graduates.
It takes six to eight years to become a Dominican priest. Currently the order has twelve men at various stages of formation.
The Franciscans have about five or six men interested in applying to join the order this year. Last year it had three entrants and the year before four. Again the applicants are mostly in their early 30s.
“The attraction to the Franciscans is prayer and community life,” Br Pat Lynch OFM, Vocations Director, told ciNews. “A big draw too is St Francis of Assisi. He is not difficult to market!”
Br Pat said when a man enquires about the order, they bring him to one of their communities. This weekend for example, three men are spending the weekend at the novitiate in Ennis.
“We don’t do anything special. We just try to let them experience normal life,” he said.
In Ireland, there are more Franciscan priests than brothers. “In the past, priesthood was stressed more than fraternity. Nowadays there is more of an emphasis on the early Franciscan movement which was fraternity. St Francis was not a priest,” said Br Pat.
It takes six to seven years to become a Franciscan friar. During that time, the student friars spent time at the monastery in Chilworth, in Ennis and in Canterbury.
During holiday periods, they return to their Irish communities, which become their families.
Visits to their natural families are limited usually to time over Easter and the summer, “but not for long periods”. During the novitiate year, the novices do not go home at all.
After a Franciscan becomes a friar, he enters a period of discernment to see if God is calling him to be a priest. If he decides to go ahead, he will spend at least one ‘diaconate’ year.
Br Andrew Hickey FPM, said that Presentation Order has advertised a lot in the media, they speak in their schools, and if people are interested, they meet them regularly to help them discern if they have a vocation or not.
He believes the attraction of the Presentation order, is their “lay religious character.”
“People are looking to be in community with like-minded people. Our sense of mission to young people is attractive, and the kind of community we are, which involves lay people and religious,” he told ciNews.
He said the order had seen an “upsurge” in interest in the last three years, with more enquiries.
The Franciscans, Presentation Brothers and Dominicans all agree the big attraction is community.
“They don’t experience community in the world,” said Fr Pat Dunne OP. “I also think the Dominicans have a strong identity as preachers,” he added.
Meanwhile the Jesuit Order expects to have two men entering the order in the autumn, but according to its vocations director, Fr Conal O'Cuinn SJ, over four hundred men will join the order worldwide this year.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to us or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that we agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Source (CIN)
SV (3)