A Redemptorist priest has urged male religious orders to be more proactive in helping young Irish men who have a vocation to the priesthood to help them find their path. Fr Michael Cusack, CSsR, who is a vocations director with the Redemptorists, was speaking after a vocations live-in hosted by the congregation in Dublin last weekend which was attended by six young Irish men.
The Redemptorists are set to host another vocations weekend in November and another four young men are already booked in for that.
All religious orders need to be “conscious and aware of the fact that there are men in all our fields of ministry who may be waiting to be called, inspired or invited to consider our way of life,” Fr Cusack said.
“Last weekend’s live-in was a great success.” he explained. All of the six young men “have their own jobs and careers and have come to know the Redemptorists through a variety of ways.”
Two of the men who were given the opportunity to experience something of religious life at the Redemptorists headquarters in Marianella, Dublin, are parishioners of the Redemptorists, two had personal contact with a Redemptorist and one had contact through a SERVE experience (international volunteering and development project) in South Africa last summer and the sixth man was in contact with the congregation through its novena work at the St Gerard Majella shrine in Dundalk.
According to Tony Rice, CSsR, who is also a vocations director and is due to be ordained in December, “Everyone has a vocation – God has a specific dream for each of our lives.”
He added, “We Redemptorists believe in the life we are called to live and the ministry we are called to offer. It was the deeply human community life, the strong desire to use all the available gifts to serve those most in need and the commitment to persevere in prayer that I picked up on when I was discerning my own vocation almost ten years ago now.”
He added, “There is no doubt in my mind that there are men in Ireland today who are being called by God to be Redemptorists, to share our life and ministry.” But he acknowledged that the call can be difficult to hear in the midst of all of today’s distractions, busyness, pressures and alternative life options.
“This was certainly true for me and for most of those who have joined in the last several years, aged from our early twenties to mid thirties. Most of us were graduates, skilled workers and professionals with a lot of options before us. However, we came to know that contentment is only possible when you take that risk and when you know, deep down, that you are living the life that is God’s dream for you.”
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