Pope Says People Do Not Need To Be Perfect To Be Called To a Vocation One does not have to be perfect to be called to a
vocation in the priesthood or religious life, but one must recognize
that God calls each person to repentance and holiness, Pope Benedict
XVI said. "Human frailties
and limits do not represent an obstacle" to having a vocation, "as
long as they contribute to making us more aware of the fact that we need
the redeeming grace of Christ," the pope said in his message for
the 2006 World Day of Prayer for Vocations. The day dedicated to praying
for vocations to the priesthood and religious life will be celebrated
May 7 in most countries; the pope's message for the day was released
March 30 in Italian. From Jesus' time, Pope Benedict said, God has called
individuals to dedicate their lives totally to serving God and their
brothers and sisters. God's call is not addressed to the perfect, but
to those open to God's love, which changes human hearts and makes them
capable of communicating the love of God to others, the pope said. Men Let Cameras In On Their Vocation Discernment For Cable TV Series Steve Horvath, Joe Adair, Dan DeMatte and Mike Lechniak
have something in common: Like many young Catholic men, they've wondered
whether they are called to a life in the priesthood. Unlike the vast
majority of their compatriots, however, they consented to have their
discernment process captured on camera for a cable television series, "God or the Girl," to
debut on Easter, April 16, on A&E. The five episodes of the series
cover their lives over several weeks as they deal with current, past
and potentially future girlfriends as well as influences from priests,
peers and family. They are bound by the producers not to reveal their
decision until the final episode airs. "It was a lot of fun" being
on the show, Lechniak said in an interview, yet "it was annoying
and stressful." At the same time, "it was something I wouldn't
change. I enjoyed having it (the camera) there," he said, although "having
your life put on film" and living "behind or in front of the
camera, it's very, very hard to deal with." The gift shop of the Benedictine Monks of Weston
Priory doesn't just sell compact discs and cassettes of their famous
music. Shelves also are stocked with the monks' own maple syrup. They
began sugaring in Weston in 1954, the year after the priory was founded.
Today, the monks place about 300 taps on maple trees on their property
that borders the Green Mountain National Forest in central Vermont.
The 13 monks at the priory bottle syrup in pint and half-pint plastic
jugs with their own label. The syrup sells in their gift shop alongside
their music: "Listen," "Wherever
You Go," "Spirit Alive," "Go Up to the Mountain" and "So
Full of Deep Joy." It takes about 40 gallons of sap to make one
gallon of maple syrup, and the monks produce between 35 and 80 gallons
of syrup, depending on the season. They own about 35 acres of sugar bush
over three sites and alternate sugar bushes to allow the trees to rest
for a few years between tappings. Nestled in the heart of the famously rowdy French
Quarter of New Orleans is an oasis of learning and discipline, run
by Dominican nuns from a congregation based in Nashville, Tenn., and
catering to some of the city’s
most at-risk children. Cathedral Academy is a spiritual presence in an
area struggling to be reborn in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The sisters,
in their unmistakable black-and-white habits, “don’t have
to say a word to proclaim God,” said Sister Mary Rose Bingham,
principal of Cathedral Academy, the parish school of St. Louis Cathedral.
Several years ago New Orleans Archbishop Alfred C. Hughes recruited the
Dominican Sisters to run the elementary school, not only for their teaching
skills but particularly for the prayerful witness they give to people,
said Sister Mary Rose. “Maybe every city needs it,” she said,
and maybe none as much as the fragile city of New Orleans. The Dominicans
are working hard to provide some of the displaced and disheartened families
of New Orleans with some stability in their lives. The people who once lived in the flood-damaged neighborhood
around St. Joseph Church in New Orleans know to call Sister Vera Butler
if they need help finding a plumber, electrician or carpenter to help
them rebuild. Just finding someone affordable to do repair work is no
easy task. Most residents also need financial help to afford the repairs.
Right now, housing needs are a top priority, said Sister Vera, a Sister
of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is almost constantly
on her cell phone getting calls for help and finding help. Her role these
days of connecting people is different from what she initially began
doing eight years ago – serving lunch to about 200 homeless people each
day in the basement of St. Joseph. The church basement was flooded after
the levee breach and the homeless she once fed are now scattered. But
her post-Katrina workload has increased tenfold as she tries to help
low-income homeowners and renters with housing needs. Amid tight security, U.S. first lady Laura Bush visited
a Missionaries of Charity home for handicapped children in the Indian
capital. “The
first lady was extremely pleased with her visit,” Peter Watkins,
spokesman for Laura Bush reported. Watkins said that after visiting the
sick children at Jeevan Jyothi (Flame of Life), the first lady told the
nuns she was impressed by “how you have changed the lives of these
children.” He quoted her as saying, “I thank you for loving
these children.” The first lady accompanied President George W.
Bush on his first visit to India, where he signed a nuclear energy agreement
with India. If Congress supports the agreement, the United States would
share its nuclear intelligence and fuel with the country. For the first time, a top superior of the Order of Friars Minor visited the Province of Vietnam, thanks to a special visa given by the Hanoi government. Franciscan Minister General, Father José Rodríguez Carballo, was accompanied by the order’s definitor general, Ambrose Van Si, during the Feb. 23-28 visit. According to a communiqué from the General Curia of the Order of Friars Minor, the minister general met the solemnly professed friars and other religious, and visited nine of the province’s 17 religious houses. His other visits included two convents of the Poor Clare Sisters, as well as a meeting with Cardinal Jean-Baptiste Pham Minh Mân of Ho Chi Minh City. The Franciscan province of Vietnam, founded 77 years ago, has 120 solemnly
professed friars. It also has 53 temporary professed friars, 13 novices
and 13 postulants. Among their activities, the friars take pastoral care
of ethnic minorities. He said two reasons for the overcrowding is that the archdiocese (formerly known as Saigon) receives candidates from six southern dioceses, and that the government has stipulated that they allow all applicants to be admitted. In Hanoi, St. Joseph’s Major Seminary supplies priests to eight northern dioceses. Currently, it has 235 students but not enough space for all of them to live. The Holy See and Vietnam do not have diplomatic relations,
but for some time have been following a path of rapprochement. About
6 million of Vietnam’s 83 million inhabitants are Catholic. Benedict XVI urged the Community of St. John to “undertake ever more profound discernment of vocations” as he met with 1,800 members of the religious family. Members of the ecclesial community, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary, were welcomed by the Pope today in St. Peter’s Basilica. They were accompanied by their priors general and Dominican Father Marie-Dominique Philippe. “May your pilgrimage be a time of renewal,” said the Holy Father, “confirming what has been lived to draw teachings and to undertake ever more profound discernment of vocations that present themselves and of missions to which you are called, in trusting collaboration with the pastors of local Churches.” The Community of St. John comprises 930 men (half of whom are priests or deacons) and active and contemplative women religious, as well as more than 3,000 lay oblates of more than 34 nationalities. It is present in 21 countries. The Brothers of St. John are recognized as a religious congregation,
under the bishop of the Autun Diocese, where their motherhouse is located.
The community arose in 1976 when five students of the University of Fribourg,
in Switzerland, decided to establish a community around Father Philippe,
then a professor. Several priests provide testimony to the importance they place on their own vocation. A dramatic re-enactment portrays how a priest can inspire a vocation through his service to someone in need of priestly ministry. The video is accompanied by questions for discussion among priests who view the film together at their diocesan vocation summit. The “Fishers of Men” trailer can be viewed
at www.usccb.org/vocations. Abandonment to love and total self-giving to God
was the path that led Discalced Carmelite Sister Elias of St. Clement
to be beatified. Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, prefect of the
Vatican Congregation for Sainthood Causes, on March 18, 2006 presided
over the beatification ceremony in Bari for the nun (1901-1927) on
behalf of the Pope. The nun is the first person from this city to be
beatified. Speaking to Vatican Radio, the archbishop said of
the blessed: “Lost
in God, Sister Elias always lived, also as a lay woman, the primacy of
God in her life, in the contemplation of the beautiful, in listening
to the Word, in love for the Eucharist. In the Carmel, she followed the ‘little
way’ of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, in hiddenness, ‘crucified’ with
Christ, in the total immolation of herself for the salvation of souls.” ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Return to top Visit IRL's Catalog of Books, Videos & Audios at http://www.religiouslife.com/catalog
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