Vocation Boom

by Sue Rakoczy · April 1, 2011

I was in Nairobi recently for a conference and while there talked to a Nigerian priest who is a member of a religious congregation. He told �me that they received 1,000 (!) applications each year for 30 places in the novitiate. I asked him how they select the 30. He said it basically doesn’t matter who they choose, since “even if they come for the socio-economic gains, we turn them around in formation and they are OK.”

I asked him about the numbers of people leaving before final vows and he said that almost no one ever leaves–which is astounding.

This made me reflect on the diminishing numbers of vocation to religious life and the diocesan priesthood in South Africa. St John Vianney has about 100 candidates from all over the country; South African students only number 25% at St Joseph’s Theological Institute where I teach. �Numbers of applicants to women’s congregations are also diminishing.

Nigeria is bigger than South Africa and there is a great deal of poverty, as we also experience here.

So the “socio-economic gains” are obviously a real factor. �I know that Nigerian Catholic families often encourage vocations. �Do South African families?

But I was really struck by the lack of discernment in their process–take any 30 on the list and “turn them around during formation”.