God’s Call to Service

by Editor · April 22, 2015

This year�s World Day of Prayer for Vocations, observed by the Church throughout the world on April 26, has a special resonance since it coincides with the current Year of the Consecrated Life.

“It is the laity which must lead the moral regeneration of society, not only in the sense of reforming its ethics, but also in addressing all that does not sanctify, especially poverty.” (Graphic: The Southern Cross)

Pope Francis called this special year as an occasion to create awareness of the work of religious orders as well as of their joys and anxieties. It is a year in which those in the consecrated life are called to discern the future direction of their congregations and orders.

Of course, the year is also intended to attract young people to the option of living the religious life, vocations to which have been in sharp decline globally.

In this week�s edition, many religious congregations and orders are advertising their respective charisms, giving young people who are considering the consecrated life a wide range of options to meet their particular spirituality.

Some offer a contemplative life of prayer, withdrawn from the daily chaos of worldly life; others are found in the streets to bring God�s kingdom to the people.

The diocesan priesthood is an option for men who hear God�s call but don�t wish to enter the consecrated life.

It is good news for the Church�s future that St John Vianney National Seminary in Pretoria continues to record increasing enrolments over the past three years, to the point that space at the institution is becoming tight.

It is right and necessary that we pray for vocations to the priestly and religious life. At a time when half of the world�s Catholics do not have weekly access to the celebration of the Eucharist, we must pray and work to increase the numbers of our priests worldwide.

And if God does not answer our prayers, then the Church must consider with seriousness and due prudence alternative models of parish ministry which invest responsibility in the laity.

Internationally there has already been a dramatic rise in lay ministry, especially through movements. These are becoming so potent that the Holy See is concerned about their hegemony, emphasising that the movements must work within the conventional structures of a local Church � parish and diocese � and not replace these.

With the numbers of priests declining, or failing to grow at the rate of the Catholic populations they serve, the laity must discern how God is calling them to serve his Church. There is a vocation in the Church for every Catholic to exercise the gifts God has given them.

But the role of the laity in the mission of the Church must not be limited to chairing parish pastoral councils or conducting the church choir, inestimable though these services are.

The well-formed laity must engage itself in the mission of the Church, not leave it exclusively in the hands of priests and bishops (who, in turn, must encourage the laity with open hearts and ears). Vatican II�s decree on the laity, Apostolicam actuositatem (1965), said as much when it noted that �modern conditions demand that [the laity�s] apostolate be broadened and intensified�.

The document rightly stresses the laity�s call to evangelise in the secular world, individually and as part of Catholic associations.

Simply by living the faith in love and charity and by giving public witness to Christ � or as Vatican II�s Dogmatic Constitution On the Church put it, �to make the Church present and fruitful in those places and circumstances where it is only through them that she can become the salt of the earth� � the laity is involved in that mission.

It is the laity which must lead the moral regeneration of society, not only in the sense of reforming its ethics, but also in addressing all that does not sanctify, especially poverty.

None of these aims can be accomplished by a laity that takes little interest in the teachings, activities and dialogues of the Church.

Let the 19th century English Cardinal John Henry Newman guide us: �I want a laity�who know their religion, who enter into it, who know just where they stand. I want an intelligent, well-instructed laity. I mean to be severe, and�exorbitant in my demands.�

May we hear and discern God�s call on all of us to serve his Church.