Newspaper Page Text
The Southern Cross, Page 4
Thursday, April 22, 1999
wanted: priests needed
Help
T he Diocese of Savannah has been blessed in
recent decades with a relatively young and
active body of priests. Thanks to several classes
of Irish priests in the 1960’s and fairly decent
numbers of American candidates in the 70’s and
80’s, the diocese reached a peak of 57 diocesan
priests active in the diocese in 1983.
Fifteen years later, we have 43 diocesan priests
active in the diocese, a decline of nearly one-
fourth. Death, retirement and resignation have all
taken their tolls. At the same time, the total num
ber of parishes and missions in the diocese has
reached 81. Only the presence of other priests
from religious orders and other dioceses has
enabled the diocese to continue to minister God’s
word and sacraments in so many places through
out the 90 counties of south Georgia.
The order priests, however, have an average
age of 65, while our diocesan priests are on aver
age 54. Their numbers are, in fact, declining at a
faster rate than that of any diocese in this coun
try. The safety net provided by religious orders is
rapidly coming unraveled. And although valiant
efforts are being made to promote vocations to
the priesthood among our young men, it will be
years until these efforts bear sufficient fruit to
reverse the downward trend.
In the meantime, good stewardship requires us to
D.C.C.W. Notes
allocate our priestly resources as carefully as pos
sible, in part by consolidating small parishes espe
cially when located close to others. For this reason
and others the Savannah deanery is undertaking a
feasibility study of its 13 parishes and two mis
sions, in order to discern how best to organize the
Church’s ministry in Bryan, Chatham and Effing
ham counties. And for the same reason, as “Good
Shepherd Sunday” approaches, all Catholics are
asked to pray for a more generous response to
God’s call to priesthood on the part of our young
men.
—DKC
By Rose Cisisk
e all need encouraging! There
are times in our life that we
feel abandoned and as if “no one
cares.” Sometimes we may even ask
ourselves, “Does God care?” Yes,
God does care!
When we encourage one another,
we build one another up. If we take
time to care, we can share each
other’s problems, and it encourages
our brothers and sisters. Thus, they
feel loved and that someone cares
for them.
God is very happy with us when
we please others, and not ourselves.
Those who are strong in the faith
ought to help the weak to carry their
burdens. In Romans 15:3—4, it is
written, “For Christ did not please
himself.” Instead, as the scriptures
say, “The insults which are hurled at
“Encouraging
you have fallen on me.” Everything
written is to teach us, in order that
we might have hope, through
patience and encouragement, which
the scriptures give us. Through the
mercy and grace of God, we can be
an example of Christ Jesus and
encourage one another.
As members of one family, we
must assist each other and make cer
tain no one is denied. Let us not for
get what Christ said to his follow
ers, to us Christians. “If you love
and do only for those who love you,
what good is that?” We need to be
good stewards of the things of life
so all people will be cared for, com
forted, and will have their burdens
lightened.
We live in a suffering world. Peo
ple in famine-stricken areas need
food, despairing people need
One Another”
encouragement, derelicts and out
casts need a loving touch. When we
care deeply for people who are hurt
ing, sorrowing, or disappointed, we
provide them with encouragement.
We do this by our prayers, phone
calls, sending a card or letters, visit
ing, or offering help if needed.
When we have Jesus as the center
of our lives, he is able to work in
any situation. He comes to us in so
many ways: through reading scrip
tures, while supporting each other
and sharing our faith, expressing his
love to one another in words and
actions. This should occur in our
homes, our workplace, at liturgy
together, etc.
Jesus came to give his life for us
and ask us to lay down our lives in
imitation of him. God wants us to
reach out to all people. He accepts
us with all our faults, weaknesses,
our cluttered lives, rich and poor;
whatever our race, color or ethnic
background. God receives us as we
are and we are all equal in his sight.
I was blind to many things in my
life before having Jesus. He opened
my eyes, changed me, and made me
more aware of the needs of my
brothers and sisters.
By accepting Jesus in our lives,
we become sensitive to people’s
needs and he helps us do and say
the right things. We are then able to
show compassion as Jesus did. His
kindness and mercy to us calls us to
imitate him in his humanness in
reaching out to serve others. Won’t
you encourage your brothers and
sisters today?
Rose ClSlK is a member of Saint
Mary on the Hill Parish, Augusta.
What your parish can do to promote vocations
By Jay Copp
eople who want their parish to do more to
promote vocations and develop future Church
leaders might try a parish vocation week, pat
terned after parish missions and targeted to all
age groups.
The parish vocation week is one innovative idea
among many in a new parish vocation kit avail
able from the National Coalition for Church
Vocations (NCCV), based in Chicago. The kit,
packaged in a three-ring binder and printed on
heavy-stock paper, includes more than 100 pages
of tips and strategies for parishes as well as a 40-
minute video showing how three disparate parish
es are promoting vocations right now.
The kit is called A Future Full of Hope, after
the U.S. Bishops’ national vocation strategy for
1996-98. The kit’s focus on parishes follows the
lead of the bishops, who emphasize the responsi
bility of all God’s people to promote vocations.
“The parish is still the place where people grow
to understand what it means to be called by God
to service in the Church,” said Dominican Sister
Beth Murphy, creative director of media services
for NCCV.
The video highlights three parishes actively fur
thering vocations. One, Holy Rosary Parish in
Jersey City, New Jersey, is an urban, ethnic, Ital
ian parish, which successfully implements a
diocesan program.
The second, Saint John Francis Regis Parish in
Kansas City, Missouri, is a typical Midwestern
church, which works closely with Serra Interna
tional, an organization dedicated to vocations and
whose members work in conjunction with a voca
tions committee at the parish school.
The third parish is Saint Thomas More Parish in
Houston, whose members are Filipinos, African
Americans and immigrant Nigerians, and which
boasts an energetic, resourceful vocations com
mittee.
The video and other materials show how to
launch a vocations committee or how to reinvigo
rate one. The kit is useful in all kinds of parishes:
Rural and city, immigrant and fourth or fifth gen
eration, black and white, said Sister Murphy.
“The kit is not meant to tell you how to do
things. The materials are such that they can be
adapted to whatever circumstances a parish finds
itself in,” she said.
The kit is divided into seven sections: parish
leadership, families, young adults, catechetics for
grades 1 to 6, catechetics for grades 7 to 12,
prayer and liturgy and a resource file.
The family section, for example, suggests ways
for parents to talk about vocations to their chil
dren and lists family vocation events. The young
adult section includes materials on understanding
the culture of young adults, developing their faith
and involving them in the Church. The primary
focus of the kit is on vocations to priesthood,
brotherhood, sisterhood and the diaconate. But
the materials also make clear that “through bap
tism everyone has a call to live the Gospel mes
sage,” Sister Murphy said.
The kit was funded by a grant from the Conrad
Hilton Foundation. Sister Murphy is director of
the Hilton Media Education Institute for Vocation
Ministers.
The particular focus of the materials responds
to the concerns of the National Religious Voca
tions Conference and the National Conference of
Diocesan Vocation Directors, Sister Murphy said.
More than 200 of the kits have been sold
already. The price is $85. For an annual fee of
$20, parishes can receive ten additional resource
pages.
NCCV also has available on videotape personal
testimonies about vocations from priests and reli
gious of various ethnic backgrounds.
Persons wishing to order a kit or seeking more
information, may call 1-800-671-NCCV.
Jay Copp writes for the U.S. Bishops'
Committee on Vocations.
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