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This is the last post on the document on vocations. I want to stress three points which I find remarkable and which have been MISSED by commentators and priests. The first is so obvious as to be amazing.
This first point is that altar servers lead to vocations. Then, why do we have girl altar servers? I cannot believe the problem which has been set-up here.
The second point has to do with retreats for boys and men for vocations. This should be happening everywhere and is in some dioceses.
The last point strikes me as amazing as well. Minor seminaries were shut down in my life-time one after another, like falling dominoes. Now, the call for minor seminaries seems timely. I cannot understand how such chaos happened in the Church in the 1970s.
18. Altar service is often the
first step to other forms of service in the Christian community. This
experience, wisely integrated into education for liturgical prayer,
listening to the Word and sacramental life, can be used as a real
path leading to the possibility of a priestly vocation.
For this reason, vocational
ministry for priesthood gives special attention to altar boys.
Numerous priests and seminarians, before going to seminary, have been
part of the group of altar boys and have served at the altar.
Retreats and vocational spiritual
exercises, organized for young men, are extremely important in
allowing them to live the experience of silence, of prolonged prayer
and of encouThree more points selected from the document on vocations examined in the past few days show a remarkable statement MISSED by most Catholics, including priests. Note these three points:
ntering the Word of God. They can be special moments of
reflection upon one’s life, a personal discovery of one’s own
vocation.
“Residential vocational
communities” can also help young men in finding and discerning a
vocational direction leading to the seminary. They are a kind of
‘pre-seminary’, with the stable presence of properly trained
priests who offer a ‘rule of life’ punctuated by moments of
brotherly life, personal study, sharing in the Word, personal and
communal prayer, celebrating the Eucharist and spiritual direction.
19. Minor seminaries can offer
boys and teenagers the chance to be accompanied, educated and formed
in discerning their desire to become priests. Furthermore: ‘In view
of its nature and mission, the minor seminary could well become a
significant reference point for vocations promotion in the diocese,
with suitable formative experiences for young men seeking to discover
the direction of their lives and their vocation, and for those who
have already decided to set out on the path to ministerial
priesthood, but are not yet ready to enter the major seminary.’1
1
Congregation for Bishops,
Directory for the Pastoral Ministry of Bishops Apostolorum
successores (22 February 2004), n. 86.