Serra: Calling and Supporting by Name

For years, thanks to their history of hosting dinners and golf outings for priests and seminarians, the popular image of the Serrans has been that of a "knife-and-fork-club." The style is changing, however, as Serra Clubs now also promote vocations actively, for example, through their Called by Name program, by which members seek to identify people who have the qualities for priesthood and religious life, and even newer programs targeting both youth and adults. "We've become a lot more pro-active," said Ed Verbeke of Chicago, executive administrator of the USA/Canada Council of Serra. "It used to be we didn't want to be known.

"But vocations are now seen as every Catholic's work, and everyone should be involved." Local Serra clubs sponsor discernment days for boys and girls and weekend retreats for single adults up to age 50. As ever, members work with bishops and seminary officials, but today they also are directly involved with parish leaders and diocesan and religious vocation directors. In 1996, Serra International also pledged $100,000 to the U.S. Bishops to support their three-year strategy for vocations, A Future Full of Hope. In the United States, Serra has 304 clubs with 11,700 members. In 1986, they opened membership to women, who now represent 12 percent of all members. Serra's goal is to have three members for every parish in an area. That would enable the group to effectively establish parish vocation committees.

The organization dates from 1934, when four Catholic friends from Seattle, who met regularly over dinner to discuss the connection between their faith and their jobs, decided to encourage vocations to the priesthood and religious life. This small group grew into Serra International, initially modeled after the Rotary Club as a professional businessmen's club.

Over the years, Called by Name has been the most popular vocations program among Serrans. But ever increasingly Serrans are sponsoring Life Awareness Weekend Retreats for single adults, Explore Week for teen-age boys, Insight [Summer Weekends] for high school girls and the Ministry Potential Discerner, through which members try to uncover vocations potential among students. The programs often are based on discernment exercises and personal testimonies from priests.

Clubs also promote vocations through prayer one day a month, working with altar servers and Scouts, and providing materials for church vestibules and parish bulletins. Serrans also continue their traditional affirmation activities, such as sending birthday and holiday cards to priests and religious and treating them to sports and cultural events.

Most clubs consist of white males in their 40s and 50s. The organization wants that to change, realizing it must involve more people of color, especially as the need for more priests of color grows. "We want to reflect the Church that we live in," said Verbeke, an executive with Ford before retiring. "If we want to serve the Church, we have to look like the Church."

Serra is updating itself in another way. The group has a comprehensive Web site, through which it hopes to make the organization familiar to young and old alike. It's impossible to quantify Serra's contribution to vocations, but anecdotal evidence is quite encouraging, said Verbeke. "You hear stories from talking to priests about how as a youngster they were in an essay contest [of the Serrans] or how the Serrans supported them when they were in the seminary and that made a difference," he said.