Three Goals for Vocation Directors: Priesthood

"The church needs vocation directors to be "image makers who present a vision of diocesan priesthood that is enticing and inviting; problem solvers responsible to help address the issues faced by diocesan priests that make ministry less desirable, less fulfilling; instigators who prod your presbyterate and diocese to see vocation ministry as central to their corporate mission," Auxiliary Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Chicago told the National Conference of Diocesan Vocation Directors Sept. 30 in Orlando, Fla. "If we make progress in reimaging diocesan priesthood, addressing some of the concerns priests face and eliciting the involvement of others in vocation ministry, we would enhance the climate in which candidates consider the possibility of serving as priests," Kicanas said. He urged vocation directors to "communicate that priesthood matters, makes a difference." He said, "Most candidates I met longed to do something significant with their lives." As problem solvers, vocation directors "need to play an active role in helping priests to address the issues that they face today," said Kicanas. He added: "Unless those issues are faced, diocesan priesthood is less attractive, less appealing. I will focus on three issues: loneliness, polarization and lack of ongoing formation and education." Finally, as "instigators prodding the diocese to making vocation ministry part of its core mission," vocation directors must recognize that while they are "energetic, enthusiastic and talented, and while they are self-starters and initiators and people who follow through, (they) cannot do vocation ministry alone." Kicanas said, "Vocation directors must switch from being soloists to being orchestra leaders." Kicanas' text follows.

Bishops choose vocation directors carefully. The appointment matters much for the diocese and the church. The vocation directors I met over 10 years demonstrated that. They worked hard. Many overworked. Often they wore several hats, carried multiple responsibilities. These priests, religious and laity believed in priesthood and rejoiced when someone they respected entered the seminary. They stood by them when they were ordained. They all felt the pressure of numbers.

"Produce," people would insist. Some burned out too quickly. After all, this ministry is tough. The National Conference of Diocesan Vocation Directors calls you together for support, to share ideas, to develop new initiatives, like the new National Strategy for Vocations titled "Future Full of Hope." Your gathering matters.

So we meet in the Magic Kingdom waiting to be touched by Tinker Bell's magic wand to unlock the secret of more vocations. Some say our tomorrow land lacks promise, bodes insurmountable problems. Only in fantasy land can anyone hold up hope for ordained ministry.

We do not believe that. We can never let dire predictions paralyze us. Disney is a world in which characters like Mickey, Peter Pan, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs face obstacles, battle formidable foes. Their ingenuity, boldness, fearlessness and sheer determination get them through. Our real world demands the same courage, cunning and conviction. In the Magic Kingdom, we seek to refresh and renew our vocation ministry. Let us fantasize, imagine, explore what it means to be a vocation director. Let us do some imagining together. Fear falls away when you dream. Dreams open up new possibilities, provide us with new insights and understanding.

Vocation directors recruit, screen and support seminarians, but today you also have to pay more attention to the culture and climate in which the call to priesthood is heard. The church needs you to be:

• Image makers, who present a vision of diocesan priesthood that is enticing and inviting.

• Problem solvers responsible to help address the issues faced by diocesan priests that make ministry less desirable, less fulfilling.

• Instigators who prod your presbyterate and diocese to see vocation ministry as central to their corporate mission.

In this place of make believe, people have permission to let their imaginations run wild. So share ideas during these days, even some wild ones. Prod one another, come up with one, two or three strategies you will bring home and carry out. In vocation work today you have to have a bias for action. We talk and fret incessantly. Instead, experiment, probe, search. Develop pilot projects not only to recruit and support candidates but also to enhance the image of diocesan priesthood in your diocese, to confront issues priests in your diocese struggle over and to develop ways to make vocation ministry central to the corporate mission of your diocese.

If we make progress in reimaging diocesan priesthood, addressing some of the concerns priests face and eliciting the involvement of others in vocation ministry, we would enhance the climate in which candidates consider the possibility of serving as priests.

Image Makers

First, be image makers. When I was rector at Mundelein I had the privilege of working with vocation directors from over 50 dioceses. When they visited for the first time, I liked to ask about the experience of priesthood in their diocese. What did the seminary need to know in order to prepare their candidates well for ordained ministry? The query led to a myriad of responses, many helpful, some surprising. One especially concerned me. The vocation director without hesitation said: "Get them ready for isolation and loneliness. Don't give them any false encouragement to go for higher degrees or seek to better themselves. Our diocese has no need of that. We need to fill slots in remote parishes. We need men who are content to live alone with little or no concern to better themselves. Get them ready to live a solitary existence and to stay put." He was serious. We went on to another subject.

It is hard to imagine how anyone might want to pursue priesthood defined as a life of isolation and loneliness, stagnation and compliance. How one images priesthood can draw or repel someone. The first disciples were fascinated by the priest, who he was, what he taught. They followed Him. They invited their friends.

The movie "Wall Street" that was out several years ago brings home the same point. Image matters. One scene in the movie shows two young, ambitious brokers sitting at their desks making phone calls, jotting notes, flipping papers and talking back and forth. They are animated and completely invested in what they are doing. It is obvious that they are drooling to succeed, ambitious, competitive, eager to make it as brokers.

Suddenly, almost simultaneously, these two young brokers' eyes catch a glimpse of one of the senior members of the firm who is now a partner. He has been at the work for years. The camera focuses on the veteran. He looks horrible, haggard, tired, run down. He's sad, seemingly depressed, a beaten man. The business bores him to death. He is experiencing a spiritual malaise, life without meaning. The camera pans back to the young brokers, and without a word being said their faces speak the question: "Is that what will happen to me? Will this work bore me, destroy me like it has him?"

Recently I asked a seventh grade boy if he was interested in priesthood. He said spontaneously, "I don't want to be a grumpy old man." To which his friend responded, "Me, either." Who wants to be a grumpy old man?

Vocation ministry clamors for a theology of priesthood that inspires, that calls out the best in those who might serve as priests. Vocation ministry seeks priests who witness the holiness and joy that flows from their ministry. Vocation directors share the responsibility of articulating and communicating a vision of priesthood that attracts, that stirs the imagination, that inspires.

Communicate that priesthood matters, makes a difference. Most candidates I met longed to do something significant with their lives.

Several years ago I celebrated my 25th anniversary of ordination. I had some mixed feelings about celebrating it. In one way I wondered what is the big thing. Why make a big to do about it? What did I do? What did I accomplish? Looking back I struggled to remember the faces of those I met along the way. Surely I forgot many of their names, so much seemed lost in shadows. What did matter? What did happen?

In the end I decided to have a celebration. George and Linda came. Their son Joe, a sophomore at Quigley Seminary South where I was rector, committed suicide a week before Christmas. It devastated us all. I remember calling Cardinal Bernardin to tell him. I broke down crying. Later that afternoon I went over to their house. The family was shattered. Joe's mom was pregnant and gave birth to a baby boy two days after Joe's funeral. We talked, we prayed, we held each other up. At the 25th celebration we just held each other and remembered. George and Linda whispered, "Thanks." I knew that moment mattered.

Nancy came. She raised six children as a single parent. I met her and her family at my first assignment back in '67. Some years ago Nancy had a stroke that left her in a wheelchair. She became a burden. The kids she slaved over could not care for her. She lives now in a county nursing home. She gets so mad, so frustrated that she cannot talk the way she wants, she cannot go where she wants. When she came to the 25th, she apologized she could not afford a gift. She pulled me toward her in the wheelchair and gave me a kiss. If only she knew what a gift she has been for me.

A number of my brother priests came, some of my classmates, some I had worked with in seminary formation, some I was with as rector. It meant a lot that those priests came. I treasure their friendship.

All who came had stories to tell me. Many said thanks for moments I could not remember. Mostly they talked about simple gestures that mattered to them a lot. Nothing earth-shattering, nothing grand, common ordinary acts of kindness that made a difference. I felt great, thankful, humble, renewed. Who would not want to stand in my shoes? Who would not say what I said at prayer that night, "Thank you God for calling me to be a priest."

Priesthood matters. Pastoral ministry makes a difference. Priesthood points out the divine present in each person and every circumstance. Priesthood draws out a person's deepest nature and identity as a child of God. In a culture of death priesthood seeks to acknowledge life. Priesthood gives birth to the divine, who is present in each person. Priesthood through the sacraments makes present the divine in every season of a person's life, opens up hope for those who run into desperate and tragic times.

In a study by Eugene Kennedy called "The Catholic Priest: Psychological Investigations" (1972), done some years ago, priests were asked to identify some motivating factors that contribute to their decision to remain active in priestly ministry. Among the factors were the following:

• I am making a significant contribution to the mission of the church.
• I experience a great deal of satisfaction in what I am doing.
• I am making an impact on the lives of individuals in a very special way.
• I believe that people see me as a special sign of God's presence in the world.

The meaningfulness of a priest's work, its importance and significance, affects not only one's desire to continue in his ministry but also a person's interest to pursue priesthood.

Recently a Chicago reporter did a story on a rural pastor in a neighboring diocese. This pastor oversees five parishes covering 600 square miles. Some might say he is just a circuit rider, scrambling from parish to parish in his four-wheel drive vehicle. Some might think he is not doing anything significant. But he is keeping the parishes in this isolated and economically distressed area alive and, despite trends elsewhere, growing. The reporter gathered the people from the parishes in a barn on someone's property to talk to the people about their priest. To a person they commented that their pastor mattered. He had a focus, the spiritual life of five distinct, small and distant faith groups. He works hard. He loves and respects his people.

You could all come up with examples more striking than those I have shared. Vocation directors need to get the story out. Priesthood matters, makes a difference. That story is not being told. As image makers, discuss how we can get that story out.

How would you say what diocesan priesthood is about? I do not mean in abstract, theological language. I mean in pictures, with examples. If you were to write the message on the billboard or tie it to the end of a Goodyear blimp, or put it in neon at the center of Times Square, what would it say? "The one who loses his life, finds it" would be how I would say it. Then I would hold up pictures of Iggy McDermott, John Hayes, Dan Cantwell and countless others who image that message.

Priesthood cannot be described easily, but you know it when you see it. Develop ways to show it off, point it out. The apostles had to meet the Priest. Find ways to bring potential candidates into contact with priests who are living their ministry. They will leave their nets and follow.

In that contact with priests, candidates will meet people who are working hard. Ministry done in the Lord will sap all your energy. It demands your time and stretches you beyond what is reasonable. Those people will meet people who are busy, pressed, exhausted. What good doctor, competent lawyer, skilled businessperson is not? Those people will meet someone who is let into peoples' lives at a level where few doctors, lawyers or businesspeople are privileged to be invited. Those people will meet people who know their weakness and have come to rely on the Lord. Up close and personal, one develops an interest in living a life that matters.

My first encouragement is to plot, scheme, create a technicolor image of diocesan priesthood. Get it out there for people to experience.

Problem Solvers

Second, you need to be problem solvers. My dad was an orphan. His mom died when he was just a baby. His father was an alcoholic with little time or interest in caring for his kids. Dad and his brothers and sister were put into an orphanage in Chicago called St. Mary's Training School. After a little more than a year there, the authorities found out his father had some resources, and so the children had to leave.

My father was put in another orphanage in Indiana run by a priest called Father Freiburger and his sister Stella. Dad loved to brag about the fact that his father was a priest.

One summer, as was his custom, Babe Ruth was visiting orphanages, and his plans included a visit to Dad's home. The Babe arrived early and began the day by hitting out fungos which the kids chased, fought to catch and threw back to the Babe. Later in the afternoon, Babe umped a make-up game with all the kids.

Of course, everyone was trying to impress the Babe. As luck would have it, Dad's team was down by one run in the bottom of the ninth. There were two outs and three men on base. Guess who was up to bat? Dad, of course. He so wanted to get a hit, drive in the winning run and impress the Babe. What most people didn't know about Dad was that he had a bad right eye out of which he could see very little. It was a handicap he never talked about. When he got into the batter's box, he wanted so to get on base. He looked intently at the pitcher. The first pitch came, and he swung with all his might and missed. The second pitch came and again he swung with all his might and missed again. He stepped out of the box. "Maybe I can take four pitches and get a walk. It would tie the game." He got back in the box and decided to wait it out. The pitch came. Babe yelled, "Strike three, you're out."

Dad threw his bat and went running off. Babe went after him. He grabbed him behind the neck and picked him up. "Kid, don't you ever do that again. When you strike out, you get back the next time and try a new strategy. Strikes don't sink you, spirit does. Kid, don't you ever give up on yourself."

Dad would tell that story, quote that quote to anyone who would listen. Kid don't you ever doubt yourself.

Issues facing priests mount. They sap our spirit. They can seem staggering. They can make you feel like throwing your bat and running off. Worse, they make priests doubt themselves. That's lethal.

The first need is to face the issues, acknowledge them and get about addressing them. There are not any easy or simple answers. But these concerns cannot be ignored. What will do priests in, what demoralizes them is when these issues drain spirit and cause priests to doubt themselves. Those self-doubts make it nearly impossible for priests to want to encourage others into ministry. "Kid, don't you ever doubt yourself."

As vocation ministers, you need to play an active role in helping priests to address the issues that they face today. Unless those issues are faced, diocesan priesthood is less attractive, less appealing. I will focus on three issues: loneliness, polarization and lack of ongoing formation and education. I will state the problem more than offer a solution. But we need to face these issues squarely, work together as bishops, priests, religious, deacons and laity to help priests address them or they can drain spirit, leaving less for ministry. Vocation directors know the struggles priests face. You can help articulate them and help in addressing them.

Loneliness

I believe too many priests today suffer from intense loneliness. This is characteristic of the times not only for priests. Paul de Berker in a recent article in the Tablet titled "A Priest Alone" says of those who struggle in ministry, "A root cause of their unhappiness and a major element in their lives is an intense loneliness."

A beautiful book, "A Green Journey", by Jon Hassler describes the pain priests can feel. An Irish parish priest is talking to a visiting bishop from the United States at the end of a long day. He is trying to explain what it is like to be a priest in his village:

"I have the respect of nearly everyone in Ballybegs. I go into O'Donovan's pub, and all the men lift their caps and mumble something subservient to me as I pass along the bar. There is even one old man who genuflects, I swear to God. Out on the street -- you saw it yourself, if you came through the town -- the priest gets nothing but worshipful smiles and esteem. I'm 66, bishop. Since the day of my ordination I have been that sort of prince. Now, your average Irish priest, it is to his liking. It is grand with him, being a prince. It makes him strut. But I am not your average Irish priest. I have lived a lifetime as a prince, and I am not finding it pleasant. It has kept me separate from my people.... I am standing up there at Christmas saying I love my people, and I am wishing I had a friend among them.... I am held in esteem by them all, but what is esteem worth in the end? Esteem is fine for the likes of Johnnie Horgan and Bruiser O'Connor and Mick the Runt -- but I'd exchange all the esteem in the world for a single friend."

In the short time I have served as a bishop, I have heard described a gnawing loneliness that is eating away at some priests. It scares me. We need to be talking about it more. The sharing would take some of the sting away. Too many priests keep their loneliness locked inside. They chatter with priests about diocesan gossip or their golf scores, but never get to the struggles. Some men left ministry recently, and none of their friends in ministry knew the pain they were feeling. They never shared it. They were never invited to share it. Priest friends often never get to significant levels of sharing. We need to change that.

Some blame celibacy. But celibacy embraced by diocesan priests is not meant to destroy the priest but help fulfill him.

Loneliness that comes from celibacy genuinely lived involves emptiness for God. It means trying to love as God loves us, freely, deeply, broadly and unpossessively. In celibacy a priest witnesses to the priority of God in all relationships. Nouwen describes celibacy as a sort of lifelong street theater constantly trying to raise questions in people's minds about the deeper meaning of their own existence.

The challenge we face is to re-articulate a theology of celibacy and encourage priests to talk openly with one another on how their lives and ministry can flourish through that gift. You can help explore ways by which that can happen. The call to priesthood would be responded to more freely if the fear of intense loneliness were not as prominent. That fear becomes less powerful when the lure of priesthood's mission is more striking.

Polarization

One of the parishes in our vicariate was the first assignment of a faculty member at Mundelein some years ago. He remembers a young, vibrant community. People were overwhelmingly positive, continually supportive. People were just getting involved in ministries and did so with great enthusiasm. They were eager to participate and learn.

One of the newly ordained was recently assigned there. He has had to face a great deal of criticism and complaint from people who feel it is their responsibility to critique every homily, every gesture of compassion, challenge every day off. The parish is faced with huge divisions that split the community to a point where school meetings have ended in shouting matches and people walking out. People have questioned the orthodoxy of their priests. Liturgies have become battlegrounds for people with diverse tastes and preferences.

One of the great tragedies that is happening in the church is the polarization that is taking place. People no longer dialogue, no longer work toward common solutions. Priests serve a wide range of people whose views differ. It is becoming nearly impossible to build up a unity within the body.

Several years ago I was at a dinner sponsored by a Catholic lay organization. One of the men, a doctor, confronted me about how the seminary is destroying vocations. He blamed the seminary for the reduction in candidates and said that students' faith is being lost through the erroneous teaching of seminary faculty. What was I doing about it?

I felt like telling him to get out of my face. He had never ever been at the seminary. The faculty were faithful to the church to the core. But something got me to say, "Sit down, let's talk." And we did. The man has had a tragic life. Faith is the only staple he has known. He is scared. Our talk didn't change him but it helped convince him I wasn't the enemy. We were brothers in faith who both loved the church.

Disagreement is characteristic of life that has become highly complex, but polarization eats away at the unity that characterizes the community of believers. Priests are wearied today not only by the demands of their work but by the contention that exists within so many parish communities. Seminarians talk often about the struggles priests face. Internships often introduce seminarians to the tensions and divisions that exist within parishes. Such experiences are diminishing and lead some seminarians to wonder whether this is for them.

An even worse polarization happens when some priests vie for seminarians loyalty and try to pit the seminarian against the seminary. These priests question the formation program of the seminary and try to set up alternate formation programs. They tell students not to trust their formators. Such polarization cannot be tolerated. It allows seminarians to simply jump through hoops and never invest in the seminary formation experience.

On the other hand, it is difficult at times for some members of seminary faculties and even vocation directors to respect and work with the feelings and needs of more conservative candidates. They distrust their piety and their expressions of loyalty to the church. While sometimes conservatism masks rigidity, this is not always the case. Faculties and vocation personnel need to respect the mysterious movement of God in students' lives.

We need to address the growing polarization that exists. We need to seek the common ground and the core values that bind us together as a community. Like Peter and Paul we need to work through what divides and separates us. Vocation directors can help the church and their dioceses address this reality that weighs heavy on many seminaries and dioceses.

Lack of Ongoing Formation and Education

"Pastores Dabo Vobis" speaks forcibly about the need for both initial and ongoing formation in priesthood. The two phases are bound together, depend on one another. If initial formation is weak, marginal candidates without adequate resources enter ministry. If ongoing formation is weak, even the strongest candidates can be eaten up in ministry. Both phases of formation are essential.

Nevertheless, initial formation has most of the resources. Many helpful changes have taken place in seminary formation through careful scrutiny from within and outside the seminary. Bishops are to be commended for the financial and personnel resources that they have provided for the seminary. Priests serve as leaders of parish communities and need the best preparation possible. As these resources diminish, it is critical that bishops retain such a commitment. Strong, capable seminary faculty are essential in forming effective seminaries. Emphasis on spiritual formation, human formation and theological formation provides firm grounding for seminarians. They are encouraged to grow physically, intellectually, emotionally and spiritually.

But more needs to be done in ongoing formation. Priests need theological, human and spiritual formation as much as seminarians. Vocation directors who are eager to bring candidates into seminary need to be concerned about how these men will be supported after they become priests. It worries me that so few priests meet regularly with spiritual directors, that so few priests pursue further education, that so few priests make their annual retreat or share regularly in a priest support group.

The difference between the seminary and ministry is that seminarians can be required to do things while priests can only be invited. We need to do more persuasive inviting. Priests who are thriving in ministry take steps to stay alive, stay connected, stay in touch with the Lord. That cannot be left to chance or happenstance. As vocation directors, pressure and prod the diocese to provide systematic ongoing formation for priests. Find ways to make priests hunger for that formation. Otherwise efforts to foster vocations will be frustrated by disappointed ministry.

Vocation Ministry: A Diocesan Mission

Third, be instigators prodding the diocese to make vocation ministry part of its core mission. While vocation directors are energetic, enthusiastic and talented, and while they are self-starters, initiators and people who follow through, you cannot do vocation ministry alone. Left to yourselves you will be the proverbial voice in the wilderness. You know that. In times when vocations flourished, there were few vocation offices and even fewer vocation personnel. Encouragement of vocations to priesthood was part of the warp and woof of church life. This is the thrust of the new national strategy "Future Full of Hope," which emphasizes the need to involve every dimension of church life in encouraging and supporting vocations.

Vocation to priesthood must become a priority within the diocese. Encouragement of potential candidates must flow from the core mission of the diocese. We need priests to further the work of the church. That conviction should move the community to action. This would begin with the bishop who needs to speak often and convincingly about calling candidates to priesthood. He needs to be personally involved with calling and encouraging potential candidates to consider priesthood.

Vocation directors must switch from being soloists to being orchestra leaders. Vocation directors need to work with people in education, youth, campus and family ministry so that they in turn become vocation recruiters who believe and act out of the conviction that priests, religious and laity need to work col-laboratively to make the church come alive. The new strategy provides many helpful guides to make this happen. Action matters. Do not let that document rest on the shelf.

We act on our core beliefs. You can tell what is important to someone by watching what they do. Is recruitment of priests, support of seminarians, encouragement of priests important in your diocese? What do you see or not see that makes you believe that recruitment of priests matters in the diocese?

Vocation directors need to become instigators who call their local church to become proactive in encouraging vocations. People more than programs make a difference. Rally support. Take time to meet one-on-one with key diocesan personnel and parish leadership to build networks of support for vocations. When core leadership in the diocese identifies vocation recruitment as one of the five top priorities to which they give their time and attention, you have made vocation recruitment part of the diocese's corporate mission. That will make a difference.

Conclusion

Vocation directors work hard. I am sure that will continue. I hope you know the respect and regard we have for you. In this presentation I have suggested some directions for your time and energy. It is awkward offering suggestions for more work to those who already overwork. But unless we affect the culture and climate in which the call to priesthood is heard, I wonder how effective our efforts will be in recruiting candidates. Priesthood matters. Pastoral ministry makes a difference. We need to get that message out.

Hassler, Jon, "A Green Journey", Ballantine Books, 1986.

John Paul II, "Pastores Dabo Vobis", Origins, April 16, 1992.

Kennedy, Eugene, "The Catholic Priest in the United States: Psychological Investigations". USCC Publications, Washington, D.C., 1972.

Future Full of Hope," A National Plan for Vocations, U.S. Bishops' Committee on Vocations, 1996.

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