Parishes encourage families
to pray for vocations
By Sean Gallagher
The fathers of the Second Vatican Council described the family as the “first seminary” and the “principal contributor” in the fostering of priestly and religious vocations (Optatam Totius , 2).
The families who make up the parishes of St. Anne in New Castle, St. Rose in Knightstown and Our Lady of the Greenwood in Greenwood are taking this responsibility seriously.
Since last October, families in St. Anne and St. Rose parishes have been taking turns each week praying in their homes for an increase of vocations to the priesthood and religious life.
A book of prayers is provided to the families and is handed from one household to another at each weekend Mass.
William and Linda Cool, and their two children who are still living at home, Kevin and Lisa, are members of St. Anne Parish. They were one of the first families to receive the book of prayers and were honored to do so.
“It was spiritual and it was an honor,” Bill Cool said. “We have four kids. And it’d be an honor to have one of your kids to go to religious life. I think a parent has to tell in his prayers to God when they’re little, ‘If you choose one of my kids, that would be fine with me.’ ”
It was in part a similar prayer offered by her own parents that motivated Franciscan Sister Shirley Gerth, parish life coordinator of St. Anne and St. Rose parishes, to encourage the families in her parishes to pray for vocations.
She said that her parents prayed that one of their sons would be ordained a priest and one of their daughters would enter the religious life. Both prayers were answered through her own life as a Franciscan and her late brother, Robert, who was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Lafayette in 1967.
She said, though, she’s not sure that families are as dedicated today in fostering vocations and hopes that the passing on of the prayer book might be a way of changing the situation.
“I saw this simply as one way each week to hold this before the people,” Sister Shirley said, “as a means of encouraging them to pray that one of their own children might become a priest or religious. And if they don’t have children, then one in the parish.”
Kevin Cool, a senior at Blue River High School in Henry County, said that he has not ruled out a possible vocation to the priesthood while he prepares to begin studies at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., in the fall.
“It’s something that I wouldn’t just sit here and say, ‘Absolutely not, no chance,’ Kevin said. “It’s not ever [been] ruled out. You never know until you feel that you’ve been called to do that.”
Kevin appreciated the chance to pray with his family, especially for vocations, in light of the clergy sexual abuse scandal that has struck the Church over the past few years.
“Now more than ever, what we were praying for was definitely important, so that made it even more meaningful,” he said. “Just trying to get the family praying for any cause felt good, especially for something so important.”
Getting families to pray together and to pray especially for an increase of priestly and religious vocations was also a prime motivation for the creation of Our Lady of the Greenwood Parish’s vocations committee.
Shortly after its establishment in May 2004, the committee set up a program where a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary would be passed on from family to family, with each household praying in their home a novena of prayers for vocations.
It has proven to be a popular effort, with some families having to wait several months to receive the statue after signing up to participate.
Therese Beretta requested the statue in June 2004, but only received it last week. Signing up for it was a natural thing for her to do because she has experienced the fostering of vocations in the family in which she grew up.
Her father, Deacon Joseph Meilinger, is a permanent deacon for the Archdiocese of Denver and was ordained in 1989.
In addition to instilling a value of vocations in her daughters, Rachel and Caitlin, Beretta also saw the novena simply as an opportunity to pray with them in their home.
“I hope it makes us more prayerful,” she said. “I … felt like maybe this would give me an opportunity to bring my girls every night to say a prayer with me.”
The encouraging of families to pray in their home for an increase in priestly and religious vocations is just one aspect of a spectrum of ways that Our Lady of the Greenwood Parish is seeking to foster a culture of vocations among its families. And although all vocations find their origin in God, the efforts of the parish appear to be helping its young people be open to all possibilities.
Since the vocations committee was established, two young men from Our Lady of the Greenwood Parish have become seminarians, raising its total number of men in formal discernment to four, with one, Deacon William Williams, scheduled to be ordained to the priesthood in June.
Carla Zachodni, a member of Our Lady of the Greenwood Parish and the chairperson of its vocations committee, is pleased with these developments that she has witnessed in the first months of the committee’s existence. Still, she recognizes that vocations take many years to come to fruition.
“We’re really starting to see some fruit, maybe in a small way,” she said. “Of course, we won’t know for years and years, but it’s still beautiful that already some things are happening.” †
