Is There A Shortage Of Vocations?

[Sister Marie]

[quote name='Indwelling Trinity' date='28 February 2010 - 05:38 AM' timestamp='1267353510' post='2064183']
Is there really a shortage of vocations? I took this from a post i made on another thread and thought it might be interesting to a few.

In my mind, One of the pitfalls of the post Vatican II era is that many religious began seeing themselves as professionals before religious. IMNSHO Our life, our work and all the good we may do will only bear lasting fruit if they stem from the quality of our lives as religious men and women of prayer. We came to religious life to belong to Jesus in Love.

I think in a very real way the shortage in vocations is in part a result of this putting the cart before the horse so to say, where many religious first identify themselves according to their "secular" profession as opposed to their "religious profession" The statement that there is a shortage of vocations for me is a fallacy.

Our apostolates whether active or contemplative should by their very nature be an outgrowth of that intimate relationship we have with Christ and His Mother. We are not called to be social workers doctors, administrators etc.. but to be religious first and above all. If we do this the rest will follow. [/quote]

I think that you have hit on something very important in understanding religious life within culture. For me that culture is the culture of the US. I think most of us in the twenty-thirty range (and others, but I can only speak for myself) have been hearing our whole lives that what matters is what we do. Who we are is dependent on what we do. It is part of the reason that life is respected only insofar as it produces something in our culture. I don't think anyone can be completely free from the cultural expectations they grow up experiencing. Religious life, although set apart, still exists within a certain time and place. We are not immune to the changes in the political, social, or educational spheres of life and each candidate brings with her/him self the experiences outside of religious life. On one hand, we need to be affected by the world because we have a great opportunity to promote Gospel values and be a voice for others. We need to be a witness. However, if we stop being a witness and end up instead as a participant we let too much of the political, social, and educational ideas penetrate our lives we lose some of the essentials of religious life. Especially the essential of belonging to Jesus in love! We don't belong to the world as a teacher, nurse, counselor... etc. We belong to Jesus as His. Everything else is important but secondary.

[quote]Look to those communities who have been faithful to their charism, to their life as religious, to prayer,and the church and you will see them flourishing.

When I entered the Missionaries of Charity, before I became a Carmelite, my profession group numbered over 100 young women. The trend is still going but on a quieter level since Mother Teresa's death, and that is as it should be, for mother never wanted notoriety for herself or her sisters.

The same goes for contemplative communities, those that are faithful flower, even in the desert.

Spending time humbly on ones knees before the Lord, is a great place to start discerning ones vocation. Then whatever may come, we will be firmly grounded in His love desiring His will for us alone.

Anybody any other relevant thoughts or experiences? As many of you are the potential future of religious life what do you hold as most important in being a religious or priest today?[/quote]

I think that the most important thing in being a religious today is fidelity. This fidelity must be to the church, to a particular religious family, and to ministry (whether that be prayer or an apostolate outside the convent home). The secularization that has occurred in religious life has made fidelity very difficult at times. The spirit of a community is essential to living fidelity and if it has bent to the desires of the secular realm - what is there to be faithful to? We need to hold fast to God. A wise sister once said to me "Remember who you are, and whose you are, and you will be a fine religious." It sounds simple but is a tall order. I recall those words often as I examine my conscience and they encompass the fidelity that I am trying to live out in my own religious vocation.

[quote]I feel like an old timer as I can only identify as a religious today after many years, but I wonder and wish to understand what current vocations seek and see as authentic religious life. Is today's trend in vocations real and lasting or a backlash from an era of a post modern religious identity or lack thereof?[/quote]

I really like this question! I think that it is both real and lasting and a response to an era of "post modern religious identity or lack thereof"! I really believe that all experiences that God allows us to have in His good Will make us who He wants us to be. If he has allowed me to see the error in the loss of religious identity and to respond to that in my own religious life then I am still living a real and lasting, authentic religious life. God uses everything for His good.

[vee]

[quote name='Indwelling Trinity' date='28 February 2010 - 12:15 PM' timestamp='1267377329' post='2064266']


I remember when i made my confirmation and this was at the height of the changes of the council. In those days the Bishop gave you a tiny saluatory slap on the face indicating your willingness to suffer for and be confirmed in your devotion to Christ. It made a tremendous impression on me that remains to this day. In fact it confirmed me in the grace and determination to give my life for God.


[/quote]

I was confirmed when I was a teen in the 90s... 1990s not 1890s that is and I got a gentle slap too. I needed it!!

[AccountDeleted]

I'm not so sure that there is a 'shortage' of vocations because that would imply that there is some number that would be adequate or sufficient. I think there has been a drop in vocations since the Council but then there was also an increase in the number of people leaving religious life as well. When I first started discerning religious life in the early 70s, people were leaving, nuns were taking off their habits, and I felt as if there was no place for me to go where I could actually become a nun!

The Apostolic Visitation of the US convents is a sign that the existing communities need some help if we are to expect an increase in vocations again. Even if there were women pounding on the doors, would they stay in communities that don't want to be faithful to the teachings of the Church, or would they want to enter in the first place? Young women are therefore attracted to communitities like the Nashville Dominicans because of their traditionalism and faithfulness. Older women are facing problems of their own too, even if they do want to enter. And priests have to deal with the scandals and bad seminaries.

The Church as a whole needs our prayers to heal. We need to start with good seminaries and good priests, so the faithful can be guided well. We need to train good catechists to remind the faithful just what their Faith is all about. Then vocations will naturally come as a result of the faithful living faithful lives.

God does write straight with crooked lines though, so what happened with the Council can be used for our good. The times were what they were, and the players in the game at the time did what they thought was best. Now we have to work with the results of that time, and move forward, knowing what we know now.

The liturgy is an important part of that return to the sacred, and our prayers need to be that the Church restores the liturgy in a way that is both relatable for the millions of Catholic who don't want to go back to the Latin, while still helping the faithful to focus on the fact that the Mass is a sacrifice and not a social event.

I am very hopeful for the future of the Church, and vocations are just a small part of that. In airplanes there is one pin that is key in holding the wing onto the plane. My Dad was a pilot, and he told me they referred to this metal pin as the 'Jesus bolt' because without it, the plane falls apart. In the Church, apart from Jesus, who is our Jesus bolt, our key pins are priests and the liturgy. Without these, there is no Mass, no Sacraments, no Catholic Church (might as well be Protestant then). If we can pray for these to be set right, then vocations will fall into place again.

My humble opinion.

Edited February 28, 2010 by nunsense

[HisChild]

[quote name='vee8' date='28 February 2010 - 02:51 PM' timestamp='1267393874' post='2064432']
I was confirmed when I was a teen in the 90s... 1990s not 1890s that is and I got a gentle slap too. I needed it!!
[/quote]


Phooey. I was confirmed in the 80s and got no such slap. Who knows how I would have turned out if I had.

[tinytherese]

[quote name='Ephrem Augustine' date='28 February 2010 - 02:57 PM' timestamp='1267387072' post='2064374']
I think we are looking at this all wrong.

Catholics have always been an odd bunch on the fringes of popular and acceptable american society.

It was odd the way religious orders became so highly institutional, constructing grand palaces, seminaries, and monasteries across the country. It was more of a Henry Ford model of a formation, analyze the vocation on externals, and assemble them on an assembly line of formation. To be honest, from what I do hear from the older guys that reform was needed and called for.

Blaming this on the Reform is quite selfish and pessimistic, I believe. Because in the scope of forty years is a few hours in the life space of the Church, who has always had its share of troubles and dramas, and always seems to recover. It would be quite impossible to find a time in the Church without so called Crisis.

I could really speak on an on about this issue... But I won't because by now you have finished reading my point.
[/quote]

Vatican II was not the problem. A reform was a good idea, but the way it was implemented after the council is where problems arose.

[Indwelling Trinity]

[quote name='HisChild' date='28 February 2010 - 06:28 PM' timestamp='1267396106' post='2064446']
Phooey. I was confirmed in the 80s and got no such slap. Who knows how I would have turned out if I had.
[/quote]
Thats it.... I am never flying again!

[Indwelling Trinity]

[quote name='Sister Marie' date='28 February 2010 - 05:23 PM' timestamp='1267392195' post='2064416']
I think that you have hit on something very important in understanding religious life within culture. For me that culture is the culture of the US. I think most of us in the twenty-thirty range (and others, but I can only speak for myself) have been hearing our whole lives that what matters is what we do. Who we are is dependent on what we do. It is part of the reason that life is respected only insofar as it produces something in our culture. I don't think anyone can be completely free from the cultural expectations they grow up experiencing. Religious life, although set apart, still exists within a certain time and place. We are not immune to the changes in the political, social, or educational spheres of life and each candidate brings with her/him self the experiences outside of religious life. On one hand, we need to be affected by the world because we have a great opportunity to promote Gospel values and be a voice for others. We need to be a witness. However, if we stop being a witness and end up instead as a participant we let too much of the political, social, and educational ideas penetrate our lives we lose some of the essentials of religious life. Especially the essential of belonging to Jesus in love! We don't belong to the world as a teacher, nurse, counselor... etc. We belong to Jesus as His. Everything else is important but secondary.



I think that the most important thing in being a religious today is fidelity. This fidelity must be to the church, to a particular religious family, and to ministry (whether that be prayer or an apostolate outside the convent home). The secularization that has occurred in religious life has made fidelity very difficult at times. The spirit of a community is essential to living fidelity and if it has bent to the desires of the secular realm - what is there to be faithful to? We need to hold fast to God. A wise sister once said to me "Remember who you are, and whose you are, and you will be a fine religious." It sounds simple but is a tall order. I recall those words often as I examine my conscience and they encompass the fidelity that I am trying to live out in my own religious vocation.



I really like this question! I think that it is both real and lasting and a response to an era of "post modern religious identity or lack thereof"! I really believe that all experiences that God allows us to have in His good Will make us who He wants us to be. If he has allowed me to see the error in the loss of religious identity and to respond to that in my own religious life then I am still living a real and lasting, authentic religious life. God uses everything for His good.
[/quote]

How beautifully said you last paragraph... as long as we live and continue to grow and learn in our lives... then our call is true and lasting. I was taught as a young nun that one is always a novice... black veil or not. If we are not moving forward to something greater than ourselves...Jesus, then we are moving backwards.

My difficulty did not lie so much in loss of religious identity but rather in hanging on to it when everyone was trying to make me join the ranks so to say. How often i came under attack and ridicule from others for wearing the habit and holding on too what i was taught. I was fortunate in that my training was solid under Mother Teresa and gave me firm and deep roots.

The challenge now for me is to remain supple and flexible in my attitudes and to keep before my eyes that I must continue to grow and deepen in ALL of the virtues until my last breath. No resting on my Laurels so to say. For to ramain in one spot is to move backwards in my Journey to and with Christ. And so; I pray daily not only to sieze the grace of the moment but also for the grace of final perseverence... That when my time comes, God our Father will in some way recognize the image of His son in me. This can only be done by saying tiny little YES's to Gods will each day with the graces God has given me for this day. Let us continue to fight the good fight and press on ahead!

tenderly,

Indwelling Trinity

[Indwelling Trinity]

[quote name='HisChild' date='28 February 2010 - 06:28 PM' timestamp='1267396106' post='2064446']
Phooey. I was confirmed in the 80s and got no such slap. Who knows how I would have turned out if I had.
[/quote]

Probably a Carmelite!..... Laughing. Love ya sis!

[mariaassunta]

In my own experience it is not " is there a shortage of vocations?" but is there a true witness to all the young people looking at religious in todays world. I know growing up I was lucky to live near a convent but many in Europe are not. America has alot of religious where other parts of the world don't. And fear of commitment it a big one nowadays with young people. They need to be taught the beauty that such a life entails not just hear a talk on it. They need to hear yes it is hard, there are days of suffering and others with joy, this is the beauty of the religious life its resembles the beauty of the cross. Without the Cross we are nothing. There is thousands of souls yearning for this life, yet many are called but few are chosen. Their is no shortage in Gods time things will come to fruit look at the Poor Clares in Spain

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuvmuYfOIag&feature=related


Have faith and trust in Him who can do all things!

[LightofMary]

Religious life is always called upon to be counter-cultural. Granted we are influenced by the culture we grew up in, religious life is suppose to be based on the values of the Gospel, and that goes beyond borders. The Western culture is truly harvesting what is sows. I lived in Europe for 2 years and I couldn't wait to come back to the US. Church life is in deep trouble. No wonder vocations are in all time low.

[Indwelling Trinity]

[quote name='angelofmary' date='28 February 2010 - 07:37 PM' timestamp='1267400279' post='2064502']
In my own experience it is not " is there a shortage of vocations?" but is there a true witness to all the young people looking at religious in todays world. I know growing up I was lucky to live near a convent but many in Europe are not. America has alot of religious where other parts of the world don't. And fear of commitment it a big one nowadays with young people. They need to be taught the beauty that such a life entails not just hear a talk on it. They need to hear yes it is hard, there are days of suffering and others with joy, this is the beauty of the religious life its resembles the beauty of the cross. Without the Cross we are nothing. There is thousands of souls yearning for this life, yet many are called but few are chosen. Their is no shortage in Gods time things will come to fruit look at the Poor Clares in Spain

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuvmuYfOIag&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.c...feature=related[/url]


Have faith and trust in Him who can do all things!
[/quote]

Alabare o mi Senor!

Edited March 1, 2010 by Indwelling Trinity

[cmaD2006]

[quote name='Indwelling Trinity' date='28 February 2010 - 08:20 PM' timestamp='1267402818' post='2064540']
Alabare o mi Senor!
[/quote]

Close .... alabare [b]a[/b] mi Senor! (accent mark on the e in alabare, and a tilde on the n in Senor)

!Bendiciones a todos!

[Indwelling Trinity]

[quote name='cmariadiaz' date='28 February 2010 - 08:45 PM' timestamp='1267404340' post='2064548']
Close .... alabare [b]a[/b] mi Senor! (accent mark on the e in alabare, and a tilde on the n in Senor)

!Bendiciones a todos!
[/quote] Gracias mi Hermana! I always get my italian mixed up with my spanish also my arteries are hardening upstairs:P!

[Luigi]

[quote name='Ephrem Augustine' date='28 February 2010 - 02:57 PM' timestamp='1267387072' post='2064374']
I think we are looking at this all wrong.

Catholics have always been an odd bunch on the fringes of popular and acceptable american society.

It was odd the way religious orders became so highly institutional, constructing grand palaces, seminaries, and monasteries across the country. It was more of a Henry Ford model of a formation, analyze the vocation on externals, and assemble them on an assembly line of formation. To be honest, from what I do hear from the older guys that reform was needed and called for.

Blaming this on the Reform is quite selfish and pessimistic, I believe. Because in the scope of forty years is a few hours in the life space of the Church, who has always had its share of troubles and dramas, and always seems to recover. It would be quite impossible to find a time in the Church without so called Crisis.

I could really speak on an on about this issue... But I won't because by now you have finished reading my point.
[/quote]

Good points.

[Ephrem Augustine]

What about places like Vietnam where vocations are not allowed? and men flee the country to enter seminaries... Or West Africa, which has seen an exponential growth of Christians and Religious vocations. The reforms seem vindicated, at least to me, when the Church moves south.
While the western Church, is still entrenched with so many problems.

I also think the affluence of the Church in this country has contributed to the decline in religious life. Whereas Catholics grow up the same as other Americans to consider the only valid life is one in which you make a lot of money, have a home, wife and 2.5 kids, and a dog, and an SUV, and a vacation to disneyworld...

Even if there were no reforms in the vatican council, I think the seminaries and convents in this country would have still lost vocations.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of heaven.