HOMEPAGE for this issue: January 11, 2012 // Download PDF Version // Click to install/update Adobe Reader on your computer

Married, ordained or consecrated: A primer on vocations

By Nissa LaPoint

Every person is called to know, love and serve the Lord. It’s how someone serves Christ in life that is referred to as a person’s “vocation.”

To bring awareness to these vocations, the Catholic Church is celebrating National Vocation Awareness Week, which started Jan. 9. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops began the tradition in 1976 as an opportunity for Catholics to renew prayers and support for those discerning a vocation, particularly those considering the priesthood, diaconate and consecrated life.

Leaders in the Denver Archdiocese shared their thoughts about these vocations with the Denver Catholic Register.

Married life

The Church defines marriage as the union of a man and woman in an exclusive, indissoluble communion of life and love of the type that is naturally fulfilled by bearing and rearing children. 

“But marriage, we must not forget, is also a covenant relationship and an inherent good for the spiritual well-being of each spouse,” said Phil Webb, director of the Office of Marriage and Family Life.  

In a marriage, men and women are called to give themselves to their spouse as God gives himself to us: totally, freely, faithfully and fruitfully.

Yet secular culture’s ongoing attempts to redefine traditional marriage raise challenges and may destroy married life as God calls spouses to live it, Webb said.

“Couples, influenced by secular trends, are tempted to pick and choose which part of God’s design they want and don’t want,” Webb said. “Sometimes such picking and choosing is called ‘having it all.’ But ‘having it all’ is precisely what it isn’t.”

According to the 2011 Official Catholic Directory, marriages celebrated in the Church have fallen nearly 60 percent since 1972 while the U.S. Catholic population has risen by almost 17 million. This represents a shift of 8.6 marriages per 1,000 U.S. Catholics in 1972 to 2.6 marriages per 1,000 in 2010.

Although there are challenges to any vocation, marriage is the foundation of society. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the well-being of the individual person is closely bound up with the healthy state of conjugal and family life.

Holy orders

In the rite called “ordinatio,” meaning “incorporation into an order,” a man is integrated into the order of bishops, priests or deacons by a sacramental act. With a prayer of consecration and the laying on of the hands, a bishop makes a visible sign of this ordination during which the Holy Spirit is conferred. 

Priesthood

The priesthood, said Father Jim Crisman, director of the Office of Priestly Vocations, is about who a person is.

“It’s not about what a person does but who they are,” Father Crisman said. “A priest is a person in a particular relationship with Jesus Christ. He is the minister of Christ who administers the sacraments. He represents Christ in the world, brings Christ to the world and brings people to Christ.”

Some may mistakenly think that priests are supernatural creatures, Father Crisman said. 

In actuality, “seminarians are normal guys and priests are normal guys, but we’re called to a supernatural way of life,” he said.

The priesthood itself has many joys, including witnessing conversions, celebrating the Mass and hearing confessions.

“It’s kind of amazing sitting in the confessional,” Father Crisman said. “A lot of people are nervous to go to confession. I understand that. … The cool thing is when somebody comes in I already know what’s going to happen—that the Lord’s going to bring his mercy.”

Through the basics of discernment, which includes regular prayer, sacraments and working with a spiritual director, a man may discover if he has a priestly vocation.

There are 80 seminarians studying for the priesthood to serve in the Denver Archdiocese, Father Crisman said. 

“It’s shaping up to be a good year but we need prayers,” he said. “This diocese is growing and the Lord is doing amazing things. He in fact wants to do more and what’s limiting the Lord is us.” 

The key to more vocations is prayer, he said.

“If people are praying for more vocations, we’re going to get them,” he added. 

Diaconate

Men may also discern a vocation to the diaconate, which imprints the candidate as a servant to all and configures him to Christ. When a bishop lays hands on the candidate, he is ordained through the fullness of grace, signifying his special attachment to the bishop, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

A deacon may be called an evangelizer, teacher, sanctifier and witness, said Deacon Joseph Donohoe, director of deacon personnel. 

Through ordination, deacons may preach, baptize, bless and conduct marriage and funeral liturgies. They may also serve as an ordinary minister of Communion.

Deacons, however, are not priests and cannot substitute for a priest. Yet the diaconate is an important part of holy orders.

“By the grace of God, the diaconate is the foundation of the priestly ministry,” Deacon Donohoe said.

All men in good standing with the Church who are single or married and at least 31 years old may seek a vocation to the diaconate. Those with a propensity for service and love of God may be meant for this vocation, he said.

“God has been good to the deacons of Denver; yet, there is a consistent need for men who are being pulled by the Holy Spirit to respond to his call,” Deacon Donohoe said.

Consecrated Life

As defined by the Catechism of the Catholic Church, consecrated life is “a permanent state of life recognized by the Church, entered freely in response to the call of Christ to perfection, and characterized by the profession of the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience.”

Religious today are involved in a variety of ministries such as health care, teaching, campus ministry, foreign missions, peace and justice, prayer and contemplation or work with the poor, elderly and distressed, said Religious Sister of Mercy Sister Sharon Ford, director of consecrated life. 

“Many were founded to respond to a particular need at a specific moment in time,” Sister Ford said about religious orders. “We have religious communities in the archdiocese that are centuries old and ones that were founded more recently.”

Consecrated life is a choice to radically follow the Gospel, she said, adding that the religious vocation is “a sign of how the consecrated life manifests the organic unity of the commandment of love in the inseparable link between love of God and love of neighbor.”

There are many helps for discernment for the consecrated life, Sister Ford said, noting there are activities available in the archdiocese as well as online aids. 

That the consecrated life is strong in Denver can be seen daily through religious who teach children, feed the poor, visit prisoners and share the truths of the faith, she said.