PRAYERS TO OUR LADY

A Cardinal remarks on the shortage of vocations



	A Cardinal remarks on the shortage of vocations Third Sunday of June 2011: Trinity Sunday The Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell said that when there are no vocations of any type for decades we need to examine the priorities of the Catholic community itself. In his homily as five young men were ordained to the priesthood, he explained:
Some Catholic communities can be contraceptive, even while Catholic life seems on the surface to continue vigorously. This phenomenon of different growth rates deserves examination and discussion, although focusing energies on the promotion of faith, on encouraging the recognition and love of Jesus as the son of God as well as the son of Mary, on regular prayer, Catholic orthodoxy, and an explicit and regular explanation to young people of the need of priests and Catholic leadership and service in many areas is essential; and sometimes missing or obscured. Unless a goodly number of young men and women step forward to lead and serve we will not be able to retain the wonderful strengths we have, much less develop them further for the glory of God. We thank God for the fact that these five young men have answered the call and we pray that the wonderful promise of this morning is translated into many years of prayer, service and effective leadership. Cardinal Pell explained that these ordinations are significant for the history of the archdiocese of Sydney, because for the first time we have vocations from three life-giving Catholic communities, very different one from the other, but united in serious faith and Catholic loyalty. I refer, of course, to the Sydney Catholic Korean community, the Neo-Catechumenal Way and the Pared (Parents for Education) Schools, inspired by the Opus Dei movement.¹ It is interesting that a cardinal would openly tackle the thorny question of the loss of vocations in an ever dimmed and diminishing Church. Cardinal Pell is honest and refers quite naturally to the problem with Catholic communities who have done away with the Church teaching on most basic marriage and family duties. Another study from the United States explains how, the intact married family excels other sexual partnering structures, and hence, the economy rises with the former and encounters more difficulties and inefficiencies as it diverges from it.² In other words, it does not pay off naturally or supernaturally to mock God and His laws in that basic divine institution which is marriage. True to his apostolic duty, the Cardinal of Sydney refers to the need of spiritual and doctrinal orthodoxy without which the seed of vocation planted in the seminary—which loosely means “a plot where seeds are planted” in Latin—will not come to fruition. No doubt, Cardinal Pell has turned much of the tide for the better in his archdiocese, although he is a child of his liberal age and plays too much the “good guy” with his ecumenical celebrations. Another rather interesting thing about this piece of Australian news is that the scattered vocations are coming from two seminaries, one Neo-Catechumenal³ and the other an offshoot of the Opus Dei. The first has raised many an eyebrow as to its orthodoxy, obedience to Church authorities and the parish unity. But the latter, under conservative auspices, is also plagued with ecumenical and liberal doctrine. It is also unprincipled and opportunist, elitist but also touching on the sacred family nerve of parental authority.⁴ May God bless Cardinal Pell’s wish to foment Catholic vocations and Catholic families but he might do well to have a second look at both seminaries which gave new priests to Sydney. Footnotes 1 www.catholicweekly.com.au 2 http://www.frc.org/researchsynthesis/marriage-and-economic-well-being -the-economy-of-the-family-rises-or-falls-with-marriage 3 The two ordained priests from this seminary are Chilean and Italian. 4 We know of husbands and fathers whose wife or children have made a religious commitment in the Opus Dei without their knowledge. This constitutes an infringement against natural law.

A Cardinal remarks on the shortage of vocations

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