If you’re waiting for a sign, this is it

That was the message on one of the billboards put up a few years ago by the Archdiocese of Chicago as part of a campaign of awareness about vocations to the priesthood. Another one said “Good guys wear black.” However, the White Sox use that slogan, too, so it became theirs and the vocations office has tried other messages over time.

Which is the point. The Catholic priesthood has never changed from the time it was instituted by Christ, but public perception of it has and the culture that produces these men certainly changes, so there is a continual need to renew people’s awareness to “the call.” I’ve heard both Archbishop Timothy Dolan of Milwaukee, and Cardinal Francis George of Chicago say we used to have a “culture of vocations” and need to recover that and build it anew. This is a good time for that, because it’s ordination season. A while back I wrote this piece for Voices in this same time of ordinations because I am in awe of the priesthood and the men who follow the call.

Who are they, these counter-cultural radicals who give over their lives to serve the Universal Church? Pope John Paul II noted that…

The new generation of those called to the ministerial priesthood displays different characteristics in comparison to those of their immediate predecessors. In addition, they live in a world which in many respects is new and undergoing rapid and continual evolution.

And a painful one, these past several years. But because of that, and some runaway notions and perceptions of the ancient priestly tradition, EWTN’s Fr. Francis Mary Stone was inspired to address those misconceptions in a homily I heard, and with his permission, I printed it.

10 Characteristics of Contemporary Vocations to Religious Life and the Holy Priesthood

1. We’ve had ADULT conversions — virtually no childhood aspirations to the priesthood.

2. We’ve worked the 80 hour weeks in…

A. Corporate America — yes, even corporate barrooms;
B. Wall Street and Madison Ave.;
C. Law firms, engineering consultants, and Big 10 CPA firms;
D. Start-ups, takeovers, and leveraged buyouts (LBOs);
E. Ivy League and Big Ten schools and doctors offices;
i.e., We know and have experienced the materialism, consumerism, individualism, secularism unfettered cap- italism, and narcissism of modernity.

3. We don’t want new “careers” – we utterly abhor the idea of a “professional priest”. It is our vocation, 24/7.

4. We come from a culture, a society, a nation, cities and towns — yes, even families — that are dysfunctional – scarred from an abortive, contraceptive, euthanasia mentality. Yet, God still calls us!

5. We’re products of an un-catechized generation – and that trend continues…

6. We’ve recognized the very grave and hurtful scandals in the Church — of homosexuality and pedophilia — and are fed-up with it. We welcome the…directives from Rome.

7. We love Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Holy Eucharist; we consider them to be inseparable and essential — not an option. The Rosary and Eucharistic Adoration are for us not merely one among “many forms” of spirituality.

8. Pope John Paul II is our unabashed hero — and we have no qualms about saying that whatsoever, to whomever.

9. We love the life of celibacy and have no intention whatsoever of trying to do away with this longstanding discipline. It’s utterly reasonable and clearly a gift to the Church. Our Spouse is the Church and we love Her, we’ll die for Her, and are very jealous lovers of Her.

10. We love the Church and Her Divinely mandated authority; we take consolation and peace in the authority She ever so carefully and wisely wields and the order that authority brings about — for order brings true peace.

My son is a seminarian, and I do know that there are more young men now who are aspiriring to the priesthood in their early years. It’s slowly and gradually changing. So, too, the good religious education programs that will build a culture of vocations in families and parishes. And those who loved and admired John Paul now extend that, and fidelity, to Benedict.

It’s a startling picture, isn’t it? But it should be, because it’s a stunning reality in the world that a ministry instituted by Christ with ‘the Twelve’ continues by the ‘laying on of hands’ of their successors.

And it will continue tomorrow in the Archdiocese of Chicago. In the newer Rite of Ordination, the bishop says these words to the priest candidates:

Meditate on the law of God, believe what you read, teach what you believe, and put into practice what you teach… Your ministry will perfect the spiritual sacrifice of the faithful by uniting it with Christ’s sacrifice, the sacrifice which is offered sacramentally through your hands. Know what you are doing and imitate the mystery you celebrate. Do your part in the work of Christ the Priest with genuine joy and love, and attend to the concerns of Christ before your own.

In the prayer of Consecration, the bishops implores the blessing of God.

With the same loving care you gave companions to your Son’s apostles to help in teaching the faith: they preached the Gospel to the whole world. Lord, grant also to us such fellow workers, for we are weak and our need is greater.

The other day, on the feast of St. Matthias, the priest at the Mass I attended gave a lively account of how Matthias was chosen as the 12th apostle to replace Judas. The apostles cast lots, which Fr. Nowak said was like throwing dice. And he sort of quipped that we can’t get our priests and bishops by throwing the dice and seeing who is chosen. But men are still chosen, and I believe what my son says, who quotes a bishop who says this….that there is no priest crisis, only a shortage of men who are hearing the call.