Special focus needed on underrepresented communities

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Father Joseph Lopez, JCL, is Vocations Director for the Diocese of Corpus Christi.

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The Catholic Church in the United States will celebrate National Vocation Awareness Week, Nov. 2-8. This observance, sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations, is a special time for parishes in the U.S. to foster a culture of vocations for the priesthood, diaconate and consecrated life.

The Diocese of Corpus Christi is encouraging parishes and schools to celebrate Vocation Awareness Week. "It's a great opportunity to get young people to really consider what God may have made them for, and how they can become truly happy and fulfilled," Vocations Director Father Joseph Lopez, JCL said.

"It's easy to lament about declining vocations. But instead of just focusing on the need for vocations-we all know about that, we should consider emphasizing something more positive: that discovery of a vocation enables a young person to participate in the cosmic plan of our Lord for the salvation of souls, theirs and others'," Father Lopez said.

"A culture of vocations is one that provides the necessary support for others to hear and respond to God's call in their lives," said Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Raleigh, North Carolina, chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations. "With God's grace, we help build that culture through fervent prayer, the witness of our lives and the encouragement we extend to those discerning a vocation to priesthood or consecrated life."

A 2012 study, "Consideration of Priesthood and Religious Life Among Never-Married U.S. Catholics," conducted by the Georgetown University-based Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, highlighted the role community encouragement plays in the discernment process.

"The number three seems to be critical in making a difference in the life of someone contemplating a vocation," said Father Shawn McKnight, USCCB's executive director of Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations. "When three or more people encourage someone to consider a religious vocation, he or she is far more likely to take serious steps toward answering that call."

Father John Guthrie, associate director of Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations, said that National Vocation Awareness Week should also focus on communities that are underrepresented among religious vocations today, especially Hispanics.

"While numbers of U.S. Hispanics pursuing religious vocations are picking up, they still lag behind the overall demographic trends," Father Guthrie said. "Fifty-four percent of U.S. Catholics under the age of 25 are Hispanic, yet only 15 percent of students in major seminaries are Hispanic, and many of these were born in other countries. To reach this untapped potential, the Church must do far more to engage and support young people in these communities."

Father Lopez encourages everyone to work to make Vocation Awareness Week an opportunity for young people to see the challenge and adventure offered to everybody by the Lord, and help to "get them excited about discovering what amazing things God has planned for their lives."

"Discovery of one's vocation will not be encouraged nearly as much by dread of a 'declining Church' as it will by the challenge and excitement of what a vocation is really about," Father Lopez said.