Helping or Hurting Vocations

You May be Helping Vocations if you:

1. begin praying and asking the Lord what He wants of your child beginning at your child’s baptism or better, once you learn you are pregnant with this child.

2. Allow your child ample time throughout the day to help others and reflect on others and not bogging the child down with too many extra-curricular activities that focus on self.

3. Demonstrate the awesome gift of reconciliation and Eucharist by participating in both frequently long before your child prepares for his/her first reconciliation and Eucharist and to continue to demonstrate this after they receive them for the first time.

4. Actively pray for vocations at meal time, bed time and when the family prays together.

5. Invite the priest over to the house even when there is no special sacramental celebration. Let the priest visit and interact with the children.

6. Speak highly of priests in general and support what the priest is doing in the parish.  Complement the priests in front of your children.

7. Confront those who have nothing good to say about priests or the decisions priests are making.  Even when it seems bad, it is possible the priest sees the entire ice-berg rather than just the tip of the ice-berg that is general knowledge. 

8. Realize we priests in the diocese of Jefferson City, in 2003 had a 98% happiness rate in serving as priests. No other “career” can come close to that happiness rate.

You may be hurting vocations if you:

• repeat that the church needs priests but you are not going to allow your son to consider it.

• Complain openly and often in front of youth all that the priest(s) is (are) doing that is wrong.

• think that priests getting married or women being priests is the answer.  That would be the answer if there were enough in any helping profession: there is a protestant minister shortage, teacher, nursing, nursing home, & military shortage.  Any career that is in the helping industry is hurting for more people to join them.