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BISHOP ANNOUNCES PLAN TO ENCOURAGE VOCATIONS
Eager to increase vocations to the priesthood and the religious life, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio has announced a “strategic action plan” for the Diocese of Brooklyn drawn from ideas advanced at a vocations congress held in Montreal in 2002 and studied here since then.
Listing five “pastoral priorities,” the plan is published in a booklet produced by the diocesan Vocation Office and Vocation Council. Copies will be sent to pastors and other diocesan leaders next week.
In a letter announcing the initiative, Bishop DiMarzio said the plan offers “activity guidelines” which he is asking clergy, Religious and laity “to carefully study and place into action.” The immediate goal is to create “a culture of vocation” in the Diocese.
The priorities noted in the plan are prayer; evangelization, catechesis and formation; “experience in worship and community, service and witness”; mentoring, and “recognizing the gifts of young people and enabling them to discern the signs of God’s presence in their lives.”
As approaches to implementing the plan, the guidelines offer specific activities to promote vocations, from communal prayer at liturgies and formation of parish or cluster vocation committees to inviting young adults to work with priests and Religious and directing them to projects sponsored by the National Coalition for Church Vocations.
Bishop DiMarzio dedicated the action plan to the memory of the late Father
James F. Fitzpatrick, who directed the Vocation Office for five years. He
and Immaculate Heart of Mary Sister Regina Wilson, the associate director,
guided the discussions that led to the creation of the
plan.
The inspiration for the plan was the convening of the Third Continental Congress for Vocations in Montreal, which addressed the vocation crisis on the North American continent. Bishop DiMarzio took part in the meetings as Bishop of Camden.
Sister Regina, who also attended the congress, said the themes developed were reviewed at two mini-congresses held by the Diocese, with input by local participants who included the diocesan Vocation Council, composed of delegates from some 20 religious congregations of women and men.
Based on recommendations that resulted from the congresses, a team of four women Religious worked with Sister Regina to shape the plan: Sister of Charity Susan Dean, Sister of Mercy Kathleen Hennessy, Little Sister of the Poor Kathleen Murphy and Sister of St. Joseph Mary Walsh.
After he was named by Bishop DiMarzio to succeed Father Fitzpatrick as director of the Vocation Office, Father Kevin Sweeney joined Sister Regina in working with the team to finalize the plan.
Sister Regina said the members of the Vocation Council will discuss the implementation of the plan when they meet at the Immaculate Conception Center in Douglaston Monday, Sept. 20, at 10 a.m.
Identified in the booklet are formal programs promoted by the Vocation Office, including “Called by Name,” “Operation Andrew,” “Operation Miryam and Joseph,” “Women Exploring,” “Let Your Life Shine” and “Here I Am, Lord. Send Me!”
Meanwhile, Father Sweeney has embarked on a schedule of weekend visits to parishes, where he speaks on vocations at the Masses. He launched the series last week at St. Nicholas of Tolentine parish, Jamaica.
He will speak at the Masses on the Sept. 18-19 weekend at St. Patrick’s, Bay Ridge. The schedule prepared to date for 2004 follows:
Sept. 25-26, St. Mary Star of the Sea, Far Rockaway; Oct. 2-3, Holy Name, Park Slope; Oct. 9-10, St. Joan of Arc, Jackson Heights; Oct. 16-17, Blessed Sacrament, Jackson Heights; Oct. 23-24, Good Shepherd, Marine Park; Oct. 30-31, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Astoria.
Also, Nov. 6-7, St. Agatha’s, Bay Ridge; Nov. 13-14, St. Sebastian’s, Woodside; Nov. 20-21, St. Catherine of Genoa, Rugby; Nov. 27-28, St. Leo’s, Corona; Dec. 4-5, Sacred Heart, Bayside; Dec. 11-12, St. Pascal Baylon, St. Albans.
Scheduled for 2005 are: Jan. 8-9, St. Teresa’s, Woodside; Jan. 15-16, Holy Trinity, Whitestone; Jan. 29-30, St. Francis de Sales, Belle Harbor; Feb. 26-27, St. Athanasius, Bensonhurst; March 5-6, St. Catharine of Alexandria, Borough Park.
In his letter announcing the strategic action plan, Bishop DiMarzio said that while the plan assists in promoting vocations, “inspiring a vocation, however, is the work of the Spirit; we are but instruments in His hands, so that we may bring to fruition what the Lord has already sown in the hearts of others.”
Saying that he saw “enthusiastic energy and resolve” in addressing the crisis in vocations at the Montreal congress, the Bishop said he hoped that “this same vigor and determination to increase vocations will be replicated in our own Diocese.”
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