Follow Me Who am I called to become? By Bishop Terry R. LaValley

May 1, 2013

Before Christianity, Socrates asked the question, “What ought I to do?” 

Christian spirituality reframes this question in terms of a vocation: “Who am I called to become?”

First and foremost, we know that a vocation is always the initiative of God.  The word vocation comes from the Latin, vocare, “to call.”

Each of us must ask “What does the Lord intend me to do with my life?”  God does have a plan for each of us.
One of my favorite Scriptural passages expresses this beautifully:  “How precious to me are your designs, O God; how vast the sum of them! (cf. Psalm 139)

The same Lord who called His first disciples calls young women and men today to serve in the consecrated life and ordained ministry. 

A most serious ongoing challenge for the Diocese of Ogdensburg is the promotion of vocations to the religious life and priesthood.

Unlike many dioceses in the United States today, we have not experienced an increase in the number of seminarians studying for our diocese. 

As you know, this has most serious consequences for the sacramental life of our parishes and for our priests who so faithfully serve them today. Sometimes it’s difficult for us to appreciate the impact of this until it hits closer to home and we learn that our own parish must lose a resident pastor and share a pastor with a neighboring parish.

We can look at the world around us and find many contributing reasons for this sobering reality: population shifts, the decline and the breakdown of the family, the widespread secular mentality that pushes faith to the edge of our daily living, the all-consuming desire for material wealth, the reluctance of many to make life-long commitments, among many other realities.

In the midst of these factors, what can we do to build a culture in the parishes of our North Country that encourages more of our family members to consider God’s invitation to give their lives in ministry to the Church as a consecrated religious, deacon or priest?

While our vocations director, Father Bryan Stitt, is working diligently, each of us has a decisive role in the nurturing of Church vocations.  The pastoral care of vocations is the responsibility of each one of us as individuals and as members of a parish family. 

I am grateful to the members of our diocesan vocation society (DOVS) for their promotion of vocations and strong support of our seminarians. If you would like to learn more about the Society, please contact Father Stitt.  We are always looking to increase our membership.

We must pray fervently for vocations.  Never tire of praying for vocations, both personal and communal prayer, such as parish Holy Hours for Vocations. We must do all that we can to encourage our families to participate in the sacramental life and social outreach of the Church.  Vocations grow in an environment where faith is practiced and lived. Church vocations must come from our families here in the North Country.  When our young people are asked to consider what they want to be when they grow up, a religious vocation should not be offered as an afterthought or something to think about when all else is ruled out. 

Recent studies have consistently indicated that over ninety percent of our priests today are happy in their vocations.  That’s a statistic that any other career field would find hard to match! 

Our youth today welcome challenges where they can make a difference. A religious vocation can guarantee that and much happiness to boot!  

This Year of Faith is an especially blessed time for the Church of Ogdensburg because soon we will add to the ranks of our presbyterate.  We all rejoice and praise God as ordination day nears for Deacon Scott Belina.  Let us thank God for Deacon Scott’s “Here I am Lord” to God’s call and offer continued prayers for him and for our seminarians Mike Jablonski, Alex Pacelli and Matt Conger.