2/25/2010
Vocations rally reaches youth
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| Vocations rally reaches youth |
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Ed Langlois
Back when she was struggling over whether to enter religious life, Franciscan Sister Patricia Novak decided to go for a walk to clear her mind. St. Valentine's Day had just passed and she grabbed into a bag of candy as she headed out the door in a bit of spiritual turmoil.
She was aiming for a single little sweet, one of those hearts printed with messages. But another heart stuck to the one she had snagged. She pried the candies apart and that revealed the words: "Why not say yes?"
On that walk, everything fell in place and now, decades later, Sister Patricia is a happy Franciscan.
That was one of the stories told last week during a vocations rally attended by almost 400 sixth graders from western Oregon Catholic schools. The idea is to get the 11- and 12-year-olds to remain open to religious life, the diaconate and priesthood. St. Pius X Parish in Portland has hosted the rallies for the past two years.
After the talks, four students from Valley Catholic School in Beaverton sat on a step and talked. Before they came to the rally, consecrated life had never entered their minds. They had considered being rock stars, athletes and even a princess at Disneyland. But now, they said, they would add the idea of giving their lives to God and the people of God.
Maryknoll Brother Tim Raible led the students in prayer. "Give us light and strength to know your will, make it our own and live it in our lives," he said.
Brother Tim, who became a brother candidate more than 30 years ago, has worked in a South Bronx parish, on the southern island of Mindanao in the Philippines as a parish catechist coordinator and school counselor and in the Kenyan cities of Mombasa and Nairobi as a youth and young adult minister and in AIDS ministry.
In a keynote address, Father Mike Biewend of The Madeleine Parish asked the crowd to raise hands if they’d like to be married some day. Almost everyone raised a hand. He asked those who have sensed a call to priesthood or religious life to stand. Seven stood.
Then the priest told everyone that, when he was in sixth grade, he was one of the ones who wanted to be married.
A big change came in seventh grade, the pastor explained. He was impressed by his teacher, a nun who was deeply centered and kind. She prayed the rosary during test time. Around that time, he was climbing around his parents' library, a forbidden place, and he dropped a book to the ground. He heard his parents coming, scooped up the book and hid it under his mattress. That night, he pulled it out. It was a book about priesthood and he read it through the night. That's when he decided what he would do with his life.
"You don't know when you're going to get the call," he said.
He had never wanted to be in the military either. But not long after being ordained, he joined the Air Force as a chaplain and spent 23 years serving military personnel in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Afghanistan and Iraq.
"God calls way beyond our imagining," said Father Biewend.
He loves hearing confessions and giving reconciliation as God's representative. He loves saying Mass and being invited into people's lives at key moments.
Jesuit Father Craig Boly told the young crowd that he loves being a priest and that it takes someone willing to take responsibility.
The day included a poster design contest, a scavenger hunt and a prayer session. A slide show helped Sister Patricia discuss the ways God does not call (lightning, cell phone, letter, road sign) and the ways God does call (prayer, silence, interests, talents, coaches, teachers).
Sister Patricia made the suggestion, met by stunned silence, that the students leave their iPods off for extended periods during the day so they can be open to the messages of the divine.
So many schools sent students to the rally that there were two days set this year.
Members of the Serra Club, a lay-led vocations support group, provided much of the labor for the days, helping guide cars, set up chairs and cook lunch.
"Priests and Sisters and Brothers are people just like you and me, but God has called them to a very special vocation," Serra Club officer Dan Jones told the youths.
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