| Radical Faith will produce Vocations |
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The lack of vocations to the priesthood and the religious life worries all Catholics. It then makes sense to ask those who are successful in attracting vocations what the solution is. Colleen McGuiness-Howard asked this of Father Ken Barker, the leader of an Australian group, the Missionaries of God’s Love, who have 15 seminarians in training. With vocations still a hot topic, Father Ken Barker of the Canberra-based Missionaries of God’s Love believes it’s not a vocations crisis, "but a faith crisis." Fr Barker believes that when the Church begins to live the Christian message radically then vocations will be a natural fruit of this fervour. He said that the Missionaries of God’s Love was the fruit of the commitment of lay people really living out their calling as fully as possible within the Disciples of Jesus Covenant Community – vocations would come forward in the Church wherever there was a context and environment of faith and belief, and people lived their lives vigorously for God according to their state of life. The Disciples covenant community was "the best seed bed for vocations to spring from," he said. Fr Barker conceded at the recent Disciples of Jesus Pastoral Training School at Bindoon that vocations were hard to get, "because here in Australia there is a hardness in response to the call of the Lord." He recognised there were various reasons such as materialism, bad media press, and loss of confidence among the priests and religious. But there’s also a crisis of faith among "ordinary Catholics" and a certain amount of confusion and uncertainty in the Church about the future of religious life and priesthood, "and its viability as a happy way of life," Fr Barker told The Record. "So there are a lot of factors which are weighing against religious vocations." Fr Barker observed that there are a number of young people who approach a vocation but have no support from their parents, "in their desire to seek out a life consecrated to God." The negative comments from "good practicing Catholics" who don’t believe celibacy to be a viable way of life in the Church was also a difficulty. Fr Barker believes nevertheless that the Lord is offering sufficient vocations for the life of the Church, but perceives a difficulty in being able to hear the Lord’s calling and to respond courageously. Young people had to really surrender their hearts to God because consecrated lives required a degree of dedication and commitment to that "radical call". It’s basically "Here I am Lord, I come to do your will," Fr Barker said. The Missionaries of God’s Love, a new work which has grown out of the Disciples of Jesus, has 21 priests and seminarians and one brother: five of these joined in the last two years. There is also a body of ten sisters based in Adelaide. In the belief that much prayer is needed for vocations, Fr Barker says the Missionaries of God’s Love pray to the Lord, but especially Our Lady, daily, "because we believe she has a heart for the work of evangelisation, for the consecrated life and priesthood." Stating that the Missionaries were committed to promoting the baptism in the Holy Spirit, to the building of covenant community, Fr Barker said he noticed with young people "and we teach young people to do this," that they approach life by saying there are many options before them. But Fr Barker said this was only part of the truth because Jesus said "You did not choose me – I chose you!" So he says people should approach Jesus in an act of surrender and ask God to dispose of their vocation according to His will and not theirs. This is the only genuine way of hearing what the Lord is asking, he confirms. Referring to the "radical witness of celibate life," Fr Barker said that when he came into contact with celibate women and men he sees a radiance, "if they are really living out a radical commitment to the Lord, which is a precious gift to the Church." The Church was in danger of being compromised, he said, in a society which so often shuts out the witness of God and where so many have lost this sense of committed faith. There was a faith crisis in the Church, he said, and expressed his gratitude that the Disciples really treasured this gift of celibacy. "Consecrated women and men don’t want to be put on a pedestal, but our celibacy has to be valued in the Church." |