NSW Vocations Directors Gathering 2024
ACT and NSW Vocations Directors (Fr Enil Milat first from left)
Father Emil Milat, vocations director for the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn, hosted the annual meeting on Tuesday, 9 July 2024, at Sacred Heart Parish, Pearce, ACT.
Father Emil, who is also the PP, asked me to address the priests about the selection criteria for candidates for the priesthood.
Upon arrival, I found a deep sense of joy, hope and fraternity among the young vocation directors.
I gave a brief talk, followed by a fascinating and rigorous discussion. After we finished, psychologist Angela McCabe spoke to the gathering.
From my experience as Rector of the Seminary of the Good Shepherd, I suggested that two questions need to be asked in the determination of candidates:
Is the candidate suitable to be a priest?
Is the candidate ready to receive the formation that he will receive in the seminary?
Suitability
St. Ambrose of Milan (339-397) thought that a priest requires both supernatural faith and depth of character.
Years before, the great philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BC) made the helpful distinction between personality and character.
Personality is a given and cannot, and should not, be changed. The development and deepening of one’s character, however, depends upon the four cardinal virtues, annunciated and developed by Greek thinkers:
Prudence, Temperance, Justice and Fortitude.
We should insist in our education system – and in our families, most especially – on the importance of the cardinal virtues.
The word ‘cardinal’ comes from Latin (cardo) and means ‘hinge.’
A door is next to useless without a hinge, unable to be opened and closed.
It is essential that in forging our character, we open the ‘door’ to goodness (virtue) and close the ‘door’ to evil (vice).
This is something that has been forgotten in modern life – and in our education system, in particular – but is essential for human maturity (character).
Ambrose also highlighted the importance of the three theological virtues:
Faith, Hope and Charity.
The classic definition of faith comes from the Letter to the Hebrews:
Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the conviction of things unseen (Hebrews 11).
One immediately senses the deep connection between faith and hope, and when they are embraced, love is surely aroused.
Readiness to receive formation
Of course, it may be that a candidate is suitable for the priesthood, possessing good faith and good character, but is not quite ready or mature enough to receive what will be offered in the formation process.
Some extra time and help prior to entry into the seminary won’t go astray.
Personal or communal factors may be impeding receptivity. We remember Augustine’s famous and evocative insight:
God is much more willing to give than we are to receive.
In our human and spiritual lives, a lot depends upon clearing out the dead wood – not an easy task at the best of times, but surely essential for those called to be priests.
National Vocations Awareness Week is being celebrated from 4 – 11 August this year, beginning on the Feast of St. John Vianney and including the feast of our St Mary of the Cross MacKillop. Here in our Archdiocese, we are hosting our Holy Hour for vocations on August 6th at 6 p.m. The Holy Hour will include Vespers sung by the Cathedral choir, some time for silence, and the rosary concluding with Benediction.
It’s great to hear the vocations directors have got together to discuss their really important role in supporting those who are thinking about becoming a priest. We need good priests, and previously too many mistakes have been made with disastrous results!
However, I am a little perplexed as to why the author, Fr Percy, thinks that ‘our education system’ has forgotten how to open the door to goodness and close it to evil/vice? (As an aside, it is not clear who ‘our’ refers to. The ACT? Catholic Schools? Public Schools? Australian schools generally? Universities?)
In my professional and personal contact with schools in the ACT and NSW, both Catholic and secular, and universities, I have always been impressed with the level of care given to teaching students about the importance of them making choices that reflect compassion and justice. I am sure many teachers would be disappointed to see their efforts have apparently gone unnoticed and unappreciated.