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Vocations
Promoting vocations in our Diocese - 2007 Some words from Rev. Gerard Flynn, Director of Vocations in Hampshire There is something which only you can do: if you do not do it it will remain undone! There is something which only you can contribute to the building of God’s Kingdom, because of who you are, and because of the call that God makes on you. What a privilege it is to be called into partnership with God in the work of creation! So, we need to listen attentively for God’s voice telling us what that something is. Charles de Foucauld, a French soldier who became a great priest and a hermit, said this: ‘We do not “choose a vocation” but seek to find our vocation, to do all we can to hear the divine Voice calling us, to make sure what he is saying – and then to obey him. Where vocation is concerned God speaks, calls, commands: man has not to choose but to listen and obey.’ Each of us, through our baptism, has a specific Christian vocation. This is the very foundation of our own Pastoral Plan in the Diocese. It’s the point at which we began our discussions, as we responded to the document ‘Growing Together in Christ’. Much of the work of our Department of Pastoral Formation is aimed at helping all of us in Portsmouth Diocese respond to that baptismal vocation. When we discover who we really are, and how we can best live out God’s call, our lives take on a purpose and purposefulness that are truly fulfilling. One particular, and essential, vocation is the call to priesthood. There are currently seven men in formation for the priesthood in our Diocese. You will see their names, and the seminaries in which they are studying, in this Yearbook. They always say how much they value the prayers and the support of the people whom they will, please God, one day serve as new priests. Please keep them in your prayers every day. Another young man is meditating intently on his vocation. A further eight are deliberating very carefully as to whether God might be calling them to serve him in Holy Orders. And then there are surely many others in the Diocese who have the gifts that God and the people need in their priests. In my work as Director of Vocations I have been struck by how often the inquirers who visit me have responded to a simple question. Someone in their lives has been wise enough, or brave enough, to ask the question: ‘Did you ever think of becoming a priest?’ Is there someone to whom you could ask that question? If they say ‘Yes’ then encourage them to talk about it all, sooner rather than later, with the priest in their own worshipping community. I am also glad to help. Anyone discerning whether or not he is called to the priesthood can contact me: Rev. Gerard Flynn,
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