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Pastoral
Letters
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The Call of the Good
Shepherd
A
Pastoral Letter for Vocations Sunday, 2001
Dear Sisters
and Brothers in Christ,
After the gift of life itself, our greatest privilege is to be
called to share in the life of Christ through our baptism. He is the
Good Shepherd who calls us to listen to his voice so that he may give
us everlasting life. From the Pope to the humblest "publican or
sinner", we are all called to be disciples, and as disciples, Christ
invites us to share in his mission.
Baptism is the fundamental call and it is a call to holiness
and not simply to a "life of mediocrity, marked by a minimalist
ethic and a shallow religiosity."
From among us who are baptised, the Lord chooses some "to
be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, some teachers"
- all called to serve the communion and mission of the Church. In other
words, everyone in the Church has special gifts from God, which are
given for the benefit of all.
But as well as reminding you today that we are all gifted and
called by Christ, I want to lay particular emphasis on the fact that
the Lord is, even now, calling members of our community to priesthood
and to the religious life.
It is now a year since I reminded you of the diminishing number
of priests in our diocese. I do not intend to restate those statistics,
but suffice it to say that nothing much has changed. But I am sure that
you will be pleased to know that two young men are being ordained as
priests this summer. Four or five will be starting training for the
priesthood this autumn, together with a good number of candidates for
the permanent diaconate.
From within the community of the baptised, we still need priests
and deacons to sustain and lead us in the Catholic life that we love
and treasure. It is not that we want to bolster the clericalism of the
Church or the privileged position of the clergy - those are features
of the Church that belong to the past. It is simply that the life of
the Church depends on
the vital ministry of Word and Sacrament, which is the particular prerogative
of the priest and the deacon.
When I first began to feel the stirring of my own vocation to
the priesthood, it came with an overwhelming conviction that the Lord
was asking me to give my life for the service of others. Nothing has
happened to change that conviction, though, as I look back over 36 years
as a priest, the whole way of being a priest is radically different.
I find myself much closer to those I seek to serve and much more in
the heart of a community that is much greater than I am.
To respond to a call to priesthood is to take a radical hold
on Christian vocation, and when that call also involves, as it does,
embracing a life of celibate chastity, obedience and relative poverty,
such a response is, as one author has recently described it, "both
naive and foolish." Naively, we are flying in the face of social
convention that holds power, wealth and sexual activity as all-important,
whilst foolishly, we are exposing ourselves to a complete revolution
of heart - "a total and permanent self-surrender without conditions,
qualifications or reservations." But this is the foolishness and
naivety of God, which "is wiser than human wisdom and stronger
than human strength."
As I wrote last year, this is not the sort of career that brings
riches or fame. In fact it is not a career at all in the common sense
of the word - it is a way of life and a way of loving for the sake of
the Lord. My experience tells me that, for the one whom the Lord calls,
there is no more fulfilling or satisfying way of living out our Christian
life. It is a call to follow in the steps of the Good Shepherd and,
together with him, to lay down our lives for the sake of others, our
sisters and brothers.
Today is a day of prayer for vocations to ministry throughout
the Church and, in the name of the Lord, I invite all of you, who hear
or read this letter, to join that great prayer and to listen to what
the Lord is saying. If any of you feel that He is calling you to priesthood,
to the diaconate or to religious life, please contact me or one of the
members of the Vocations Team as soon as you can. As they say, we are
waiting to hear from you!
May God bless you all,
+ Crispian
To
be read or made available at all Masses on the weekend of May 5/6th.
4th Sunday of Easter
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