Archbishop Thompson praises Serra International for nurturing vocations

Archbishop Charles C. Thompson, center, elevates the Eucharist during the July 9 opening Mass of the annual convention of Serra International. The liturgy was celebrated at St. John the Evangelist Church in Indianapolis. Concelebrating at the Mass are Cardinal Thomas C. Collins, archbishop emeritus of Toronto, left, and Archbishop J. Michael Miller, archbishop emeritus of Vancouver, British Columbia. (Photo by Sean Gallagher)

By Sean Gallagher

First of two parts (Read part two here)

Founded in 1935 in Seattle, Serra International is a worldwide organization of Catholics who seek to promote vocations to ordained ministry and religious life.

When more than 200 of its members from across the country and around the world attended its annual convention, held this year on July 9-12 at the Hyatt Regency in Indianapolis, they learned of the many good things happening in promoting vocations in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.

David Fink, a past president of the Serra Club of Indianapolis and the current treasurer of Serra International, said with pride that the organization didn’t have to look far for presenters for this year’s convention.

“Our speaker lineup is made up almost exclusively of folks from our archdiocese,” said Fink, a member of St. Luke the Evangelist Parish in Indianapolis, on July 10 at the convention. “It’s a top-notch lineup. We don’t have to reach out of our archdiocese to get great speakers that people are going to be excited to hear from.”

‘Cultivating a culture of vocations’

Archbishop Charles C. Thompson was the principal celebrant of the convention’s opening Mass on July 9 at St. John the Evangelist Church in Indianapolis.

The Gospel reading for the Mass that day (Mt 10:7-15) recalled Christ sending forth his Apostles to proclaim God’s kingdom and to rely upon God’s grace in doing so.

“Is this not the task of Serrans?” Archbishop Thompson asked during his homily. “To go forth and proclaim the good news, in witness of Gospel joy, giving testimony to the faith and cultivating a culture of vocations through prayer and good works? Nothing is more powerful than your own witness.

“And you’ve come here from all over the country and around the world. That is an incredible witness.”

He later expressed his thanks for the members of Serra International “for your incredible work, for cultivating a culture of vocations to the priesthood, diaconate, religious and consecrated life. Your participation in the Serra Club is a wonderful way to live your own baptismal call to holiness and mission.”

With the convention’s presentations set to begin the following day, Father Eric Augenstein after the Mass said he was glad for Serrans from around the world to see the good work done in promoting vocations in the archdiocese that he has witnessed since becoming involved in this ministry in 2012.

“This is an opportunity for us as an archdiocese and a local Church to share some of the good things that have been happening here, and also to learn from others in other parts of the country and the world,” said Father Augenstein, archdiocesan director of seminarians and vice-rector of Bishop Simon Bruté Seminary in Indianapolis.

‘An envelopment of warmth and peace’

Providence Sister Joni Luna, vocations director of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods in St. Mary-of-the-Woods, spoke on July 10 at the convention.

While noting that some communities of women religious in the U.S. are closing or merging with other orders due to a lack of vocations, she said that the Sisters of Providence are attracting a steady, if relatively small, stream of women entering the community based in western Indiana.

“We have 22 women under the age of 65,” Sister Joni said. “We’ve been blessed to have one or two women entering almost every single year.”

She credits this recent trend to her reaching out more online to women interested in religious life, a tactic she said that the COVID pandemic forced her to begin.

The Sisters of Providence has a regular online “discernment lounge” and prayer groups, and Sister Joni described a recent surge in involvement in these online initiatives and in come-and-see events held at the motherhouse twice a year.

“I do a monthly report to my congregation,” she said. “For the past five years, my report has been three or four pages. Something’s happened since Advent. My report is now 14 to 16 pages of women that are discerning and asking questions about becoming a Sister of Providence.”

One of them is Rachel Morand, 25, a member of St. Alphonsus Liguori Parish in Zionsville, Ind., in the Lafayette Diocese. Rachel attended the convention with Sister Joni and described discernment to the Serrans as “a daunting and uncomfortable process.”

Taking part in the Sisters of Providence’s online offerings for women open to a religious vocation put Morand at ease. She spoke of her gratitude for the welcome she experienced while taking part in a come-and-see event at the motherhouse.

“There’s no pressure,” Morand said. “It’s a place where they just grant you the space to find God’s voice in your own way. They’re not trying to sway you in any way, not trying to force any ideas into your head. There’s such an envelopment of warmth and peace.

“Being there with eight other young women who are going through the same process, feeling that community … was life changing.”

‘Open that channel of grace’

Father Jeffrey Dufresne spoke on July 10 at the convention about the challenges of nurturing a culture of vocations among Hispanic Catholics in the U.S.

He’s experienced this firsthand at St. Philip Neri Parish, a largely Hispanic faith community on the near east side of Indianapolis, which he has led since 2019.

Father Dufresne said that an unavoidable part of promoting a culture of vocations among Hispanic Catholics in the U.S. is addressing the thorny issue of the legal status of many Catholics who have migrated here from Mexico and Central and South America.

“It’s a reality that for people in my parish who are interested in vocations that their legal status makes it impossible for them to enter into any kind of formal discernment, be it seminary formation or be it entering into a religious community,” he noted. “So, how can we welcome the immigrant? How can we advocate for our Latino brothers and sisters and help them to know that we see our local Church as their local Church, too?”

Father Dufresne also spoke about the need to help Hispanic families to become a seedbed of priestly and religious vocations. A challenge in this, he noted, is that, for several reasons, many Hispanic spouses have not been married in the Church. This often results in parents in such households not taking part in the sacramental life of the Church.

“We need to open that channel of grace,” Father Dufresne said. “We need to get them married in the Church, heal their relationship with God, with the Church and with one another. And we do that through marriage preparation and through other marriage ministries to help them sustain that throughout their life, because that creates a home that’s a domestic Church where grace can flow to those children through that marriage.”

Father Dufresne also spoke about the good that can come from promoting vocations in youth ministry among Hispanic teens, particularly by getting them involved in service opportunities.

“When we have a service project … they come alive,” Father Dufresne said. “They realize that this is what it means to give of myself. This is what it means to love the way Christ loves me. And how can you say the big yes to a vocation if you’ve never said a little yes?”

Every youth ministry event at St. Philip Neri begins with eucharistic adoration, something that Father Dufresne said is a key element in promoting priestly and religious vocations among Hispanic teens.

“This is the place where your average U.S. Catholic of any cultural background can get exposed to and practice mental prayer,” he said. “That’s necessary if you’re going to say yes to a vocation. That time in eucharistic adoration is so valuable. So, promoting eucharistic adoration … is going to help promote the culture of vocations.”
 

(Coverage of presentations by archdiocesan vocations director Father Michael Keucher and archdiocesan director of seminarians Father Eric Augenstein at the Serra International convention in Indianapolis will appear in the August 7 issue of The Criterion.) †