November 6, 1987
View Point
The Message -- for Catholics of Southwestern Indiana
i
11
By FATHER
JOSEPH L.
ZILIAK
Associate Publisher
Call for vocations is call
for leadership in our church
If all this talk about clergy shortage does
nothing else but bring into sharper focus the role
of the priest in our midst, then the discussion and
concern will have been worthwhile.
This week is vocations awareness week here in
our diocese. We presume that many schools,
religious ed classes and other small group gather-
ings will be given a little more consideration to the
question of religious leadership. For when we
.eak about the need for vocations to religious life,
men and women in communities, or brothers,
deacons, or our diocesan priests in the parishes
and other diocesan institutions and offices, we are
speaking about leaders in our religious groupings.
The basic call that we are making these days is
for all of us together to be very aware that we need
those who carry the office of leaders. After all we
have leaders in all areas of life. We may struggle
with the style of leadership, or we may have trou-
ble with the kind of leaders we discover in our
midst.
We have just had elections on many local
levels. We see the other official and unofficial can-
didates for President of the United States jockeying
r position and competing for news coverage. We
have either chosen them already, or they are seek-
ing our endorsement to be named leaders in the
realm of politics.
Boards of directors regularly hire or fire
leaders for their particular businesses. Volunteer
groups usually go through an annual re-
examination of the roster of names to find those
either willing or able to take on the mantle of
leadership.
Those who do function as leaders make a
significant impact on the membership of the
business, the volunteer group, the class, the
school, the city, town or country. There simply is
no denying both the importance of the persons so
chosen, or the role that they will play during the
time of office.
The same psychology applies in religious and
church groups. But we have to place those ideas
within an understanding of our church as it is
presently constituted.
It is vitally important that our church leaders
be present and active.
The call for men and women to seek positions
of leadership in our church is what we mean when
we talk about vocations. Few people enter into
training programs for church leadership seeking to
be in charge of lots of people or organizations.
They come from a more self-effacing position,
namely, seeking to follow a burning call that may
be inside their hearts.
Many years ago, when Christ walked this
earth, he called various individuals to "come,
follow me." Christ still does that today. We are
asking men and women to hear and respond to
that call today and join the long line of others who
find great joy and satisfaction in being directly in-
volved in the work of the Lord.
If it is adventure you are seeking, you will
find it in working for the Lord. If you realize that
the important thing in life is to look beyond
ourselves and leave a legacy of love and care, you
will find it in working for the Lord. If you are
looking for a job that hits at the deepest emotions
and most important decisions of live, you will find
it in working for the Lord. If you are looking for
ways to bring healing, comfort and peace to peo-
ple's troubled lives, you will find it in working for
the Lord.
If you are seeking employment in an industry
where you feel secure that it will not go out of
business, you will find it working for the Lord. If
you are investigating careers that will prove
challenging and draw forth ever new dimensions
of you personality, you will find it working for the
Lord.
Central to an understanding of and a living out
of our faith is the Eucharist. The Mass is always
pivotal to our faith. Therefore, we may not have to
have as many Masses in each of our parishes, but
we will need to gather at the table of the Lord to
maintain our faith tradition. Governance in our
tradition will call for the role and place of clergy.
Any fundamental change in that area would
change ours from a hierarchical to a congrega-
tionalist church.
Thus, we will need clergy. We will need them
as central to our understanding of leadership in
our church. And what we need, we believe that
God will provide. That, too, is part of our faith. If
Christ calls, will you answer?
Continued from page 1
The other urged:
-- Avoiding language which
is "unjustly discriminatory"
against women.
-- Including women active in
the church in the.preparation of
pastoral documents and other
nrojects. .
..... -- Developing a "theology of
matrimony," based on the love
between Christ and the church.
-- Conducting an-
thropological and theological
research on the foundations of
the dignity of men and women.
-- Restoring respect for
virginity and maternity.
Recommendations also dealt
with the heavily debated synod
issue of lay renewal
movements, especially those
since the Second
Vatican Council.
Several bishops complained
that some movements engage in
pastoral work in their dioceses
without seeking approval and
that their work sometimes con-
flicts with diocesan projects
and priorities. Defenders of the
movements said they are often
international in scope and
should come under papal rather
than local supervision.
The synod praised the
movements, but said founders,
often clerics, and members
must obey the authority of
"local pastors and the pope."
The synod believes that
"bishops, priests and
movements can work
together," Archbishop Eyt said
at the Vatican news conference.
Synod recommendations also
encouraged greater lay action
on social and political issues.
The laity was asked to mobilize
against abortion, voluntary
sterilization, manipulation of
fetuses and drug trafficking.
The synod rejected apartheid
and religious discrimination or
oppression. It asked for special
attention to the plight of the
world's poor and oppressed.
The synod also said that:
-- Parish structures should be
flexible enough to allow more
lay participation.
-- Housework performed by
women should be appreciated,
and obstacles faced by mothers
who want to spend more time
with their children should be
removed.
-- Basic Christian com-
munities, working with local
pastors, are good examples of
church unity and evangeliza-
tion.
At the synod closing Mass,
Oct. 30, the pope said increased
lay participation at the 1987
synod should be a model for
future bishops' synods.
Synod rules were waived to
allow many of the almost 60 lay
observers to speak at plenary
sessions. Synod norms limit
plenary speeches to voting
members, who must be bishops
or priests.
The synod was able "to profit
from their experience, their ad-
vice and the suggestions they
offered," the pope said.
The synod also issued a
public "Message to the People
of God" Oct. 29 which en-
couraged lay participation in
the church and the world, but
which did not discuss the
synod's recommendations.
The message opposed sexual
discrimination against women
and urged greater action to pro-
tect human rights.
"We rejoice in the progress
and advances which have been
made in recognition of the
legitimate rights that enable
women to fulfill their mission
in the church and in the
world," the message said.
"In political activity the
primary concern of the lay
faithful should be honesty, the
promotion of social justice and
the rights of the human person
in all phases of life," it said.
This includes "the defense
and recovery of various
freedoms.
