A Charism that Inspires: Reaching Out and Inviting In
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March 1, 2024Our Vocation Team for the Province of Canada have been hard at work throughout the country to profile the call and vocation to Redemptorist Life and Mission. Through participation in events, offering Come and See Evening Retreats and Weekend Discernment Retreats, the Team has welcomed about 20 young men to come and consider life and ministry as a Redemptorist. We have welcomed to our communities individuals who have met Redemptorists through our Ignite Ministry in Toronto and Grande Prairie, the Renew Conference for the Archdiocese and Southern Ontario, and the national conference Rise Up offered by Catholic Christian Outreach, hosted in Ottawa.
With the help of our Confreres in communities across the country, the Vocation Team, consisting of David Purcell C.Ss.R., Santo Arrigo C.Ss.R., Jean Carlo François C.Ss.R., and Ivan Dzhur C.Ss.R., have been able to host the local Come and See Evening events in Vancouver, Grande Prairie, Winnipeg, Toronto and soon, Montreal.
March 1-3, the community at St. Patrick’s, Toronto, along with the Vocation Team will welcome 6 young men for our first Weekend Discernment Retreat for an overnight retreat to delve further into the discernment journey, and exploring further the call and charism of the Redemptorists in our world today. This provides young men a deeper sense of knowing our charism in the life of the Church today and explore their hearts to help see if their gift of call in their life is drawn deeper through our way of life and mission. Together we will look at topics and themes such as: “Making the Most of a Discernment Retreat,” “Sharing our Vocation Story,” “Redemptorists 101”, “St. Alphonsus Liguori: Following Christ the Redeemer,” “The Vows,” “Guided Visit to the Blessed Sacrament,” “How do I become a Redemptorist: Taking a look at Accompaniment and Formation.”
Other Weekend Discernment Retreats will take place in Vancouver, Winnipeg, and the Shrine of Ste. Anne de Beaupré over the next few months. We already have Retreatants booked for those opportunities as well!
The Vocation Team for the Province has been thankful for the contributions of the Confreres who have hosted events and evenings on behalf of the Province and the Team, as it serves as a tremendous reminder that Vocation Ministry is not solely the responsibility of one person or a few that make up a team. We are all responsible for inviting young men to consider our way of life.
How else can Redemptorists help to “Reach Out” and “Invite In”? The National Religious Vocation Conference has provided a number of resources to aid Vocation Coordinators, Teams and entire Congregations in the task of Vocation Promotion and Accompaniment. In response to the 2020 NRVC /CARA Study on Recent Vocations to Religious Life, there were a few pointers for religious congregations to make vocation ministry a priority.
Hopefully some of these pointers can help us in our commitment together to make vocation ministry a priority for the Province of Canada:
-Living religious life vibrantly and witnessing joy, authenticity and fidelity to religious life-Promoting vocations and recommending names of potential candidates who meet the criteria for admission.-Respectfully welcoming candidates, especially people from varied cultures, with a willingness to learn together aspects of interculturality.-Being open to assuming a role in the congregation’s vocation ministry team, and vocation promotion events by sharing one’s vocation story, community charism, mission and ministries-Respecting the vocation discernment and assessment process, and the boundaries and confidentiality required.-Respecting and supporting those serving in leadership and in vocation ministry by cooperating with them in their efforts to apply contemporary vocation trends and effective methods of engagement.
It is the hope of the Province Vocation Team that as we continue to welcome and accompany young men in their discernment and interest in the ministry of the Congregation, that we will be able to offer more opportunities for engagement and discernment through regular discernment group sessions, mission opportunities in our communities and Shrines and to continue to invite them into our communities for regular encounters with the Confreres and short-term immersion experiences. Once again, we thank the participation and interest from the Confreres in the work of Vocation Ministry, and we continue to bring our prayers before the Lord and in the intercession of Our Mother of Perpetual Help and St. Alphonsus to aid us in our task to “Reach Out”, and “Invite In”!
(*Taken from NRVC “Vocation Promotion” leaflet “Selected Insights from the NRVC/CARA 2020 Study on Recent Vocations to Religious Life”)
