Another Look At Vocations

By LOU BALDWIN
CS&T Staff Writer

There’s a surprising new trend in religious vocations. No, it isn’t an army of prospective candidates beating on convent and seminary doors — that’s not likely to happen in the foreseeable future, according to St. Joseph’s vocation director.

However, there is a comforting number of younger men and women showing an interest in religious life, more so than in the recent past.

At least that’s what Sister Charlene Diorka is seeing as vocation director for her Chestnut Hill-based congregation and coordinator for Region 3 (Pennsylvania and New Jersey) of the National Religious Vocation Conference. There are, she said, 101 congregations of men and women represented in Region 3.

“The millennial generation seems to be considering religious vocations more readily. It may be that we missed the trend in Generation X.”

A challenge today is that young people, even young people who attended Catholic schools, may never have experienced priests, nuns or brothers up close in the classroom setting and don’t really understand religious life. Consequently, vocation directors must go out and explain what it’s all about.
Maybe young people aren’t going to commit directly from high school in this generation (and aren’t expected to), but it is still important that recruiters for religious life visit the elementary schools and high schools as a way of planting that seed, Sister Charlene believes.

“We are still getting people in their 40s saying, ‘this might be it,’ but there are a lot of young adults out there, too, who are looking for ways to deepen their baptismal commitment. This may lead them to religious life, or maybe to commitment to the Church in another way.”

Very often, once youth have finished with the college experience or some work experience, they are willing to explore a commitment, she suggests.
This may partly involve a post-Sept. 11 re-assessment of values, people looking at their life, saying, “What have I done? What can I do?” According to Sister Charlene, scandals in the Church have not deterred them. They may be questioning how they can help make the Church better.

Area vocation directors work very closely with the archdiocesan Office for Youth and Young Adults (OYYA), to meet young people where they are in life, according to Sister Charlene. She speaks glowingly of the cooperation and support vocation directors receive from OYYA.

They are working with Catholic young adult groups such as Theology on Tap, where serious, committed prospective candidates can be engaged.

Also, on college campuses, there are “Busy Person’s Retreats,” Sister Charlene explains, which might schedule a half-hour session of prayer and half-hour meetings with a spiritual director.

“It’s really about establishing relationships and being present.”

In her own journey to religious life, Sister Charlene ran counter to most of her generation.

From Bishop Conwell High School, and Chestnut Hill College, she entered at 24, after two years of teaching.

“It’s difficult at that age for young people to make a decision in the culture where they live,” she said.

Studies show that whether or not a congregation is considered conservative or progressive is not as important as how it projects itself.

“There has to be a clear sense of mission,” Sister Charlene said. “A sense of the spiritual, a sense of being Christ-centered and a sense of community.

“Community is especially important because the other elements can be found in vocations outside the religious life.

“Community, in the larger sense, is membership. It’s also the community you reside in day in and day out. If members of the congregation are passionate about their vocation, they can attract new members, ” Sister Charlene said.

In the Philadelphia area, World Day of Consecrated Life will be observed on Saturday, Feb. 8, through a regional Discernment Day at Our Mother of Good Council Church, Bryn Mawr.

For further information, call Sister Charlene Diorka at (215) 248-7236 or cdiorka@ssjphila.org

Contact Lou Baldwin at (215) 587-3672 or lbaldwin@adphila.org