Fiat: A Home for Female Contemplative Religious Vocation Discernment

When the Archangel Gabriel came to Mary, he found her alone in her chamber. She was intent on her prayers. Her sole focus was on God. The angel delivered his message. The Blessed Virgin listened. She accepted. Fiat.

Guest Article: “The Seven Steps of the Altar”

Rorate Caeli is grateful to Canon Heitor Matheus, ICRSS, for sharing with us this beautiful homily he preached some time ago at St. Mary's in Wausau, Wisconsin. It is fitting to share it this week as we recall the dies natalis of St. John Vianney on August 4th (with his Mass in the usus antiquior on August 8th). We are reminded that the minor and major orders are very much alive in the Church today, continuing immemorial tradition. Young men responding to the Lord's call desire and deserve to have these rites for their strengthening and sanctification.

The Seven Steps of the Altar: Ascending to the Priesthood

Canon Heitor Matheus, ICRSS

THIS YEAR on the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (July 2), our Institute had the great joy to give nine more priests to the Church—nine more men who were ordained to continue the work of Redemption of Our Lord Jesus Christ. So I wish to speak today about this beautiful adventure that we call vocation and how a man becomes a priest.

As in a great puzzle, God has a place for each one of us, and we have the duty to try to find out where our place is. And I tell you that we are only going to be happy, truly happy, in the vocation God has for us. Our vocation is the most important decision we have to make in this life: it will decide the course of our life here below, and also bear upon our eternity.

But how do we find out our vocation? First of all, we have to know that the word “vocation” means “calling.” A vocation is a calling from God. We don’t hear this calling with the ears of our body, but we can perceive it by the affections of our heart. For example, when a young man enjoys coming to church, serving at the Altar, learning about the Faith, spending time in prayer… when it is as if he is drawn by a secret force to the things of God. Such things are signs of a vocation.

Book review: Discernment and preparation for religious or married life

By Mrs. Adfero

TO PURCHASE THIS BOOK CLICK HERE

Called by God: Discernment and Preparation for Religious Life is an extraordinary guide to the discernment of the vocation God calls us into with Him that we may achieve our eternal destiny. 

The author, Rachael Marie Collins, writes that in the hierarchy of importance in discerning what you are called to be in this life, occupation or employment is one of the last things to consider. In fact, it is our vocation, our intimate relationship with God – whether in the religious state or the married state – that takes priority because it is our call to sanctity.  We are replaceable in our occupations or employments, but in our relationships in the religious or married state, we are irreplaceable.

The book is a beautifully written and very well-researched compilation of letters from Mrs. Collins to a young lady who is discerning the religious life.  It is a handbook on discernment replete with quotations from Saints and extensive references to many of the best spiritual works that any Catholic should be familiar with to help them on the road to holiness. 

This comprehensive book on discernment is highly recommended for any young woman who believes she may have a call to the religious life.  Mrs. Collins takes the uncertainty out of discerning a religious vocation with her invaluable and detailed advice.  She also addresses many of the issues a pre-vocational young woman may face in the process.

Mrs. Collins guides the reader through a very thorough process of practical and spiritual preparation. Anyone who follows the masterful advice in this book will have comprehensively discerned their vocation.  For those who discern, like Mrs. Collins herself, that God is not calling them to the religious life, Mrs. Collins also examines the vocation of the married state and how this preparation also pertains to the challenges of marriage and raising children.

                                               

Her compiled letters are written to a young woman and focus on certain issues particular to a young woman discerning a religious vocation filling a vital need on guiding young women in discernment.  God-willing more women will answer His call on account of this remarkable book.  It is worth noting, however, that much of the spiritual guidance regarding preparation and discernment could be relevant to young men discerning the religious vocation. 

Newly Published: Two Historical Novels by Benson, Two Classic Liturgical Commentaries, and a Great Vocations Pamphlet

I am pleased to announce new reprints of five works that should never have gone out of print in the first place. All are available from Amazon sites; the titles below give the hyperlinks. 

Dying Italian Dominicans leave behind Fra Angelico

The latest example of a beautiful, centuries-old religious house closing due to a lack of vocations is found in Florence, where the Dominicans have decided to abandon their convent after self-destructing following Vatican II.

Elizabeth Povoledo of the New York Times has an article published in today's paper:

NEW SERIES: Vocation stories (part 2)

We recently asked our readers to send us vocation stories to help parents inspire religious vocations in their children. Today, we post our second set of stories. You can find part 1 by clicking the tag "Vocation stories" below. 

We asked our older readers who have produced a priest, a monk or a nun, and did so deliberately (not just lucked out!), to send us their stories. We want to pass on to our readers what they did on a daily basis to foster that vocation that our younger parent readers can emulate. And for our priest, monk or nun readers whose parents led them to their vocations, to send that story to us as well. 

Please consider sending us your vocation story as well! These submissions can but don't have to be terribly long -- but should be lengthy enough for our readers to take away concrete ideas and wisdom to get to work on real, tangible action items. We're looking more for "we talked to them every day about how to discern a vocation and to say this prayer" than "we kept the faith in the home." Be specific! 

Send your submissions to athanasiuscatholic AT yahoo.com and we will consider them quickly. And, if needed, we will post them anonymously. Just indicate that in your email.

Story 1: Submitted by Fr. Albert Marcello, III, who serves as the Chaplain of the Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society, and is a priest of the Diocese of Providence, R.I.

Our diocesan holy card for vocations, dating from the 1950’s, states in bold letters: “A religious vocation is a precious gift from a family to God for His Church.” 

NEW SERIES: Vocation stories (part 1)

We recently asked our readers to send us vocation stories to help parents inspire religious vocations in their children. Today, we post our first two stories.

We asked our older readers who have produced a priest, a monk or a nun, and did so deliberately (not just lucked out!), to send us their stories. We want to pass on to our readers what they did on a daily basis to foster that vocation that our younger parent readers can emulate. And for our priest, monk or nun readers whose parents led them to their vocations, to send that story to us as well. 

Please consider sending us your vocation story as well! These submissions can but don't have to be terribly long -- but should be lengthy enough for our readers to take away concrete ideas and wisdom to get to work on real, tangible action items. We're looking more for "we talked to them every day about how to discern a vocation and to say this prayer" than "we kept the faith in the home." Be specific! 

Send your submissions to athanasiuscatholic AT yahoo.com and we will consider them quickly. And, if needed, we will post them anonymously. Just indicate that in your email.

Story 1: Submitted by the parents of Sr. Gabrielle of Our Lady of Sorrows Carmel of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Elysburg, Pa.

From the very beginning my parents tried to surround me with good and truth. Being homeschooled, I always had my mother’s virtuous example before my eyes. After her conversion, soon followed by my father’s, the dual impact of my parents’ good example increased.

NEW SERIES: Tell us your vocation stories!

A few years ago we ran a short, but very popular, series of posts called "The joy of big families" (we've tagged it in the labels below for our readers to easily find and read). Now, we want to do something similar, and are asking you to send your stories to us. 

As the faith has collapsed since the wretched Council, so too have vocations collapsed, due in much part to the contraceptive mentality most Catholics today happily embrace. However, our readers, and the remnant of traditional Catholics left, are embracing large families -- and they do pray for vocations from their children. 

But many do not really know how to produce those vocations beyond their prayers. As St. Benedict says, pray like it all depends on God, work like it all depends on you. But what does that work look like? 

Here's what we're asking for: For our older readers who have produced a priest, a monk or a nun, and did so deliberately (not just lucked out!), please send us your story! Let us know what you did on a daily basis to foster that vocation that our younger parent readers can emulate. And if you're a priest, monk or nun whose parents led to your vocation, you can send that story to us as well. Tell us what they did to prepare you to offer your life for Christ and His Church (note: We will keep you anonymous if you ask).

These submissions can but don't have to be terribly long -- but should be lengthy enough for our readers to take away concrete ideas and wisdom to get to work on real, tangible action items. We're looking more for "we talked to them every day about how to discern a vocation and to say this prayer" than "we kept the faith in the home." Be specific! 

Send your submissions to athanasiuscatholic AT yahoo.com and we will consider them quickly. 

While many people today try to create a vocation to match whatever people want to do with their lives, traditionally we know there is only one true vocation -- to the religious life. So let's all do our part to bring about those much-needed vocations that bolster the Church like nothing else can outside of God's grace. 

Vatican releases latest worldwide Catholic statistics:Decrease in the overall share of Catholics in the world population. Fall in priests, seminarians and religious continues unabated

The Vatican Bollettino for June 13, 2018 has a report (only in Italian as of this writing) about the publication of the Pontifical Yearbook for 2018 and the Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae 2016, containing the statistics for the Catholic Church worldwide as of the end of the year 2016. 

The earliest reports appearing on the Catholic media about this report focus on the increase in the absolute number of baptized Catholics from the end of 2015 to the end of 2016 -- from 1,285,000,000 to 1,299,000,000. The Bollettino's actual report however has the sobering observation that the increase in Catholics from 2015 to 2016 is lower than the annual increase recorded in the period from 2010 to 2015. Additionally, the rate of growth of the worldwide Catholic population is slower than that of the world's population as a whole, with the result that the percentage of Catholics in the world population dropped from 17.73 % in 2015 to 17.67 in 2016. 

When it comes to priests, the trend of diminishment since 2014 is confirmed: there were 414,969 Catholic priests in the whole world as of the end of 2016, compared to 415,656 priests in 2015 and  415,792 in 2014.

Guest Op-Ed: Epiphany reflections on the Christian vocation

By Veronica A. Arntz

The Gospels tell us very little about the wise men, or the Magi, bringing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, who came from the East to worship the newborn Christ Child. While tradition says that there were three of them, named Balthasar, Melchior, and Jaspar, we do not even have knowledge of that from the Scriptures.[1] What we do know is that these wise men, who were Gentiles, followed a star in the heavens so that they could come to Bethlehem to worship Christ, the King of Israel. In reflecting on the event of the Magi, we can learn something about our own vocation, namely, that God calls us out of our comfort to pursue him in a radical way, following the royal road of the Cross. 

Sacred music and more from the Benedictines of Mary

Today Rorate received this note from the prioress of the Benedictines of Mary in Gower, Missouri, whom we have featured many times for their wonderful music and their growing community. Please support them if you can. The new church they are building is magnificent, and the monastery is bursting with sisters.

Dear Friends in Christ,

As we make final preparations in our homes and in our hearts for the coming of our Savior, we want to send our love and prayers to all of you. We thank you for your past support, knowing that we couldn't live our lives of prayer without your generous assistance.

If you are still in need of Christmas gifts, we have all of our CDs in stock, and are offering them right now for just $12 each! Any orders placed before 9am(CST) today [Dec. 16] will be shipped today, and orders placed by 9am Monday will be shipped on Monday.

[NB:] Amazon inexplicably stopped selling our Caroling at Ephesus CD early last week, so we unfortunately lost a tremendous number of sales. So we reach out to you now, hoping that through your kindness, we might make up for this loss, which will help us to raise the last $150,000 needed to make our final construction payment of the year. 

We would be most grateful if you could spread the word by any means, near and far! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your goodness and continued support!

Latest statistics: seminarians down in the USA and the world, priests worldwide in decline, catastrophic decline in women religious Will vocations survive the new Bergoglian priestly formation document?

I. World Statistics 

Last month, the Vatican website published a report on the Pontifical Yearbook 2016 and Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae 2015, with a detailed summary of the statistics contained in the latter. Compared to the Vatican's summaries of the information in the Annuarium Statisticum published in previous years (see this for 2014, published in 2016; read here for 2013, published in 2015), last month's summary has much more detail, and for this we are very grateful.

The summary notes that "In 2015 there is decline in the number of priests from the previous year, thus reversing the upward trend that characterized the years from 2000 to 2014." To be exact, there were 415,656 priests in 2015, compared to 415,792 in 2014. (Looking into reports from previous years we find that there were 405,178 priests in 2000 -- when the upward trend began again -- 406,411 in 2005, 408,024 in 2007, 412,236 in 2010, and 414,313 in 2012.) Tellingly the decline from 2014 to 2015, while slight, is attributed to the decrease in the number of priests in Europe (less 2,502) outweighing the increases in the rest of the world (up by 2,366). Although the Vatican report does not mention it, it is no secret that very large numbers of European and North American clergy are in the age range of late 70's to 90's, which explains why the official statistics for priests in Europe and North America have little to do with the actual (and much reduced) number of priests available for, or capable of, pastoral duties on the ground. As these priests -- the last of those ordained in the period between 1945 and 1965 --continue to die off in even greater numbers due to illness and extreme old age within the next decade or so, we expect that the negative effect on worldwide priesthood numbers will become even more pronounced. (According to the summary, priests in Europe account for 43% of priests worldwide.)

As for major seminarians, the downward trend is confirmed: there are "in 2015 there was a total of 116,843 major seminarians, up (sic) from 116,939 in 2014; 118,251 in 2013; 120,051 in 2012; 120,616 in 2011 and 118,990 in 2010". We already noted the beginnings of this decline in a post last year. This trend towards decline seems set to continue, with the number of major seminarians now declining continuously in Europe, "in all areas of America" (which would include Latin America), in the Middle East, and in South East Asia, where, it is noted, "the initial growth ended in 2012 (+ 4.5% compared to 2010), and was followed by a marked decline which brought the number of major seminarians in 2015 at a level 1.6% less than the maximum of 2012". The same phenomenon is noted regarding Oceania: "the highest figure was recorded in 2012, followed by continuous decline – the number of seminarians in 2015 was 6.9% lower than in 2012". Only Africa is bucking the trend with an increase of 7.7% for major seminarians between 2010 and 2015.

For the record, the Centurio blog published a short study in 2014 which already forecast that there will be 323,000 priests worldwide by 2050, based on the trends of 2012 (when there were 414,313 priests) continuing. 

Abbot of Monastery that switched to Traditional Mass: "With old Mass, the Priest become more Priest, and the monk more monk."

Pontifical Mass at Mariawald (source)

In 2008, the sole Trappist Monastery in Germany, the Abbey of Mariawald, became the first (and, so far, the only) Trappist monastery to completely return to the pre-Conciliar liturgical books since the liturgical reforms of the 1960s. It was one of the few houses in the world to make use of what is stated at Art. 3 of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum (allowing for whole religious houses to become exclusively traditional), and this only after, it was repeatedly reported then, the personal intervention of Pope Benedict XVI.

A couple of years ago, Father Abbot Dom Josef Vollberg granted an admirable interview to German Catholic paper Tagespost, and it had never been translated. The Rorate translation follows:

Die Tagespost

May 23, 2013

Most Reverend Father Abbot, four years ago, you changed your abbey over to the Extraordinary Form. What changes did this bring to your monastery?

We were able to celebrate the first Solemn Mass in the classical Roman Rite here in Mariawald, in January 2009. And then, one month later, we began to celebrate Conventual Mass in the Extraordinary Form. At first, not all the Brethren welcomed this change. But in the meantime, the situation has somewhat improved. Of course, as a Priest, one had to learn how to celebrate the Rite, which was demanding and far from easy. An also, one had to refamiliarize oneself with Latin. Little by little, we completed the change. The second step was to sing the office of Terce in the traditional form, on Sundays, before Holy Mass. In this way we were able to establish liturgical unity. And then, we gradually changed over the Little Hours, Sext, None and Compline. Later, we did the same with Vespers and Laudes. And then, finally, from 2009 to 2010 we did the same with Vigils. This meant giving ourselves wholly to this Liturgy, with its more intensive theocentric character, which suites our contemplative vocation in a special way.

What Kind of spiritual development have you noticed since then? What has been the effect of this change to the Extraordinary Form on your Community?

The Trappists - a Video

Pontifical Mass at the Trappist Abbey of Mariawald, 2009 (source)