Footage: Miguela Xuereb
With few people seeking religious vocations, the director of the Seminary Vocations Centre, Fr James Saydon, is working with vocations promoters in a bid to determine how best to encourage those taking such a step.
In an interview with Newsbook Malta, Fr James stressed that while the central message could obviously not fundamentally change, the issue was how best to bring it across.
He emphasised that what may feel obvious may not be immediately understood by younger generations, stating that today’s children often lacked what he described as “Christian literacy.” Children, he said, often had no idea of what being a priest entailed, and thus no indication of why priesthood is a path they could pursue.
In this context, the Seminary Vocations Centre recently organised a seminar titled “Vocations: It is a communication problem?” bringing together 40 vocations promoters – including 6 provincial superiors from different religious orders – to discuss how they can improve their messaging to the general public.
During the seminar, led by journalist Mark Laurence Zammit, the vocations promoters considered that communications problems were not just an issue for the promotion of vocations but also a problem faced by the universal church. They considered the possibility that the young may be losing faith in institutions across the board – including the church – and that this faith needed to be restored if any progress is to be made.
Reflecting on this, Fr James highlighted that existing activities providing young people with some time to reflect should remain, but other ideas could be explored to help them better recognise whether a religious vocation could be the right step for them. He stressed that the shortage of vocations did not mean that every existing initiative was wrong and should be cast away; instead, it required exploring how best to improve the messaging and approach.
Fr James also highlighted changing trends, with people pursuing religious vocations at a later age, after experiencing more of what the world offered and after a wider search for one’s happiness.
In this context, Newsbook Malta asked Fr James whether he remained hopeful that vocations would keep coming in, and while he said that it was only natural to have doubts, he recalled that God promised never to abandon his church.
He also noted that vocations were increasingly coming from untraditional sources: from individuals who had not necessarily been altar boys or who had spent long years pursuing MUSEUM’s catechetical programmes.
Source: Newsbook.com.mt