October 17, 2009
Director discusses hearing God’s call, creating vocations climate
By Julie Sly
Herald editor
Father
Charles Kelly, director of vocations for the diocese, says the pressures
of today’s culture and the struggles families face greatly affect
trying to cultivate a climate for vocations recruitment. Cathy Joyce/Herald
photo
Father Charles Kelly assumed the role of director of vocations for the
Sacramento Diocese on July 1.
He previously served as pastor of St. Anthony Parish in Winters from 2002 to 2009 and was also pastor of St. Peter Parish in Dixon from 2006 to 2008. He has also served as parochial vicar of Holy Family Parish in Citrus Heights and St. Theresa Parish in South Lake Tahoe.
Father Kelly grew up in Paradise as a member of St. Thomas More Parish. He studied for the priesthood at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio and was ordained to the priesthood in May 1999.
He spoke with The Herald recently about his work as director of vocations and about cultivating a climate for vocations recruitment in the diocese.
Q: What are your main responsibilities as director of vocations?
A: I focus on three areas, the first two being maintaining the seminarians we have in studies currently and recruiting new seminarians to study for the priesthood. The seminarians we currently have all have to be assigned over the summers. They all have to go to Mexico to study Spanish and one summer they have to work in a hospital for their clinical pastoral education, so I am involved in their placements.
The third area is my relationship to all the various groups that support seminarians: the Knights of Columbus, the Serra Club, the Young Ladies Institute and the Diocesan Council of Catholic Women. I support and interact with these groups as they support us greatly in our mission.
Q: How many seminarians are currently in studies for the priesthood? How many will be ordained to the priesthood in 2010?
A: We have 39 seminarians. There are 17 men at Mount Angel Seminary in Oregon in college level studies. Once they finish there, most of them will go to St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, where we have about 15 seminarians right now. They stay there for four years of theological studies. We have three seminarians who will be ordained to the (transitional) diaconate on Oct. 31 at St. Patrick’s Seminary, and all three of them should be ordained as priests in May 2010. They are Michael Baricuatro, Michael Estaris and Mauricio Hurtado.
Q: What are the main ways you recruit seminarians?
A: It’s very interesting. We get communication through e-mails from young men all the time, and many from other countries, such as Africa or the Philippines. They want to study for our diocese. Bishop Jaime Soto has made a decision at this point not to have seminarians come from foreign countries, except from perhaps Mexico. That is why he asked me to be vocations director, because I am from this diocese. He wants me to recruit local men to study for the priesthood.
We also get seminarians who might be studying for another diocese now but want to come and study for Sacramento. We also have discernment retreats that we invite men to attend. I have a couple of young men now who because of these retreats want to go into the seminary.
Also, sometimes we get referrals from priests in our diocese. I try to attend all of the youth activities of the diocese and I also do school visits and talks at our Newman Centers.
Q: Why was the decision made not to recruit men from other countries?
A: The main factor in the decision is the difficulty in helping these men adapt to our U.S. culture. Priests from other countries do the priesthood differently in those countries. Ministry in the United States is very collaborative. Women are a strong part of our church here, and oftentimes foreign priests aren’t used to that. So they come here and they struggle in our parishes. They are great priests and holy men, but they often aren’t accustomed to working with pastoral councils, committees, and all the usual structures of our parishes.
In addition, we are losing our identity as a unique presbyterate for this diocese because we are so multicultural. The bishop believes that we need an identity of priests and seminarians who are from this diocese. So that’s why he has said he wants to work hard at recruiting local seminarians.
Q: That’s an awfully big challenge for you, isn’t it?
A: Yes. The pressure is on me to get local men to enter the seminary. We plan to have a discernment house called St. John Vianney House in south Sacramento. It will be for young adult men, who are either working or in college, to live a more structured prayer life, such as you would live as a priest. We would pray together and celebrate Mass in the morning, and in the evening we would share a meal together a few times a week and pray together. I would serve as the spiritual director and meet with them, and help them to discern their call. We can likely accommodate 10 or 11 young men. I am still working with my advisory board to decide what will be the structure and dynamic of this house.
Q: What about women who are interested in religious life? Do you handle this?
A: When we get inquiries from women, we refer them to many of the communities of religious women in our diocese: the Sisters of Mercy, the Dominican Sisters, or other communities. All of the women’s orders have vocations directors.
Q: How can we cultivate a climate or culture for vocations? What needs to happen in families, parishes and schools?
A: The pressures of our secular culture and the struggles of families today greatly influence trying to create a climate for recruiting vocations. Obviously a climate for vocations starts in the home — it’s how you are raised. It’s your family — you pray together, you worship together and the family isn’t fractured and broken. And right now our families are fractured. Parents are often so busy, but they need not put so much pressure on themselves for their kids to be involved in every activity that goes on, because that can further move the family apart.
So I pray for our families and our married couples that they create that kind of climate in their home where the kids can experience Christ and the church. We also need parents to be willing to encourage their kids, because what’s happening now is parents have fewer children than decades ago and they don’t want to lose any of them to the priesthood, because then they won’t have grandkids. It used to be easier, so most parents don’t encourage their sons to consider it. It’s one factor at least.
The priesthood is a life of service — you are giving your life away. And in our culture, we are taught “me first.” It’s your life and you set your own goals. When we take our sight away from God, the only person you have left is yourself to look at. These are some of the pressures are young people are under — they look at life as how I can be happy personally. They don’t look at how they can relate with God, and not necessarily just have a perfect or easy life. Young people are under a lot of pressure in this way.
Q: What other activities would help create a climate for vocations?
A: The vocations committees in parishes are doing a great job with the vocation crosses and praying for priests, but what we are missing is the personal impact of these committees, where parishioners identify candidates for us. So if every vocation committee would send us names of men they have identified from their parishes, there could be many potential candidates at high school or young adult level. I would like to begin monthly discernment groups — one in Sacramento and one perhaps in Redding or Red Bluff, where we would get 20 or 30 young men showing up at these discernment evenings.
These efforts would create a discerning climate and we would have a group of candidates we would be working with, who would be thinking about the priesthood as they are going through high school and college. And I would hope that many would follow through and enter the seminary.
Q: Who encouraged you to enter the priesthood?
A: My life personally changed in 1987 when I was 28. Before that I went to church on Sunday but I had no relationship with Christ on a daily basis nor was I letting him lead me. That changed and I developed my prayer life and he became the priority in my life. I dated for the next five years and planned on being married. I taught at St. Francis High School from 1988 to 1993.
In 1993 when I was in spiritual direction, one of the Carmelite priests in Oakville, near Napa, said to me you are 33 — a good age to be crucified — and you are not married and you have a love for the Lord, so I wonder if he wants you to be a priest.
He said that and it brought something out that had been buried inside me. Before that I had seen myself as being married. I said, “How do I know?” And he said you don’t know here — you have to go to the seminary and be willing to quit teaching and find out for yourself.
Q: What challenges are ahead for you in this role?
A: I’d like to get St. John Vianney House open and also begin the monthly discernment groups. I’m excited about promoting vocations in our diocese. I consider this a privilege and such important work. My mom was disappointed because she said to me, “You’re leaving the parish, you’re good with the people, and now you are leaving.” I said but I’m going to be forming the future priests of our diocese, and if I can do a good job with this, then they’re going to be more effective with the people. I’m looking forward to the challenge and responsibility of forming our future priests and promoting local vocations.
