by ARCHBISHOP CHRISTOPHER J. COYNE
The C&W star Kenny Chesney has a song, “I didn’t get here alone that road’s just too rough and long. I might be the one the spotlight’s on … I know I didn’t get here alone.” I suppose my life’s chorus would go something like this, “I didn’t get here alone, that road’s too full of people. It’s too full of the Spirit. I am who I am and where I am because I didn’t get here alone.”
The vocational call, especially to the priesthood, is a communal call. Discernment of a particular vocation within the Church — holy orders, marriage, consecrated life — is founded first on the call we all share to be ministerial disciples, a call which needs to be nurtured and discerned and lived within the Church.
I grew up very Catholic. My family worshipped and participated in our local Catholic Church. We were very much a part of that community. Priests and deacons were always in and out of our house, usually for meals. When my brother died of cancer, the parish community was there for us. In our sorrow, we were blessed. When I was a senior in high school, I thought I might like to be a priest. My favorite priest told me to go to college first. He knew me. It was one of the best pieces of advice I ever received.
Through college, I worked various jobs, I paid my tuition, I partied, I dated, I made great friends and had some great times. But I always stayed active in the Church. Eventually, I graduated from college and worked full time for a couple of years. Over those six years, I grew up a lot but most importantly … I became a disciple of Jesus Christ. It was then that I applied to the seminary.
And so I offer this simple thought: If we want to foster vocations in the Church, we must pray for them, encourage them and foster them within a community of disciples. The vocational call is not a solitary call, but a communal one for which we all bear responsibility.