Not my favourite Cardinal, but I was impressed by Rocco Palmo's account of Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles' ordination of twelve men.
Maybe as our own ordination season approaches, UK bishops and priests might follow Los Angeles' example.
My highlight was when, before the final blessings, the cardinal asked for a stack of the prayer cards for priestly vocations (distributed and prayed throughout the archdiocese). He then stood and asked if there were any young men in the congregation who had been moved enough by the ordination to feel that they might be being called then and there. He called them forward and at least twenty young men came down into the sanctuary. We applauded. The cardinal welcomed each one and gave them the prayer and said that all would stand and pray this prayer for them. We all applauded again and then we prayed.
Then the cardinal suggested to the newly ordained that, at the end of their first Masses of Thanksgiving, they should make the same invitation because “the grace of vocation flows powerfully at the time of ordinations.”
Maybe as our own ordination season approaches, UK bishops and priests might follow Los Angeles' example.
5 comments:
I was blessed to be present, recently, at the ordination to the Permanent Diaconate, of a young(ish) man.It was a truly, deeply moving occasion, and I can understand something of what Cardinal Mahoney meant.I felt inspired to pray for further vocations, from within my own family, and elsewhere.
The link to the biographies of the twelve new men shows that most of them originate from South America, Vietnam and Africa. It's sad that there are so few home-grown vocations.
I have a feeling, I don't know why, that there are a few potential vocations in our own parish. This is probably true in many others.
So how can we foster them?
That is very powerful. I hope their Lordships are reading this blog and accept your invitation.
Cardinal Mahoney regularly invites young people to think about vocations to the priesthood and religious life. At the Youth Day during the RE Congress that the Archdiocese of LA holds every year, his eminence invites any one who feels they have a vocation to stand up. They do this in front of 10,000 of their peers. The young people are affirmed by the other young people and it is a very moving moment.
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