by Leela Ramdeen, Chair of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice
Recently I was a panelist at a symposium organised by CREDI entitled: “The Vocation of Teaching in the 21st Century” (the sacred responsibility of teachers to form children).
Read the informative essay by Prof William E May entitled: “The Vocation of a Catholic Teacher/Scholar (www.christendom-awake.org/pages/may/teachers.htm). He offers his reflections on the various kinds of vocations to which we are called. I will seek to summarise the 19 pages. Firstly, he focusses on the universal call to holiness, which is the vocation that is common to all Christians: our baptismal commitment to holiness as members of Christ’s body.
To fulfil this vocation, we must strive to make every choice we make every day of our lives conform to our baptismal commitment to follow Christ. He says: “Our vocation to be holy…means fundamentally that we are to become what we already are: God’s faithful children, members of the divine family, alive with God’s own life, willing to do only what is pleasing to the Father.
“In carrying out our common vocation to holiness, Christians are called to more specific vocations. These include the states of life to which individual Christians are summoned” e.g. priesthood, religious life, marriage, single life. St Josemaría Escrivá (founder of Opus Dei), said: “we fulfil our vocation to be holy by sanctifying our work, sanctifying ourselves in our work, and sanctifying others through our work.”
“Thus a more specific vocation of a Christian incorporates not only the state of life to which he or she is called…but also the work one freely undertakes to be of service to God and neighbour…In addition, God speaks personally to each and every Christian…calling him or her to a unique personal vocation, inviting him or her to play a unique and indispensable role in carrying out His redemptive work.”
We must each find our way of serving our communities. Prof May says: “One of our important tasks in answering God’s call to holiness is to discern our personal vocation and fulfil it.”
Congratulations to all awardees of this year’s Independence Day awards. Awardees included some outstanding Catholics e.g. Fr Clyde Harvey (Hummingbird Medal Gold – Religion and Community Service), Gladys Gafoor. (Public Service Medal of Merit Gold), and Sheila Prince (Public Service Medal of Merit Silver).
Congratulations also to Most Rev Joe Harris, Coadjutor Archbishop of POS, and Msgr Jason Gordon, Bishop elect of the Dioceses of Bridgetown, Barbados, and Kingstown, St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Read Pope John Paul II’s Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Pastores Gregis, on the Bishop, Servant of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the hope of the world:
“…the Good Shepherd has entrusted his flock to each Bishop to feed it with his word and to form it by his example…The duty of Bishops…is the same duty as ever: to proclaim the Gospel of Christ, the salvation of the world. But it is a duty which has a new urgency and which calls for cooperation and commitment on the part of the whole People of God.
“The Bishop needs to be able to count on the members of his diocesan presbyterate and on his deacons, the ministers of the Blood of Christ and of charity…on his consecrated sisters and brothers, called to be for the Church and the world eloquent witnesses of the primacy of God in the Christian life and the power of his love amid the frailty of the human condition; and …on the lay faithful, whose greater scope for the apostolate represents for their pastors a source of particular support and a reason for special comfort.”
In response to Fr Dexter Brereton’s (CSSp), letter to the Editor in last week’s CN, CCSJ will continue to address issues relating to the role and responsibility of the state – especially as it pertains to the poor. We will also continue to raise awareness of basic human and economic rights e.g. see CCSJ’s website for our submission to the Attorney-General in June, 2011 at the Civil Society Consultation in preparation for the Universal Periodic Review. It includes Pope John XXIII’s Charter of Rights in Pacem in Terris (1963).
Also see CCSJ’s articles and annual reports, which highlight action taken since 2003 to address these issues. Five DVDs – Take-a-Bite, were sent to all parishes for use with parishioners. One focusses specifically on Rights and Responsibilities. Further copies can be obtained from CCSJ’s Office – free. Now that we have appointed a Parish Link Coordinator, Sr Christine Walcott, OP, we will be organising further seminars and will prioritise the issues that Fr Dexter has raised.
