What I have seen and heard


	Bishop Gregory

Most of you know that I deeply enjoy celebrating the Sacrament of Confirmation with our young people. It is one of the happiest events in my life and I never tire of it. You are likely also well aware that in every Confirmation ceremony, I target one or more youngsters and ask them if they have ever thought about being a priest or religious. I do so because I believe in the depth of my heart that vocations are important in the Church.

I believe that youngsters need to be challenged to ask themselves honestly if the Spirit of God is calling them to a church vocation. I do so because the future depends upon our encouraging our youngsters to respond generously to the Lord’s invitation to religious and clerical service in the church. While it is the duty of the church to confirm whether a person does indeed have a vocation to the religious or clerical life, it is a responsibility that we all share to encourage our young people to listen to God’s voice in their lives.

This past Sunday as I sat in the bright sunshine in St. Peter’s piazza awaiting the beginning of the ceremony for the Beatification of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, a young deacon approached me and introduced himself. I did not recognize him. He told me that I had confirmed him in 1984 in St. Theresa’s Parish in Palatine, Ill. He furthermore told me that at that ceremony, I had asked him if he ever thought about being a priest. Then he made me so proud and joyful by saying that he would be ordained a priest for Mother Teresa’s religious community of men in eight months. He obviously remembered my question!

I almost cried at the poignant exchange that took only about a minute. I hugged him and he disappeared off to the section where he had been seated. I didn’t have the presence of mind to ask him his name, where he was serving or any other identifying information. I ran out of words to say at the sheer delight at his answer to an earlier question.

I will never forget that encounter or the good news that this young man told me on that bright morning. I will continue asking those questions of our young people for as long as it is my privilege to confirm our kids. I don’t for one moment believe that a question that I posed in a ceremony almost 20 years ago was the source of his vocation to the priesthood. Vocations come from the hand of God, the church only affirms and authenticates them, and you and I can merely invite them to be considered. We can only support the young people who are graced to listen to God speaking to their hearts.

The rest of the beatification ceremony was indeed splendid. The music, the prayers that placed Mother Teresa of Calcutta among those that the church honors as blessed, the liturgical dancing that reminded all of us that Mother Teresa had become one with the Indian people to whom she gave her life, all of these components of the ceremony were just wonderful. But even more memorable to me were the words of that young man who finally answered my confirmation question: “Have you ever thought about becoming a priest?”

And how proud I am of his answer — whoever he might be! May the Lord bless him and all those young people who are answering the questions that the Lord places within their hearts for the life of our church.

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