Promoting vocations

Just answered a few questions about what I think of the current efforts of promoting vocations in our diocese. I want to share my response with you.

One thing I don't really understand about our vocation promotion is why do they have seminary stay-ins.

I feel that vocation promotion is not that effective when done as a seminary stay-in experience. It's like sending people who want to be doctors for exposure in medical school instead of hospitals.

To see what a priest does, young men should follow priests when they perform their pastoral duties and when they celebrate the sacraments, basically, when they are functioning as priests.

Ministering the sacraments, teaching the Word and leading the community are the primary functions of seminarians who are ordained to be priests, prophets and kings. I feel that this would be a greater attraction to many young people who would be challenged by this type of sacrifice and calling.

Going to the seminary too see how seminarians live is not that attractive because seminary life is just a phase which one must pass through on the journey to priesthood. It's the end product that should be given more exposure, not the intermediate stage.

Emphasizing a strong Catholic identity at the parish and family level is also important as God's call often comes through families and parishes. Here, the priests' role as model and first recruiter is crucial. The young should want to be like their priests who live authentic lives of prayer and celebrate the Sacraments, especially Holy Mass with reverence and dignity. They want to emulate orthodox priests who preach something worth believing in, not the psycho-babble that predominates in today's homilies. The young want to be challenged, not pandered to and spoken to condescendingly. People will give up their lives for a mystery, not a question mark, which is what most priests preach today.

Priests should also frequently encourage the young people, especially the servers, to consider the priesthood. The Call should be made often and persistently.

I could tell you personal stories, but I'd better not. Anyway, what do you think about vocation promotion where you come from?

Shortage of priests as youths shy away from vocation

From the Star.

Shortage of priests as youths shy away from vocation
By DERRICK VINESH

PARENTS should educate their sons on the benefits of becoming a priest, said Church of St Anthony Nibong Tebal priest Reverend Father Francis Xavier Selvarajoo.

He said the number of youths entering priesthood in the country was declining as many Christian pa-rents felt it was not a lucrative job.

“These days, parents want their children to secure high-paying jobs.

Silver jubilee mass: Rev Francis Xavier kneeling in thanksgiving at his church.

“They expect others to become priests and insist that churches have dedicated priests to fulfil their spiritual needs,” he said as he celebrated his 25 years as a priest recently at a sacerdotal silver jubilee mass at his church.

Rev Francis Xavier said families should look beyond materialism and the pleasures of life to boldly commit their future in God’s hands.

He noted that the heavy workload shared among the small pool of priests in every denomination had also caused youths to shy away from the vocation.

Speaking about his admission to the St Francis Xavier Minor Seminary in Singapore in 1975, Rev Francis Xavier said he was actually “tricked” into entering priesthood.

“I had just obtained my SPM results when I met the late Bishop Gregory Yong at Church of Christ The King, Sungai Petani.

“He congratulated me on my results and sent me on a fully-paid one-way trip to the seminary in Singapore as a reward.

“I was allowed to return to Penang only after seven months. But soon I felt something missing in my life and decided to go back to the seminary.

“It was then I realised that it was my calling from God,” he said.

Rev Francis Xavier said that other than taking part in youth activities at the church, priests should sit down and have coffee with the youths and give them leadership tasks to perform.

In this way, he said, the youths would not only feel a sense of importance but would be able to understand the functions of a priest better.

“However, the most effective way will be to sow the seeds from the beginning, by encouraging them to volunteer as servers and choir members at primary school level.

“This is because it would be hard to change their mentality in the teenage years,” he said.

Remembering Mother Teresa

I remember hearing about the news of Mother Teresa's demise. It was a few days after Diana died. I remember thinking how much fuss the world was making over Diana's death. No doubt that she did some good, using her influence and name to highlight several causes, but her life, I felt, was wasted in wanton living, like the Prodigal Son after he left the Father's house. Perhaps, had she lived longer, a more public repentance and conversion would have taken place and how much good she could have done we would never know.

The littlest Sister

But Mother Teresa's death received a bit less attention. But in the decades to come, the good that she has done and the seeds of faith she planted and the Missionaries she founded would continue to carry on her name and her work, long after the world forgets the glamorous Diana.

From NewKerala:

Nation remembers Mother Teresa on her eleventh death anniversary

Prayers and floral tributes were offered at the grave of the Mother inside Mother House.


Hundreds of people from all walks of life and of all faiths joined the nuns of the Charity for a special morning mass.
The Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity, Sister Nirmala, said nuns and Teresa's followers are through prayer thanking God for selfless service of the 'Saint of Gutters' and for peace in the world's troubled spots.

"We are observing today through prayer, through sacrifice, thanking God for the gift of mother's life of holiness, and asking her to bless us and help us also to become holy and very specially from her for peace, peace in Orissa and peace in all the troubled areas of the world," said Sister Nirmala.


Mother Teresa, born as Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Albanian, had made Kolkata her home and dedicated her life to the service of poor, aged and infirm people and destitute children.

After the beatification of Mother Teresa, the Roman Catholic Church had declared September 5, the day Mother left her earthly abode, as Feast Day - a day for joy and celebration.


The Pope beatified the Nobel laureate in October 2003, paving the way for her canonization to be declared a saint.

She qualified for beatification after Vatican officials acknowledged that she was responsible for a miracle in which an Indian woman was cured of stomach cancer through her intervention.

Mother Teresa, who died on September 5, 1997, at the age of 87, was popularly known as the "Saint of the Gutter" for her extraordinary love and dedication to the poor, the homeless and the diseased.


She came to India in 1929 at the age of 18 and took up teaching and became an Indian citizen in 1948. The nun started working in slums and later set up her Missionaries of Charity, which was approved by the Vatican in 1950. The organisation now runs over 500 charity homes in over 100 countries.


Mother Teresa received several national and international awards for social service during her lifetime. They include the Magsaysay Award in 1962, the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize in 1971, the John F. Kennedy International Award in 1971 and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.

--- ANI

The Pope in Cagliari

EVANGELISE THE WORLD OF WORK AND OF POLITICS

VATICAN CITY, 7 SEP 2008 (VIS) - At 8.30 a.m. today, Benedict XVI departed from Rome's Ciampino airport, landing at the airport of Cagliari-Elmas on the Italian island of Sardinia at 9.30 a.m. Having greeted the political, civil and ecclesiastical authorities, he travelled to the Shrine of Our Lady of Bonaria, which he visited briefly.

At 10.30 a.m., the Pope celebrated Mass in the presence of 100,000 people on the esplanade in front of the Marian shrine. The wooden statue of Our Lady of Bonaria - the centenary of whose proclamation as patroness of Sardinia falls this year - stood next to the altar during the ceremony.

In his homily, the Holy Father highlighted how "Christianity arrived in Sardinia not with the sword of the conquerors or through external imposition, but by growing from the blood of the martyrs who here gave their lives in an act of love towards God and mankind".

"Sardinia", he went on, "has never been a land of heresies; her people have always demonstrated filial faithfulness to Christ and to the See of Peter. ... Through the sequence of invasions and domination, faith in Christ has remained in the soul of your people as a constitutive element of your Sardinian identity. ... This simple and courageous faith continues to live in your communities and in your families, where one may inhale the evangelical fragrance of the virtues that distinguish your land: loyalty, dignity, reserve, sobriety and a sense of duty".

Going on to refer to the hundredth anniversary of the proclamation of the Virgin as patroness of the island, the Pope called on the faithful "to give thanks to Mary for her protection and to reiterate our faith in her, recognising her as the 'Star of the new evangelisation'".

The Holy Father asked the Virgin to help the people of Sardinia "to bring Christ to families, small domestic Churches and cells of society, which today more than ever need trust and support at both a spiritual and social level".

May Mary, he said, "help you to discover appropriate pastoral strategies to ensure that young people encounter Christ", young people who "by their nature are bearers of fresh energy but are often victims of a widespread nihilism, thirsty for truth and for ideals precisely when they seem to deny them. May she help you evangelise the world of work, of the economy and of politics, which needs a new generation of committed lay Christians, capable of seeking solutions of sustainable development with competency and moral rigour".

At the end of the Eucharistic celebration, Benedict XVI performed an act of consecration to Mary which concluded with the consignment of a golden rose to Our Lady of Bonaria.

YOUNG PEOPLE: REDISCOVER THE RELIGIOUS SENSE OF LIFE

VATICAN CITY, 7 SEP 2008 (VIS) - At 6.15 p.m. today, Benedict XVI arrived at Piazza Yenne in the Italian city of Cagliari where he met with young people from the island of Sardinia, to whom he pronounced an address.

"Dear young people", said the Pope, "you are the hope-filled future of this region, despite the difficulties of which we are all aware. I know your enthusiasm, the desires you nourish and the commitment you show in order to realise them. And I am not unaware of the difficulties and problems you face" such as "the blight of unemployment and precariousness, which puts your projects at risk, ... emigration, the exodus of the most original and enterprising forces, ... and the consequent displacement from one's environment which sometimes leads to psychological and moral damage, even more than social problems.

"And what can we say", he added, "of the fact that in modern consumer society earnings and success have become the new idols before which so many prostrate themselves? The consequence of this is that people are led to give value only to those who ... 'have found fortune' or who are 'notorious', and not to those who must struggle with life every day".

"There is a risk of becoming superficial, of taking dangerous shortcuts in search of success, thus giving life up to experiences that bring immediate satisfaction but that are in themselves precarious and deceptive. There is a growing tendency to individualism, and when we concentrate only on ourselves we inevitably become fragile; we lose the patience to listen which is an indispensable part of understanding others and working together".

Benedict XVI reaffirmed the three values presented by John Paul II during his visit to Sardinia 23 years ago, values that "are still important today". The first is "the value of the family, which must be safeguarded as an ancient and sacred heritage. ... In the past traditional society was more helpful in forming and protecting a family" while today "other forms of cohabitation are admitted, and sometimes the term 'family' is used for unions that are not, in fact, families at all".

"Dear young people", cried the Holy Father, "re-appropriate the value of the family, love it nor just for the sake of tradition but as a mature and conscious choice". He also recalled how Vatican Council II had described the family as a "small Church" because "marriage is a Sacrament, in other words a holy and effective sign of the love God gives us in Christ through the Church".

The second value is "serious intellectual and moral formation", said Pope Benedict. "The crisis of a society begins", he said, "when it no longer knows how to transmit its cultural heritage and its fundamental values to the new generations. I am not only referring to the system of education. The question is a broader one. ... Jesus said : 'The truth will make you free', yet modern nihilism preaches the opposite: that freedom will make you true. There are, indeed, those who maintain that there is no truth, thus opening the way to rendering the concepts of good and evil meaningless, even making them interchangeable".

The third value identified by the Pope was "sincere and profound faith". He said: "When a sense of the presence and reality of God is lost, everything becomes 'flat' and is reduced to a single dimension. Everything is 'squashed' into the material plane. ... The mystery of existence also disappears: things and people interest me not for themselves but in the degree to which they satisfy my needs. Faith, in this sense, before being a religious belief, is a way of experiencing reality, a way of thinking, an interior sensibility which enriches human beings. ... Being with Jesus, frequenting Him as a friend in the Gospel and in the Sacraments, you may learn ... that which society is often no longer capable of giving you: a religious sense".

"May each of you rediscover God as meaning and foundation for all creatures, light of truth, flame of charity, bond of unity", he concluded. "You will no longer be afraid to lose your liberty, because you will experience it fully by giving it for love. You will no longer be attached to material goods, because in yourselves you will feel the joy of sharing them. You will no longer be sad at the sadness of the world, but will experience pain for evil and joy for good, especially for mercy and forgiveness. ... If you really discover God in the face of Christ, you will no longer think of the Church as an institution external to yourselves, but as your spiritual family".

The meeting with young people over, Benedict XVI travelled to the airport of Cagliari where he bid farewell to the authorities before boarding his flight for Rome. He landed at Ciampino airport at 8.30 p.m. whence he travelled to his residence in Castelgandolfo.

Happy Birthday Dearest Mother!

We'll be having a Mass in the morning at Our Lady's Shrine.

CAVALLINI, Pietro (b. ca. 1250, Roma, d. 1330, Roma)
Nativity of the Virgin 1291
Mosaic
Santa Maria in Trastevere, Rome

Pray for the kids

Do keep the kids from Standard 3 in your prayers as they begin their primary standard assessment exams (UPSR) today. My parish had a Mass which included a special blessing for the kids as they face this time of trial.

I remember the exams I took when I was younger. Even if you prepared well, it could still be rather terrifying. What more if you have no idea what you were doing.

Malaysian society, like many Asian societies, places great value on education and exams and their importance get blown all out of proportion. From personal experience, I can testify that a piece of paper can only get you so far. The rest is up to you. It's not that the paper is not important, but far more important is your attitude, your drive and your desire to learn, grow and improve.

The kids approached the Sanctuary and lighted their candles

The emphasis on education is a noble one, but oftentimes, it becomes a proxy war between parents who compare and contrast their kids with the Jones' or Lee's down the street. It thus becomes unhealthy for the children as learning, which is supposed to be fun, becomes a chore and people are put off by it, which is a real tragedy. And the poor students who are less academically inclined but have aptitudes in other fields. As the Singaporean movie "I not stupid' so poignantly portrayed, these kids are often lost in the woodwork as schools pursue academic excellence.

Something that sticks with me from my years in the Penang Free School is one of it's mottos coined by a bygone Headmaster, 'Academic brilliance is no substitute for poverty of character'.

Fr. Simon Labrooy, who said the Mass, blessed them with Holy Water after praying over them

But now, before I get too sidetracked, let us pray for the Standard 6 students who will start their exams tomorrow and the Form 3 students who will take their exams in the coming weeks. Our prayer is not that they will conjure up answers miraculously, especially those who paid no heed to anything their teachers have tried to teach them, but that the Lord may grant them wisdom, strength and serenity as they face this trial.

St. Thomas Aquinas, pray for them, ora pro eis!.

Celebrating 25 Years of God's Faithfulness

Rev. Fr. Francis Xavier Selvarajoo

My former parish priest, Fr. Francis Xavier celebrated the 25th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood on the 31st of August of this year. However, since this was a Sunday, the grand Mass of Thanksgiving was held on Monday instead, which was a public holiday in Malaysia. The festivities took place at the Church of St. Anthony in Nibong Tebal of which Fr. Francis is the parish priest. He is also administrator of 2 other nearby parishes.

The Church was packed when we arrived. Fortunately, there were several seats reserved in the front for us outstation guests, thanks to the generosity of Fr. Francis and his parishioners who took the lesser seats and seats in under the canopies places outside the Church. The concelebrants and ministers made a grand entrance preceded by musicians playing the Indian trumpet and drums and bunga manggar bearers.



The Mass was said by His Lordship Antony Selvanayagam, the Bishop of Penang (below, left), His Grace Archbishop Emeritus Anthony Soter Fernandez of Kuala Lumpur (below, right), Fr. Francis Xavier, Msgr. William Sabang, the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Kuching (above, centre) who was Fr. Francis' classmate in the seminary and many other priests including the Vicars General of Penang, Kuala Lumpur and Malacca-Johore.






Msgr. James Gnanapragasam, the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur delivered a magnificent homily, one of the best I've ever heard. It was one heck of a sermon, witty and scriptural. I was very impressed. We need priests like that in Penang. When he finished, spontaneous applause occurred, the first time I've ever seen a congregation clap for a sermon.



After the homily, Fr. Francis renewed his ordination vows before the Bishop.


Part of the seminarians and priests attending.


The presentation of the gifts, by Fr. Francis' relatives.


The nicely decorated altar. The rather good frontal is obscured by the beautiful floral arrangement.





As an exercise in inculturaturation, girls bearing incense, lighted candles and flowers paid homage to the Sacrament, reminiscent of the Hindu rites performed in a temple.







A closer look at the inculturation thingy during the Doxology.





After the Pater Noster, during the Sign of Peace, Fr. Francis exchanged the Sign of Peace with Archbishop Emeritus Soter Fernandez who ordained him to the Sacred Priesthood at the Church of Christ the King, Sungei Petani 25 years ago when he was Bishop of Penang, the last ordination he conferred before being elevated to the Archiepiscopal See of Kuala Lumpur.









After the Thanksgiving Prayer, some Indian dancers did a jig.





A song was dedicated to Fr. Francis by his parishioners and Fr. knelt as the congregation honoured and prayed for him in a gesture of humility.






The Grotto Fr. Francis built in Nibong Tebal soon after his transfer, all decked with flags for the Malaysian National Day celebrations.



A grand dinner was held in the hall of a Chinese school about 1Km down the road. The outstation guests, priests and Fr.'s family members were seated in places of honour. The locals graciously sat at the back of the hall.




The main table where the Bishop's and Vicars General were seated.


To cap off the celebrations, an anniversary cake was cut by Fr. Francis, Msgr. William Sabang and an unidentified person to commemorate this jubilee.

May God continue in His faithfulness to Fr. Francis Xavier and grant him continued guidance his ministry as a Teacher of the Word, Minister of the Sacraments and Leader of the Community. God has chosen Fr. Francis and he has said yes to God and offered the Lord the gift of self in obedience to His call. May Fr. Francis be granted many more years of service in the Lord's Vineyard and finally attain the rewards that God has promised after he has run the race.

Ad multos annos!