Called by God

At the age of 12 I believed I knew what God wanted me to do with my life. He wanted me to serve Him in the ordained ministry of the church. Acting on that belief has determined the course of my life from then to now. This is why I was pleased to read the following testimony of a contemporary ordinand, Mark Wharton.

Here I am, Lord...Send me!

I'm told that good things come to those who wait and this has become my catch phrase because I waited a long time to attend the Catholic Societies Vocations Conference. I applied no less than three times before they allowed me to attend.

I first felt called to the Sacred Ministry when I was twelve and so I went to my parish priest and he said "That's silly, you have to come back when you're 18." So I went back when I was 13 and when I was 14 and when I was 15, and eventually he gave up and agreed to sit down and talk to me about it. Most of the people who I talked to either said it was a whim or that God could not possibly be calling anyone at 12. Yet both Samuel and Therese of Lisieux were under 15 when they were called to fulfil their own particular vocations. In between the times when no one was ready to listen to me, two priests stepped forward, Fr Beresford Skelton and Fr Ronald Crane, some may say a lethal combination, but they really encouraged me and helped me to discern the will of God. I attended that conference and it was fantastic; the workshops were excellent, the worship was beautiful, but above all the most valuable thing was that for the first time I had met young men, who like me want to maintain the tradition in the Church of England, of a male only Priesthood!

The office of readings for this morning was about the role of the Church universally and the role of the Church with individuals; I believe that we must make it our aim, wherever we are, to seek out every man who is being called to the Sacred Priesthood. If there is a man reading this, a man in the pew anywhere, of any age (there was a 69 year old on the vocations conference) who believes himself called to the priesthood, please, please, do something about it and do something about it today. And if there are any priests who can help us to discern the will of God for our lives, please, please use your gifts and help us! Listen to us, talk to us, invite a young aspirant to your parish, pray for more vocations and look at your own people and discern with them what their calling may be.

I want to end with an example from Newcastle; We have two petitioning parishes in the diocese and we have three men under 25, who believe themselves called to either the priesthood or the religious life. If this is the trend in just two parishes, how many more young men are there who really believe themselves called, but who are waiting for the opportunity to be listened to ?

We must flood the land with young, catholic, missionary, priests, who in every city and town, in every village and community, will build up a Church based upon universal catholic truth and action. If our place in the church is to continue to be secure we need many more young priests who will be here in many years to come, still serving, teaching, and living for the sake of all Christ's people in this place and throughout the world.

(from Spring 2008 "Forward! plus")