WHAT IT TAKES

One bishop’s call to the priesthood

By Most Reverend Kevin M. Britt
Episcopal Adviser to the USA Council of Serra International

Many times I am asked (especially when I make visits to schools and religious education programs), “Why did you become a priest?” and “When did you know you wanted to be a priest?” The answers to these questions are both complicated and simple.

Here is the simple answer: a call to ministry, be it priesthood or vowed religious life, is a call from God. The word “vocation” comes from the Latin “vocare,” meaning “to call.” It is simply the reality that God calls one to give witness to Christ through a particular way of living the Christian life.

But the answers are also complicated: responding to the call from God can be quite a challenge. It can often mean changing one’s entire perspective on life. Serving God as a priest or in vowed religious life calls one to put aside many of the goals and expectations that have been part and parcel of one’s life since childhood. Most of us grow up with the expectation and encouragement of our families to seek a good education, find a well-paying job and settle down and start a family of our own. When God calls a person to priesthood or vowed religious life, we are invited to receive a good education, accept the job (ministry) we are needed to perform, be ready to go where we are needed, to serve when we are needed, and to fit into the family (community) we are called to serve.

Needless to say, such a call can be frightening. I think of Mary when she was called by God to be the mother of Jesus, the Son of God. Can you imagine what she must have felt and what a challenge this was in light of her life’s situation? She was a very young girl, unmarried and uneducated. Yet she had the basic elements of what it takes to respond to God’s call – faith and trust. She believed that God loved her and trusted in the angel’s message that God was with her. Her response proclaimed her faith and trust; and sealed her vocation as the first disciple.

Needless to say, most of us called by God don’t have quite the same dramatic experience that she did. Yet anyone God calls must have the same faith and trust in God that Mary had in responding to her call.

One who is called has to have faith in the fact that God does want them to serve Christ and the Church as a priest or vowed religious. One has to have faith that God knows them inside and out, knows the good and bad in each, knows the secrets of hearts, the sins as well as the virtues, talents and skills. God knows and still God calls that person by name to a special ministry of service in the Church.

One who is called has to trust that God will help them overcome their doubts and questions about their worthiness or suitability to serve Christ and the Church as a priest or vowed religious. If this is truly a call from God, then in responding, one will receive from God what is necessary to respond to that call and achieve the end to which God is calling. Like Mary, one has to “proclaim the greatness of the Lord” and trust that God will indeed manifest that greatness in shepherding one on their journey to service in the Church as a priest or vowed religious.

 I mentioned at the beginning of this article that children often ask me two questions about my vocation to the priesthood. My answers to them are simply the following: 1) that I am a priest because that’s what God wanted me to be and 2) that I knew I wanted to be a priest when I was seven years old. I did not realize at that age what it all meant, but as I look back, I think I really had the faith (belief) that God did want me to be a priest, and I trusted that He would show me the way.

Along the way I received what every call from God needs – nourishment in form of encouragement. I was encouraged by my family to be a priest if that is what I felt I wanted to be. My father was not Catholic and had hoped I would go into medicine, but when I told him what I wanted to do with my life, he gave me unfettered support. I was encouraged by the teachers in school to listen and respond to God’s call to serve Christ and the Church as a priest. I was encouraged and received the marvelous good example of the dedicated priests of the parish in which I grew up. In the seminary I continued to receive encouragement and nourishment from faculty and fellow students.

God so often works through others in calling men and women to such service to the Church. That is why it is so important for all of us to realize our role in serving as God’s messengers. We need to encourage and nourish those who have already responded to God’s call, especially those in our seminaries and houses of formation. We must continue to pray that the hearts of men and women will be open to receive and respond to God’s call and that they have the courage to trust in that call and the faith to follow where that call leads.

Congratulations, Bishop Britt!
On Feb. 11, 2003, Bishop Britt will be installed as the Coadjutor Bishop of the Diocese of Grand Rapids, Mich. We wish him great success in Grand Rapids.

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