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Focused on a sacred journey

By Claire Howard, USAC President

 Creating a Culture of Vocations is the theme for this year. This theme builds on last year’s theme, Plant a Seed for Serra and for Vocations. Here are the words of the Holy Father as spoken to the Serrans present in Rome during the pilgrimage held in December 2000:

“Dear Serrans, you are committed in a special way to promoting vocations. Never forget that yours must be above all a commitment to prayer, prayer which is constant, unwavering and full of trust. Prayer moves the heart of God. It is the powerful key to resolving the vocations question.”

The Holy Father went on to say:

“Along with prayer, the work of fostering vocations also requires a constant effort to bring the need to people’s attention through personal witness, so that God’s call may encounter a ready hearing and generous response in those to whom it is directed. This is the aim of your efforts to spread an authentic culture of vocations.”

I believe the Pope’s message to us is clear. We have two things to do:

1. Maintain our commitment to prayer

2. Spread an authentic culture of vocations.

On the council level we have begun our meetings by reading our Vision and Mission Statements. I encourage all clubs to do the same. It is important that we stay focused.
Our mission is to foster and affirm vocations to the ministerial priesthood and vowed religious life in the United States and through this ministry further our members’ common Catholic faith.

Let’s review how the council has been doing.

Prior to the Council we had 271 clubs in the US and 10,901 members. Presently we have 318 clubs and 12,767 members; a net increase of over 17% in membership after an annual attrition rate of about 10%.

Through the hard work of many, many people - Serrans and staff – we formed 63 clubs since the Council came into existence. Unfortunately, we have also lost 16 clubs.
Virtually all of our present 64 District Governors have attended District Governor training.

We have an outstanding web site.

We have published the first issue of our own council magazine, serraUSA. Last year, Serra International cut back the Serran production to four times a year, while we had promised USA Serrans six issues a year for their dues. The new magazine fulfills the remaining two-issue requirement and will be published in February and October.

All of our manuals have been revised.
We have produced a Regional Director’s /District Governor’s Manual.

The USAC Program Committee has produced 26 programs for club use.

The Vocation Committee has produced a new Parish Vocation Committee Manual.

USAC is now represented on the Bishops’ Vocation Committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Our participation acknowledges the role we have played in fostering vocations and ensures our spreading influence in vocation ministry.

We have been asked to take a leading role in the North American Vocations Congress scheduled for April 2002 in Montreal and have been asked to send 30 official delegates to participate in the Congress.

And, we have had no increase in USAC Per Capita dues since 1991 — it is still $36.00!
But we need to do more.

We need your talent in our National Council Committees. This help would include attending the January and September meetings in Chicago and working from home on committee assignments. Call the USAC office at 888.777.6681 and sign up for a committee today.

We have Serra Clubs in 129 dioceses the United States, but there are 63 dioceses where we are not present. We need to be present in all of the dioceses in the United States to help create the culture of vocations.

We need to determine why we lose 10% of our membership each year. Could it be that after we recruit new members, we don’t fulfill our promises that they will be working for vocations?

We all need to be committed to the goals of Serra. We are on a sacred journey. We need to stay focused on fostering and supporting vocations to the ordained priesthood and consecrated religious life.

We need to pray for the canonization of our patron Blessed Junipero Serra.

As Serrans we have been chosen; we have been called to this blessed ministry. As the Pope said:

“You carry . . . the spiritual sign that distinguishes you. By this I refer to the perception, particularly alive, of the Christian existence as vocation. ‘You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you...’ (Jn 15,16): this word delivered by Christ to the Apostles, extends to all of the baptized.”

Thank you for all you do for Serra. Please continue to say the following Prayer of Jabez for our Serran Year:

Oh, that you would bless Serra abundantly,

and enlarge Serra’s territory,

That you will be with Serra in all that Serrans do,

That you will keep Serrans from evil,

And that Serrans may not cause pain.

paraphrased from 1 Chron 4:10

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