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A CHANCE TO ANSWER

Bud Hentzen likes to say that he has a dream.

He dreams of Catholics reaching out to young men and women in developing countries, helping the poor answer God’s call to serve the Church and their local communities as priests, sisters or brothers.

As a member of the Serra Club of Wichita, Kan., for more than 30 years, Hentzen supports vocations to the priesthood and religious life in the Wichita diocese and across the United States. He is also working to fulfill his dream of fostering vocations among the poor of the developing world, through an organization he helped found 20 years ago.

Hentzen is a co-founder and board member of the not-for-profit Christian Foundation for Children and Aging in Kansas City, Kan. CFCA assists needy children and aging persons in 25 developing countries through a sponsorship program.

CFCA works primarily with Catholic missions to provide assistance with education, nutrition, medical care, clothing and other needs. The vast majority of sponsors are U.S. Catholics.

A few years ago CFCA began a vocation sponsorship program to help men and women with little financial means pursue studies for a religious vocation. The program assists vocation candidates in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela.

“In the countries where we work, it’s the same old story,” Hentzen said. “The poor don’t have the funds to attend or apply, or don’t have enough money for bus fare.”
Support for vocations in the developing world is critical as fewer missionaries are being sent from the United States and elsewhere. By helping with needs such as tuition, room and board, transportation expenses and medical care, sponsorship gives those from poor families a chance to answer God’s call to serve the Church in their countries.

“We feel our sponsorship of vocation candidates in developing countries answers the call of the U.S. bishops,” Hentzen said, pointing out a passage from the bishops’ document, “Called to Global Solidarity.” In exhorting Catholics to act on behalf of the one human family, the bishops said, “In one sense, we need to move our Church’s concern from strong teaching to creative action. Working together, we can continue to help missionaries preach the Gospel, empower poor people in their own development, help the Church live and grow in lands marked by repression and poverty, and assist countries emerging from authoritarian rule.”

While the numbers of vocation candidates being helped by CFCA are small in comparison with the more than 220,000 needy children and aging persons sponsored through the organization, vocation sponsorship is growing. There are 366 vocation candidates sponsored, with 112 awaiting sponsorship. Since the program’s inception, some 52 have completed their formation and were ordained or took vows.

Sponsors of vocation candidates include individuals, parishes, clergy and Catholic organizations, including Serra clubs. Two clubs in Hentzen’s hometown of Wichita sponsor seminarians through CFCA.

The Serra Club of Wichita, of which Hentzen is a member, sponsors Jairo Anibal Martinez Ferrer, who studies at the Divine Shepherd Seminary in Venezuela, and Cristian Marcelo Rodas Tumax, who studies at the National Major Seminary of the Assumption in Guatemala.

The club maintains the two $50 monthly sponsorships by collecting $50 a year from each of 24 members volunteering their support. Past president Pat Childs said vocation sponsorship fits nicely with Serra’s international character and its mission to foster and affirm vocations to the priesthood and religious life. It also helps Serrans live out the other part of the organization’s mission, which is to further members’ common Catholic faith, she said.

“It gives us someone to pray for besides ourselves and our local community,” Childs said. “It helps you to grow yourself in your religious life.”

Dory Troilo, past president of the Serra Club of Wichita-Metro, agreed with Childs about the value of vocation sponsorship for Serrans. Members of his club sponsor Guadalupe Chacon Hernandez, who studies with the Missionary Fraternity of Mary order in Guatemala.

“It’s a direct tie-in with what we’re all about, which is to promote vocations and enrich our own spirituality,” Troilo said.

Hentzen personally has found the experience of sponsoring vocation candidates spiritually enriching. He proudly shares with others the letters and photographs he receives from the seminarians he and his sons sponsor through their family business.

One of the most gratifying moments came in August 2000 when Hentzen received word that a seminarian he had been sponsoring, Wilson Randolfo Xicara, was ordained to the priesthood in Guatemala. Hentzen was able to visit with Father Xicara and seminarians sponsored by the Wichita clubs while participating in a CFCA Mission Awareness Trip to Guatemala in August of last year.

Because vocation sponsorship is more costly than the regular $20 monthly sponsorship of a child or aging person through CFCA, Hentzen sees hope for growth in group sponsorships, with members sharing the expense.

Archbishop James P. Keleher of Kansas City, Kansas, a member of CFCA’s board and the organization’s 100,000th sponsor, shares that hope.

“I’m excited about this program,” the archbishop was quoted as saying shortly after the program’s inception. “Just think what would happen if every Knights of Columbus council and Serra club sponsored a vocation in the developing world. The Church’s efforts would multiply.”

CFCA celebrated its 20th anniversary last November. The dream of Hentzen and others is that the next 20 years will bring a dramatic increase in assistance to vocation candidates in the developing world, and that Serrans will play a role in expanding that ministry.

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