Editor's Report

A Good Place to Listen for God’s Call

Posted

The setting was the chapel of St. Joseph’s Seminary, Dunwoodie, and the young men from Cardinal Hayes High School had a familiar and willing tour guide, Father Joseph Tierney, their school president.

Not only was Father Tierney a seminarian at St. Joseph’s in the 1980s, he later served as its dean of students and as director of vocations for the archdiocese. On the evening of April 28, he had a chance to step back into his previous life for a bit and give 14 students of the Bronx high school the benefit of his experience. He talked about the renovation the chapel underwent when he was a seminarian and some of the changes made then.

He and the Hayes’ students shared a great give-and-take session in the center aisle about the Old and New Testament scenes paired in the chapel’s long stained-glass windows. Both teacher and students showed a keen understanding of biblical figures and concepts.

“Everything is beautiful,” said Hayes freshman Dennis Bujan, 14, of his immediate surroundings and of the seminary in general.

His classmate, Kevin Vasquez, also 14, agreed with that assessment, adding that the biblical scenes evoked by the windows were not hard to figure if you paid attention to the clues in each, such as the large mammal and the man for the story of Jonah and the whale. “They make it easy,” he said.

The Hayes’ students and Father Tierney were just some of the 230 young men and adult chaperones at St. Joseph’s for an annual Evening for Vocations with Cardinal Dolan.

Along with various principals and faculty members, the mostly high school and college-age young men were led on seminary tours by parish priests and seminarians of St. Joseph’s. They would return to the chapel for solemn evening prayer led by Cardinal Dolan, with the comforting rhythm of the psalmody moving from one side of the chapel and then back again before the cardinal delivered a homily. (A buffet dinner in the refectory capped the evening.)

Among other topics, Cardinal Dolan spoke about what he had witnessed during his trip to Iraqi Kurdistan earlier in the month. He connected that experience with the evening’s purpose in his homily when he asked the young guests filling the chapel how they go about bringing the life of God into their heart and soul.

In his simple reflection, the cardinal pointed out that we encourage the presence of God in our lives by our faith, our prayers and by receiving the sacraments of the Church. The cardinal then added, “Who is the vehicle for giving us that life, but our priests? Our priests are lifeguards, our priests are lifesavers, our priests are lifegivers. That’s why we need priests.”

Father Enrique Salvo, director of vocations for the archdiocese, in remarks near the end of the service, encouraged the young men by telling them that God “has great plans for your lives.” He said it is never too early to pray “for your vocation,” whether that be as a priest or religious, or as a married person. Evenings like the one they were attending are “practical steps” supporting that journey, Father Salvo said.

A little earlier in the day, Father Salvo said in an interview that the success St. Joseph’s Seminary is currently enjoying is the best calling card for vocations ministry.

“It’s a big inspiration to see all of these seminarians doing well,” he said. “It gives (others) a boost to do the same.”

Who knows, maybe a few young men that were present at the evening for vocations may hear the call to priesthood in their own lives.

“I have thought about becoming a priest,” said Cardinal Hayes’ Dennis Bujan, who is a parishioner of St. Brendan’s in the Bronx. “Many people at my parish have told me I should be a priest.”

Right now, Dennis is keeping his options open. “I don’t know what God is calling me to do.”