‘Called by Name’ is a Step in the Right Direction

The ‘Called by Name’ vocations program has some promising features, but also some serious problems that show why our approach is better.

To mark National Vocations Awareness Week the Diocese of Arlington, under the direction of Bishop Paul Loverde, is participating in a vocations program known as Called by Name. This program asks parishioners to identify those “young men and women” who they believe might be called to the priesthood or the religious life (emphasis on might). Here’s how it works: parishioners submit a form with the names of promising candidates, and those persons will be invited to a college-aged retreat if they are older or a high-school retreat if they are slightly younger.

Now those familiar with the Apostolate of St. Jerome will realize that this sounds a bit like a proposal we made recently, whereby candidates to fill ministerial voids are identified directly by the bishop and “called by name.” But our way of doing things has some important differences, and in this article we critique the Called by Name program even though we respect what it tries to do. For if the program truly is to have success, certain key elements must be re-thought.

But first, we should explain that ASJ uses the term “vocation” differently than many in the Church, including the originators of Called by Name. While many prefer to lump the clergy and religious life into one thing called “vocations,” we acknowledge correctly that these are really quite distinct paths and each requires its own separate discernment and recruitment methods. We prefer to reserve the term “vocations” to refer to Holy Orders, but not the religious life. Our reasoning is that a man has to be called to the clergy because no one can assume to take this honor upon himself. But anyone is welcome to join religious life. We’re adamant that it’s actually harmful to religious communities to make it sound like religious life is something for only a select few who hear some special call. The universal call to holiness that comes with baptism is all the invitation one needs to enter religious life. This is a very important point, and we believe that in fact God desires that the majority of Christians live the celibate, communal existence that religious life offers. So, our proposal focuses only on recruiting to the priesthood or diaconate. As we’ve said, this call is in fact a special call that only a few receive. But our criticism here is that much of the discussion in today’s Church misunderstands the nature of this call.

To re-state our proposal, ASJ believes that young men and women should spend discernment time not on whether God is calling them, but on whether they do in fact possess the gift of celibacy that enables them to be of greater service to the Church. As for the men who identify themselves as such, and who show through their lives that this is probably the case, the bishop, perhaps following the advice of the faithful who are better acquainted with the candidate, approaches him and directly requests that he serve the good of the Church as a cleric. This puts the onus on the men to respond yes or no to the Lord’s official minister. One might even go so far as to say that by espousing this program, Bishop Loverde is actually dumping his responsibility of identifying suitable men for Orders on the people in the pews.

The key to our approach is that one is never in doubt whether he is receiving a call from Christ. The bishop’s formal request as Christ’s minister is objective and external. The only thing the candidate must determine is whether he has or can receive the gift of celibacy. This is a subjective, internal question that no one can know but the discerning soul alone.

In fact, this is the main thing we like about Called by Name; it’s a good first step toward understanding a vocation as something that is discovered outside the person, and not in the internal realm. This view, we feel, is more Scriptural as last weekend’s liturgical readings show. For Samuel did not hear some voice in his head, but an external voice. His “Here I am” was directed outside of himself with his voice box, it was not spoken “internally” merely by the mind as if in prayer. It was the same for the sons of Zebedee when tending their nets in the Sea of Galilee. The call of Jesus didn’t come from inside of them, but from the Lord on the shore. Their only question was whether they were going to follow, not whether they were being asked.

Now, in light of this distinction between the response to an external call to Orders and the internal discernment of celibacy, it’s easy to see that the first major problem with Called by Name is that it totally confuses the two. This leads to the absurdity that ASJ has mentioned before, namely, that the lives to which parishioners would invite young people require living celibacy! So, Called by Name effectively asks the faithful make a determination on who will make good celibates. But how on earth can one person say to another, “I think you have what it takes to live celibacy?!” For only an individual can possibly know whether he or she can in fact accept celibacy. Nobody else has any window into that information. This nonsense shows the problems that arise when Catholics refuse to accept the ASJ remedy of making the discernment of celibacy a higher priority in the Church than the discernment of a vocation to the clergy. If we focus on creating a healthy group in every parish who embrace celibacy in hope of the blessings it promises, both spiritual and temporal, then filling ministerial positions will take care of itself.

This brings us to a second problem with programs like Called by Name. They often play down celibacy it as if it is some trifling detail to be mentioned “down the line” instead of recognizing its dignity and importance up front. Vocations promoters often treat celibacy like a car salesman slipping an extended warranty into the stack of papers in hopes the signer won’t notice. Perhaps they’re trying to get young people so enamored with priesthood or religious life that celibacy will seem to them like no big deal. But celibacy is a very big deal, especially in the life of a young adult, and it deserves to be treated as such. In fact, it is being disrespectful of the wonderful gift the candidate is making if we do not treat it as a big deal. For just because someone has the ability to accept celibacy doesn’t mean it’s easy. Note that in our approach, celibacy moves to the forefront of the vocations process. Discern celibacy first, and only then discern your particular celibate vocation. We claim that the Church would have more success by putting celibacy in the limelight, promoting it, and giving young men and women a steady diet of all the reasons they should undertake it. The fact that the candidate is choosing to be celibate should be seen as more important than the fact that he is choosing to be a priest. As we like to say, celibacy is too often treated like a mere chapter within a larger book on the priesthood or religious life. But we believe the proper view is to see the priesthood and religious life as separate chapters within a larger book about celibacy.

A final problem with Called by Name is that it has everybody looking for a call within somebody else! It asks people to worry about the vocational specks in the souls of others, and not the vocational plank in one’s own soul. The Church needs to get people away from meddling in the souls of others, and instead looking at their own ability to live celibacy.

By assimilating more of the ASJ theology that exalts celibacy and virginity, dioceses can strengthen their vocations programs and the Church as a whole by gaining more celibates for the sake of the Kingdom.

 This article appeared in the January 21, 2009 issue of The Loyal Lion.