I am curious to know how many people will actually hear about praying for vocations at Sunday Mass, and whether this will be confined to the usual prayer for “priests and religious”. If your priest/deacon is on the ball and can name other vocations besides that to the priesthood and religious life, this would be a time to celebrate, and then pray hard for increased vocations entered by public vows, holy orders, or consecration. Please take a moment and share with the rest of us via the poll on the left side what you hear on Sunday regarding vocations.
Now and then a man discerning the priesthood will wonder if the old rules about legitimacy apply if he’s considering the priesthood. Sometimes even diocesan websites state that the Catholic marriage certificate of the candidate’s parents must be submitted with the application. The reality is that prior to 1983, illegitimacy was an impediment to the priesthood and receiving Holy Orders. With the promulgation of the 1983 Code of Canon Law, this is no longer the case. Since illegitimacy does not pose an impediment to Holy Orders, a man is not required by universal law to submit his parent’s marriage certificate to a diocese, and he might do well to point this out to the diocesan vocations director in a charitable fashion. Further, if a person’s application is rejected solely on account of his being born illegitimately, he should speak to a canon lawyer.
(c) 2010 by Therese Ivers, JCL
www.DoIHaveAVocation.com
I recently created a quiz for my diocese’s vocations website… and the highest score thus far has been 64% correct. Can you beat this score? The first 10 people to get above 90% correct (put in your full name in the quiz) and post a comment in the forum section of this website will receive a very special prize in the mail. Winners will be contacted and asked for their mailing address via the forum. Here’s the link to the 13 question quiz. Oh, by the way, some questions have more than one correct answer- you need to click on all the ones that are right.
Last month, I had the very great privilege of witnessing the elevation of my former canon law classmate to the episcopacy. I thought I’d share a little of this experience before touching on the vocation of bishops.
I flew into Toronto the night before the ordination. I had reserved a hotel close to the cathedral, and had come sans tickets (to the Mass) because my invitation had not arrived by mail for some unknown reason. When I had last emailed the then Fr. Vincent, he assured me that someone would bring a ticket for me to the hotel, and so I wasn’t too worried about being without an official invitation or Mass ticket.
The next morning, I was surprised and delighted to discover that Fr. Vincent himself was delivering that ticket. We had a great chat before he had to return to his TV interviews.
After lunching with another classmate of mine who flew in from Rome, we walked to the Cathedral in the bitter cold so that I could secure my seat, and he could vest for concelebration. There was already a long line in front of the Cathedral, and I was afraid of having to wait in the 20’s degree weather outside, but I was told that the line was for people without reserved seating tickets. So, I found my way into the Cathedral, and squeezed into a pew towards the front. Everyone was handed a program:
The procession was very long. Hundreds of priests, deacons, and dozens of bishops flowed into the Cathedral. See this clip of just the bishops processing in.
The ordination ceremony was very moving. For me, there were three particular highlights. The first was that I was happy to see Bishop Nguyen’s siblings present. This was the first time in about 30 years that they were together. You see, Bishop Nguyen was a refugee from Vietnam, and his siblings needed to get special visas in order to attend. Interestingly enough, they are descendants of a Vietnamese martyr.
Another part of the ordination ceremony which fascinated me was during the consecration prayer, where the book of the Gospels is held over the person being made bishop. Here’s a photo from the Archdiocese:
Gospels over Bishop Nguyen
Finally, one other aspect which really caught my attention were the words which accompany the giving of the ring. “Take this ring, the seal of your fidelity. With faith and love protect the bride of God, his holy Church.” This conferral of the ring reminded me of the special bond between the consecrated virgin (icons of the Church) and their bishop. The words for the conferral of the ring upon a consecrated virgin are: “Receive the ring that marks you as a bride of Christ. Keep unstained your fidelity to your Bridegroom, that you may one day be admitted to the wedding feast of everlasting joy.”
Here is a link to more pictures from a different bishop and a short description of the Rite of Ordination to the Episcopacy.
What is a bishop? A bishop is a man who possesses the fullness of Orders. He governs, sanctifies, and teaches his flock, in order to bring people to Christ. A vocation to the episcopacy is relatively rare. It is also a vocation that should not be on a person’s mind when discerning vocations. This is because the only people who should discern this vocation are priests whom the Pope has asked to accept this office. In my opinion, a priest in this position should lean towards saying “yes” out of obedience to the Holy Father unless there are serious reasons to ask to decline. Everyone else, of course, should not waste their time on discerning this vocation because men shouldn’t presume that they are called to be a successor of the Apostles and given the heavy responsibilities that a bishop shoulders, and women simply aren’t called, period.
Please pray for our bishops, priests, and deacons.
Q. What type of veil do consecrated virgins living in the world receive?
A. Typically a consecrated virgin receives a bridal veil or a white scarf or mantilla when consecrated. Normally, consecrated virgins living in the world do not wear veils like some religious women do, but a virgin may choose to wear her consecration veil on occasions such as her consecration anniversary.
Update: I thought I’d add some photos of some consecrations:
Some of the 7 consecrated virgins at my consecration are wearing lace mantillas and some are not. I am wearing a bridal veil which took a long time to sew.
Here, Joan has chosen not to receive the veil.
In the above video, you can see the six consecrated virgins process out of the basilica. They have white albs over their clothing and some of them have lace mantillas and some have a white pashmina like scarf.
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