Lighting the fire and keeping it lit: Membership and vocation ministry

“THERE IS NO SUCH THING as maintenance mode anymore. If you are not in mission mode, then you are in free fall mode.” I heard this said about religious life not long ago. While I do not remember much about the talk where I heard it, that sentence jumped out at me and gave me a great deal to reflect on. 

Many religious communities are currently in maintenance mode, that is, simply operating on autopilot, maintaining what has always been. Some may even be in free fall mode, not knowing what to do and spiraling out of control. Perhaps the free fall happens because of age, low energy, complacency, or simply because many are so involved in ministry that there is little time to think about what gives life to the community, what sustains our life, or how our life gives witness in a way that people will want to join us. If we are in maintenance mode, how does that impact our mission, and, more specifically, our charisms? How do we move from maintenance mode to full-on mission mode so that we do not end up in free fall? I think it has to do with the fire of our charisms.

In her address to our NRVC membership at our virtual Convocation 2020, Sister Addie Lorraine Walker, S.S.N.D., said: “When we rediscover the fire, young people will again be interested in joining us—they will flock to us!” 

The fire of our charism is what gives us reason to hope. Those that went before us responded to God so that hope was not diminished. When others look at us, what do they see? Do they see hopeful women and men who are on fire with the charism of our institute? When we look at ourselves, what do we see? I think the answer to why women and men are responding (or not) to our invitations to join us is found in the answer.

Perhaps it is too simplistic to think that our spirit is simply the answer alone. Many factors are at play. Still, there has to be a belief in the future of the community by the membership—from the sister or brother in the infirmary to the members of the leadership team. If members believe in their future, then the work of rediscovering the fire of the charism becomes easier, as does the task of moving from maintenance mode to full-mission mode and avoiding an out-of-control free fall to completion.

Reflecting on mission in light of charism, how can we be in full mission mode? The Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life released a message for the World Day for Consecrated Life. It highlighted mission: 

“Mission is the oxygen of the Christian life: it invigorates and purifies it” (Pope Francis, General Audience, January 11, 2023).

To live mission in God’s way as consecrated persons, we need the breath of the Spirit, who oxygenates our consecration, who widens our tent, who does not allow the desire to go out and reach out to others to proclaim the Gospel fade or be eclipsed, who rekindles the missionary fire in us. He is the real protagonist of the mission and at the same time the one who maintains the freshness of our faith so that it does not wither away.

This day prompts us as consecrated persons to ask ourselves questions: do we powerfully and frequently invoke the Spirit and ask [the Spirit] to rekindle in our hearts a missionary fire, apostolic zeal, passion for Christ and for humanity? Are we impelled to “speak of what we have seen and heard” (1 John 1:3)? Do we feel a longing for Christ? Do we suffer and risk in harmony with his pastoral heart? Are we willing to “widen our tent,” to walk together? Above all, we ask ourselves: is it the Person of Jesus, his feelings, his compassion, that excites our hearts?

As we think about ways to involve membership in vocation promotion, we must ask ourselves if we are willing to allow the Holy Spirit rekindle the missionary fire of our charism in our hearts so that we may “speak of what we have seen and heard” (1 John 1:3), and also show it, so that others may be inspired to come and live our charism and mission with us. I believe that in order to get all of our members involved in vocation promotion, we have to ignite the fire of the original fervor of the charism that caused each of us to say YES!

Our communities have weathered many challenges and roadblocks from the time of our founding to the present. Yet we have survived because our consecrated life was born of the Spirit and we are guided by the Spirit of the Lord, and sustained, even in the midst of great hardships, by the Spirit’s steadfast hand. (Vita Consecrata 92) We survived because our members, filled with this same Spirit, continued in full mission mode with a joy that drew others to our life. 

In the words of Pope Francis, “Let us rather allow the Holy Spirit to animate us, and a sign of this is joy: the joy of observing, of walking within a rule of life; the joy of being led by the Spirit, never unyielding, never closed, always open to the voice of God that speaks, that opens, that leads us and invites us to go toward the horizon” (Pope Francis, World Day for Consecrated Life, 2014). It sometimes seems as if this joy that Pope Francis speaks about has withered and faded. Our call is to keep this joy alive by keeping the fire of our charism lit and shining brightly for all to see.

Living in mission mode takes us to the horizon of possibilities for a future filled with abundant hope. Someone once told me that for a community to have abundant hope, maybe start first with unwavering hope. Whatever words you use, the word hope is constant. This hope requires us to live in full mission mode as our rules and constitutions remind us. 

It is easy to come up with reasons why we do not promote vocations or why we feel uncomfortable talking to younger people about our life. Perhaps people feel as though no one would want to hear a story from someone old enough to be their grandmother or grandfather, great-grandmother, or in some cases, a great-great-grandmother! But that could not be farther from the truth. I have seen many older consecrated women and men completely win over a room full of high school or college students. The truth is that many are in awe of a life-long commitment to God and they want to hear the stories of our members no matter how old our sisters and brothers may be. This speaks to them of a life worth living, a life commitment that is still relevant and needed today.

As we look for ways to involve members in vocation ministry and to keep them involved, here are some ideas.

Create a Culture of Vocations 

Invite members to reflect your Rule of Life along with your constitutions using reflection questions and action steps that look at creating a culture of vocations in your congregation. The National Religious Vocation Conference has two excellent resources for this process: Culture of Vocations Assessment Tool for men, and Culture: Reflection to Action for women. These tools allow you to adapt and personalize them to reflect your own community.

Tell the story of your community 

Many times when we tell our story, our narrative is one of our members in the past. While it is important to reverence our past and share stories of those on whose shoulders we stand, it is also important to tell our current stories and celebrate our members today. To do this, I invite members to complete various sentences: “Because I am a Franciscan Friar, Sister of Charity, De LaSalle Christian Brother, etc…” “When I professed my first vows…” “When I celebrated my jubilee…” and so on. Give personal invitations to members to tell their vocation stories. The purpose is to be able to have information to tell the story of today, the current narrative. 

Declare A Year of Vocations 

Celebrate the current narrative of your congregation by using social media to share how your members completed the sentences above. Use their words, their stories, their smiles, and their laughter in quotes, pictures, and short videos to show others there is joy in our lives and specifically in our particular community. God has not given up on us and we have not given up on ourselves either. Invite leadership to mention vocations in their communications to the community, to sponsored institutions, in newsletters, in recorded messages. The more it is at the forefront of members’ minds, the more it becomes part of daily vocabulary, whether in prayer, in community, or in ministry. The goal is also to have associates, coworkers, students, board members, or anyone else with a connection to your community know that this is the Year of Vocations and we are all invited to actively participate in this most important work that continues to give life to our charism in the world. People desire to associate themselves with us—our lives, our charism, our ministry, our past and present. A year of vocations is a great way to invite them to be part of our future.

Encourage members during this year to pray, invite, and create. 

• PRAY  encourage members to be intentional in their personal and communal prayers for vocations. Some religious communities have a card with vocation intercessions for morning and evening prayer for each day of the week. Is there a congregational prayer for vocations that members can pray? 

• INVITE  NRVC has a great resource with the business cards that say, “You would make a great brother, sister, nun, or priest.” Some vocation directors have even personalized the cards, giving their community’s contact information. Ask each member to give a card to three people. This could be someone that the member interacts with who maybe has considered a church vocation, someone who has asked questions about being a religious, or someone who is active in faith activities. These cards could be a tool to generate a group of discerners.

• CREATE  Create a culture of vocations in your friaries, convents, houses, ministries, and parishes. Let others know that you are still here and your charism is still needed in our church and world. Studies show that newer members are hopeful even amid changing demographics and realities. How can each member collectively contribute to the narrative of hope and transformation? Who is willing to accompany the vocation director to events? How can our lifelong communal discernment and ongoing formation include reminders to promote our vocations and vows? Would your local community be willing to host a dinner for inquirers? 

As we say yes each day to God, we can also remind ourselves to say yes to being the light of our charism in the world—and to invite others to join us.

Hope is bold; it can look beyond personal convenience, the petty securities and compensations which limit our horizon, and it can open us up to grand ideals that make life more beautiful and worthwhile. Let us continue, then, to advance along the paths of hope!            ­—Fratelli Tutti, 55

It is easy to give up. It is a challenge to allow new ways of thinking and being to become the norm. If there is hope, if there is joy, then there is willingness to allow new life to grow from the established roots of the community. I see communities that are currently witnessing this new life. They believe enough in their charism and purpose that they are open to new life through new members. They were not threatened by it. This is a challenge not easily overcome, I know. It can be scary for members because of the change that is required. Allowing a new generation to nurture the charism of the community is causing a renewed interest and a renewed common life. Regardless, we find hope and joy in rediscovering the fire of our charism. People are taking notice! 

Related material

“Responsibilities of Community Members for Vocation Ministry,” handout at nrvc.net/products/show/104.

Brother Joseph Bach, O.F.M.Conv., is a Conventual Franciscan Friar from the Province of Our Lady of Consolation.  He has served in vocation and education ministry and now directs the Franciscan Outreach Ministry at Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine in San Antonio, Texas. Additionally, he is on the board of the National Religious Vocation Conference and chairs its cultural diversity committee.