From the Director - Is God doing something new?

Columban Fr Gary WalkerFor many years we have been witnessing a decline in vocations. When I went to the seminary in 1965, over 30 young men were in my year in the diocesan seminary. Not now. Does it mean the end of the Church? The end of enthusiasm to be a person consecrated to Christ? Or might it be that something different is happening? Is God doing something new?

The Sacred Scriptures inform us that our God is not only a God of initiatives but also a God of the future who calls us into new ways of being the Church. We have to remind ourselves that Jesus Christ gave His life for the sake of the world so the way of the Cross is part of the journey.

In the book of the prophet Isaiah (43:16-21) God tells us through Isaiah that He is doing something new, ‘now it emerges, can you not see it?’ The context is God making a new Exodus in which ‘the people I have shaped for myself will broadcast my praises.’

The history of the Church, reveals God calling out to His people to do new things for the good of the world. St Columban and his monks responded to the call to do new things by travelling through Europe to preach the Gospel. This phase was called monasticism. It is still with us today but not as the predominant form of life in the Church.

St Columban’s phrase ‘we belong to Christ, not to ourselves’ is still relevant today. But what does that mean in 2015? Where is the Holy Spirit leading us?

When Europe was up and running again the Church experienced another change. People of the church began to leave their homelands to spread the Good News. Among them were Franciscans and Dominicans. The prophets of doom said they would lose their vocations if they left the protection of the monastery but God called and these great Orders of men and women followed.

Today we are still experiencing new ways of being Church. The Catholic Church is no longer a European Church, it is a global Church. Our own missionary society of priests and sisters reflect great changes because we are now multicultural and multinational in composition. We have a significant number of lay missionaries who fulfil their divine call to be missionaries to the nations.

Until we are certain of our direction it is understandable to witness a decline in our vocations.

St Columban’s phrase ‘we belong to Christ, not to ourselves’ is still relevant today. But what does that mean in 2015? Where is the Holy Spirit leading us?

Until we are certain of our direction it is understandable to witness a decline in our vocations. It does not mean we are lost. I believe that we are still on track.  We have a future because our God has promised it. 


Fr Gary Walker SSC
director@columban.org.au

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