By Father Adamski

Vacations are over, schools are in session, life moves into its autumn phase and “Role Call” returns. Regular readers of the BULLETIN know that we took a break from this column during the summer months – a time for us to gather thoughts and reflections which may find their way to this page during the next several months.

So many activities seem to be tied into the school year calendar that this marks several new beginnings for most of us. We can approach this in at least two ways. School and all can be simply a return to a familiar routine or the start of another year can be an opportunity for a fresh approach and renewed enthusiasm. Will we let ourselves fall back into old patterns which may be all too comfortable and therefore inhibit any new growth in our lives? Or will we find a new way of seeing things – an unwillingness to be oppressed by the excess baggage of some past experiences and an eagerness for the unknown challenges of the future.

I mention all of this to emphasize an approach helpful for our encouragement of vocations in service of the Church. It might be too easy to continue with all the problems and difficulties of the past – certainly the problem of numbers and spirit during the past decade. Instead of continuing to pull all this along with us, today can be an opportunity to rekindle lost enthusiasm. I think that the time may be already here when we need to share our ideas about the value of Church service, our enthusiasm – in short our faith – with all the strength and determination which that should bring us.

Jesus was quite clear about the purpose of his coming among us as a man. While his message built on the previous revelations of God to man, it also was a radical departure from the past and a new era of saving history. Jesus came with the assurance of love from God, now understood as our Father. The old categories, attitudes, laws would not be enough of a response to his invitation to believe and be saved.

As those called to be disciples of the Lord Jesus, we must continually renew our own effort to understand and respond to His call. The commitments of past days will not be enough to support and sustain a vitality of faith for today. We are called to an ongoing conversion and change of heart which end only when we find ourselves in the presence of God.

In a similar way, we as Catholics, need to become even more serious about the atmosphere of faith within our community. We must walk ahead with confidence taking only the best of our past tradition with us and having the courage to lay aside those things which would hold us back from an honest and full response to the Lord today. The period of dissension and bickering about the details of procedures and practices should give way to a genuine mood of community love and understanding.

Within that sort of positive setting, we have hope about the future of leadership within our Church. Young people will be eager to give their lives to a vocation which offers them the possibility of honest and positive service for the real needs of God’s people.

We hope that “Role Call” itself will reflect some of this newness and vitality. During the next several months, members of the Vocation Commission will share some of their reflections with you about the value and importance of service within the Church. The presence of these priests, sisters, laymen and women in this column emphasizes again the reality that ours is a community vocation to a shared faith. We hope that all of us may grow further in appreciating that dimension of our Catholic life. In that way, our “New Beginning” will be one of purpose and substance.