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BY ERIKA ANDERSON
Staff Writer
ATLANTA--The mission of Serra Atlanta is twofold. Members work to foster and
promote religious vocations in the archdiocese as well as deepen their own
spiritual lives.
Through service, prayer and fellowship, Serrans strive to carry out this
mission in their everyday lives.
At a meeting held in early October, Father Kevin Hargaden, parochial vicar
at St. Joseph’s Church in Marietta, spoke to members of the three Atlanta
Serra Clubs about Pope John Paul II’s call for the Jubilee Year 2000.
Dining on salmon and vegetables at the Atlanta Country Club, Serrans from
the Greater Northeast Club and the Metro Club were hosted by the North Metro
Club headed by Pat Carden, president.
Father Hargaden began his talk by thanking Serrans personally for their
support of his vocation to the priesthood.
“I spent four years in discernment of my vocation and for five years I
suffered and enjoyed seminary,” he joked. “The whole time I knew that
Serra was behind me and I’ve given a lot of credit to the Serra Club for
why I’m standing before you today in black.”
Father Hargaden spoke of the Jubilee Year as a time for giving praise to
God.
“We have a lot to celebrate and a lot to rejoice in,” he said.
“Our God is with us.”
He explained that the origin of the jubilee year is recorded in the Old
Testament Book of Leviticus. Every 50 years a jubilee was called.
“It was a time for making things new and whole that had fallen apart
and been unraveled by sin and death,” he explained.
During a year of jubilee, people were called to forgive the debts of others,
return ownership of the land to God and break the chains of slavery, he said,
although there is no historical evidence that the call was actually lived out
faithfully in ancient Israel.
“But it’s that high ideal of the biblical sense of jubilee that
our pope is calling us to,” he said.
Father Hargaden told the Serrans how they might be able to carry out the
Jubilee Year 2000 in their own lives.
“It’s a chance to bring together those who have grown distant or
(who) may have grown completely apart,” he said. “The important part
of celebrating the Jubilee is the sense of forgiveness, the sense of mercy and
the sense of celebrating that we are one, because we are one in our baptism in
Christ.”
“John Paul has called us as our pope, telling us that we need to
celebrate the mystery of the Incarnation--a year of Christmas, if you will,
because it’s that Incarnation--that coming of Christ in our midst--that
makes our humanity so very sacred,” Father Hargaden continued. “In
our struggles He’s walking with us, we see His face in the elderly, in the
gleam of a smile of a toddler and in our co-workers and families.”
He told the Serrans that Christians are called to be “agents of mercy
and redemption.”
“We need to look for those little ways in our hearts that may be broken
and make sure that our Jubilee, our wholeness in Christ, is not just a bunch of
words spoken by the pope,” he said. “We need to forgive ourselves,
forgive others and bring alive the message of the Jubilee.”
Serrans who attended the luncheon believe that opportunities to get together
allow them to deepen their own spirituality. Carden said she was impressed with
Father Hargaden’s knowledge.
“He’s the youngest priest in the archdiocese and to have this
young priest have so much wisdom is wonderful,” she said. “He’s
just so wise. He’s really been blessed.”
Carden said that the three Serra groups get together a few times during the
year, but that each of the individual clubs meets monthly.
“With all three clubs meeting, we do get the time to talk with one
another and that helps us bond, which really strengthens us so we can meet our
goals,” she said.
Mary Elkins, another member of the North Metro Club, also believes it is
beneficial for members of Serra to get together.
“We do a lot of different work in the diocese and by bringing everyone
together it reminds you that you are part of a bigger picture,” she said.
“It brings unity to us here in the archdiocese and gives us a better
working relationship with each other.”
Joe Krygiel, district governor of Serra Atlanta, said that the luncheons
give the Serrans another opportunity to show their commitment to and support
for the priests of the archdiocese.
“When we meet like that, we honor the priests,” he said. “The
luncheons are a witness of our love for them.”
The website for Serra is www.serraatlanta.org.
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