Culture of Encouragement
You have probably heard me voice my frustrations concerning certain church words that do not seem to connect with many people’s lived experiences. My predecessor, Fr. Pat Brennan, was one of the most brilliant promoters and developers of Evangelization in the country. He even admitted that Evangelization is a church term with which most Catholics struggle. Other words include discipleship, formation, even Paschal Mystery and certainly transubstantiation.
I spent eight years in the Vocation Office for the Archdiocese of Chicago and I traveled all over the country giving presentations and missions that included another one of those words – CALL. I hosted gatherings that helped people clarify if that call was leading to some type of ministry in the Church, lay ministry, religious life or priesthood. However, it opened up a lifelong fascination of mine concerning how people end up doing what they do for a living, a career, a livelihood.
When I first arrived at Holy Family, I had a vision to create a ‘Culture of Call.’ I was informed that most people do not know what Call means. Even here at Holy Family, which has such a strong grounding in Vatican II, people seem a bit confused by the term. However, I have been SO inspired by so many of you who understand that concept and share my philosophy and definition of CALL. I also continue to experience people who do not think God could possibly call them.
What it means to me and I believe to most people is that God initiates a purpose for our lives, every one of us. The Second Vatican Council encourages us to see that we are all called by God for some purpose, not just some of us. We have unique talents and God encourages us to use our talents in the most meaningful way to make the world a better place.
That seems relatively simple. By ‘Culture of Call’ I mean that we help God by encouraging each other to respond to God’s call. We can be agents of God’s call by doing very simple things.
We can reassure each other that God does have a purpose for each of us. We can be a source of support for each other when we struggle with finding that purpose. We can be open to the fact that the purpose may change, evolve, or shift. We may point out each other’s talents and how meaningfully they can be expressed.
We can also use very simple language of encouragement. By that, I mean that we can observe each other, particularly younger people, and share our observations of their talents and skills. Based on those observations we may simply ask if they have ever thought about pursuing a certain career.
For example, “Have you ever thought about being a lawyer?” The person we ask has two possible answers, yes or no. If the answer is yes, perhaps we are reinforcing something that God has already begun in them. If the answer is no, we may be planting a seed of encouragement that God needs from us.
But let me be clear; your suggestion must be based on what you or others have seen in that person. A good follow up should be, “Because I see that you possess or demonstrate attributes and talents that would best be used as, say, a lawyer.”
The final piece of encouragement might be saying, “Well, if you decided to become a lawyer, you would make a good one.”
We have a Gospel story about Call this weekend. Jesus directly calls Andrew, Peter James and John. He invites them to be fishers of people. This is not only a brilliant use of words that connect their current life with a new one, but I believe it is based on Jesus’ observation that they were very good fishermen. I believe they were dedicated and hard working. Jesus was direct and convincing. I believe he instituted the ‘Culture of Call’ because they went on to encourage so many others.
Jesus may not call us as directly as those first disciples, so let’s provide some encouraging assistance for each other in responding to God’s CALL in our lives.
I guess I still want a ‘Culture of Call’ here at Holy Family and it could more simply be named a ‘Culture of Encouragement.’