Our new Diocesan Vocations Director doesn't have a blog, no priest in Middlesbrough Diocese will have a blog for a very long time. You know the sort of people that have blogs, and no priest wants to be tarred with that brush.

So he has a website and he posts things on it but it is definitely not a blog.

I am delighted if not a little overawed to have been asked to take on the work of Vocations Director for the Diocese. Overawed, not least because it is a great work for the Church in challenging times, but also because I have a hard act to follow, after the very blessed and fruitful work undertaken by Fr Gerard Robinson who has held the post for the last five years. Yet it is a very exciting work and one in which, in a sense, I really cannot fail. Why? Because as Pope Benedict reminds us in his Message for the World Day of Prayer for Vocations which is on 25th April, “The fruitfulness of our efforts to promote vocations depends primarily on God’s free action…”, and how could the Lord not want us to have more priests – since the harvest is still rich and the labourers few? I truly believe that we could be about to see a growth of vocations to the priesthood and the religious life. God’s grace is certain; all that is required is our generous cooperation.

[link]

You can follow his ongoing not blogging at Called.org.uk

I like this, I think it's nice.

H/T Fr Ray Blake

Last Sunday was the "World Day of Prayer for Vocations to Priesthood and to the Consecrated Life" and our Bishop sent out a pastoral letter to mark the occasion. Yes, that's right. It was Bishop Terence Drainey who wrote:

I would say that the secular and spiritual climate generated by our culture is not favourable to these vocations, nor do they nurture a free and mature response to the call. Here I am not just talking about the wider society; I am talking about the Church, and the particular Church in this diocese of Middlesbrough.

Damning words, but he didn't stop there. He also wrote...

why are we talking about a vocation’s crisis?

...

The crisis, if there is one, is of lack of response, spiritual deafness, lack of trust in God’s providence and an inability to recognise the values of the Kingdom of God in our world.

Ouch!

Combine those two statements and you have stunning indictment of our diocese. A crisis of spiritual deafness, of lack of trust, of an inability to recognise the values of the Kingdom of God. A culture that is not favourable to vocations. Not the secular culture of the world we live in, but the culture in this diocese.

If this was your house, you would have to sell it as an "investment opportunity". Somebody would need to rip out all the floors, re-wire the electrics and re-plaster the walls. Whole thing will have to be redone. It would certainly require drastic action.

I wonder what he will do?

If I had written this, people would say I was just being a fundamentalist blogger. Can you guess who did write it?

A clue: It wasn't the Pope...

Yes, I really believe that God is still calling many to priesthood and the religious life. He is still choosing men and women to serve in a spirit of thankful self-giving and with an uncompromising desire to follow and live out the gospel. However, I would say that the secular and spiritual climate generated by our culture is not favourable to these vocations, nor do they nurture a free and mature response to the call. Here I am not just talking about the wider society; I am talking about the Church, and the particular Church in this diocese of Middlesbrough. It is from our own that priests and religious will come, from our own diocese, from our own parishes, from our own families, from our own sons and daughters. It is we who will create a culture favourable to responding to God’s call; no-one else.

First they say : "the secular and spiritual climate generated by our culture is not favourable to these vocations" and we're all thinking.. okay, everybody knows we live in a bad culture, turn on the TV and it's all sex and violence.

Then they say: "Here I am not just talking about the wider society; I am talking about the Church, and the particular Church in this diocese of Middlesbrough."

Translation: The culture in our Church in this diocese of Middlesbrough generates a secular and spiritual climate which is not favourable to vocations...

Harsh.

So who wrote it?

A secret contact of mine would like you to enjoy the following which they assure me is not dated...

Update: As pointed out in the comments by The Cellarer there is an 18 minute version of this which can also be seen online: Part 1 and Part 2.