Bishop Celebrates Annual 8th Grade Vocations Mass

By Michael F. Flach
Herald Staff Writer
(From the issue of 3/20/03)

ANNANDALE — Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde asked diocesan eighth graders "to seriously consider whether God is calling you to be a religious sister, brother or priest.

"Our diocese is growing rapidly," the bishop said. "We need good sisters to teach in our Catholic schools and priests to serve in our parishes.

"The Lord does have a particular calling for you. You are the future of the Church and the United States. Listen to His call and say yes. Say yes so other people may live. Bring other people to Jesus."

Bishop Loverde made his comments during his homily at the annual Vocations Mass for Eighth Graders celebrated March 12 at Holy Spirit Church in Annandale. More then 1,000 students, teachers and school officials were in attendance, including Dr. Timothy McNiff, diocesan superintendent of schools, and Sisters Karl Ann, S.S.J., and Patricia Helene, I.H.M., assistant superintendents.

Msgr. R. Roy Cosby, vicar general, and Father Frank Ready, pastor of Holy Spirit Parish, were among the concelebrants. Father Paul Scalia, parochial vicar of St. Patrick Parish in Chancellorsville, was master of ceremonies.

The Mass was sponsored by the diocesan Office of Vocations, directed by Fathers Robert Avella and Brian Bashista.

Bishop Loverde said it was "special joy" for him be with the students and his brother priests. "We pray that the Lord will raise up from among our midst many more sisters and priests," he said.

The bishop recalled in his homily the inspirational, yet tragic life of astronaut Rick Husband, commander of the Shuttle Columbia, which exploded Feb. 1 while re-entering the earth’s atmosphere. Before he died, Husband told his pastor, "Tell them about Jesus. He means everything to me."

"Those words describe how we should act as disciples of Jesus," Bishop Loverde said. "Every disciple must have this conviction, that Jesus means everything to us."

The bishop said there are four basic vocations: single, married, priestly and consecrated. "I look at your young faces and I see the future of the Church," he said. "God has given you a unique life project or plan, one of these four basic vocations."

"You must strive to discover the life project He has laid out for you," he said.

"Ask God to show you His plan for you, your individual vocation. Follow God’s plan. Like Commander Husband, your life will proclaim, ‘Jesus means everything to me.’"

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