Serra – The USA Council of Serra International



SERRA NEW MEMBER ORIENTATIONJMD July 2019Slide 1: Welcome!Hey Welcome to Serra! My name’s Mike Downey and I am the Director for Serra’s Central Region in the heartland of the US. This session is intended particularly for members who are relatively new to Serra to bring them up to speed on what Serra’s all about and how it works. You should have some printed materials that include the slides I’ll be using and some documents I’ll be referring to. Hopefully you are also viewing this session with at least one officer from your club who can point out specifics on how your club operates compared to what’s presented here.Slide 2: OverviewHere’s an overview. Three areas will be covered. First the Big Picture of Serra—sort of the “above the club level” view. We’ll talk about Serra International—its structure, organization and leadership. We’ll talk briefly about the Serra Foundation. Then we’ll drop down a level to the US Council for Serra. Finally, we’ll review the State of Vocations in the US.After the Big Picture, we’ll review How Clubs Work. Finally, we’ll discuss Vocations Activities clubs can engage in.Slide 3: Mission StatementLet’s start with Serra’s Mission Statement—it’s simple and elegant: “To foster and affirm vocations to the ordained priesthood and vowed religious life, and through this ministry, grow in our Catholic faith.” Slide 4: Three Distinct MissionsThis simple paragraph actually sets forth three distinct missions: First “to Foster New religious vocations”. Second “to Affirm and Support Existing religious vocations.” And third, by doing so, to grow in our own holiness. These are the touchstones of all we do in Serra. And it’s important that our work support all three missions. The easiest and most fun is the second mission--to affirm and support existing religious vocations. One of the privileges of being a Serran is that we have the chance to get to know the Bishop, the priests, sisters and seminarians on a personal level that most Catholics will not experience. We do this through appreciation events and these people are incredibly grateful for all our support. The feedback is positive and immediate. Contrast that with the first Mission, which is to Foster New Vocations. The Masses we attend, the rosaries we pray, the hours spent in Eucharistic Adoration---we may not see the fruits of these prayers for a year, a decade or even ever! So what has to sustain us is faith that our prayers are working. But we know they are working because we have it directly from the Word of God: Jesus Christ told us: “Pray, Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send more laborers to gather His harvest.” We may not know how or when or even where, but by faith we know our prayers will result in an increase in new vocations. Let that faith sustain you even when the positive feedback is not there.Slide 5: History and Role of SerraLet’s talk about the History and Role of Serra. Serra was started in 1935 by four lay Catholics in Seattle WA. In 1951 a very significant event occurred. Serra, as a lay apostolate, was officially aggregated to the worldwide Catholic Church. So far as I know, it is the only lay apostolate officially recognized as part of the world-wide Church by the Vatican. That being said, it is important to know that Serra does not have an exclusivity on vocations work. In fact, our Role is to be leaders on vocations efforts. And we do that three ways: by our own efforts within our clubs; by encouraging and supporting vocations efforts by other Catholic lay organizations such as the Knights of Columbus, who do terrific work for vocations, and Parish Vocations committees. These folks are not competitors—they are our teammates and we want to do everything possible to make their work successful. Finally we lead by engaging ALL Catholics—even those who may never be Serrans—in creating a culture of vocations by engaging them to pray for vocations.Slide 6: St. Junipero SerraI want to say a little about the person for whom our organization is named. St. Junipero Serra was a Franciscan priest who lived in the 1700’s. He is famous for his saying “Always Forward, Never Back” which has become the Slogan of Serra. It’s from a letter he wrote from the new world to his parents back in Spain.Here’s a brief outline of his life.He was born in 1713 in Mallorca, Spain—a small island off the Spanish coast. At age 16 he joined the Franciscan order. Then at age 36 he volunteered to go to the New World as a missionary working initially in the missions in Mexico. At age 56, he began establishing the missions in California—the work for which he is most famous. He died at age 70 in California. It is said he traveled over 24,000 miles in his work as a missionary. And folks, those weren’t frequent flyer miles—they were mostly on foot or on the back of a mule. Father Serra was canonized in September 2015. His feast day is celebrated on July 1 every year.Slide 7: 5 Things to Know about St. SerraThat’s a thumbnail sketch of his life. But there are five things I want you to know about St. Serra because you are a Serran.He chose a life of humble service at great cost to himself. It’s easy to miss the fact that for the first half of his life, Father Serra was not a missionary at all. In fact by age 35 he had become a renowned Professor of Philosophy and Theology at the University of Lullian in Spain. I’m guessing this was a pretty cushy job especially at that time. He really had it made. And yet at age 35 he hears God’s call to be a missionary to the New World and gives all this up! He goes from the easy life to a life full of hardship, danger and uncertainty. Such was his commitment to do God’s will.He suffered constant physical pain during most of his life as a missionary. But he never let it stop him! After first landing on the east coast of Mexico he set off on foot to Mexico City. Along the way he was bitten by either an insect or serpent. His leg became terribly infected. It was swollen and covered with ulcers on the lower portion. This wound never healed! Twice it brought him close to death during his missionary work. It puts the 24,000 miles he covered mostly on foot in a remarkable light. Yet he never let it become an excuse for not doing God’s will.St. Serra believed in the power of persistent prayer. At age 56 he set off on the journey to establish the missions in California. But the expedition ran into serious problems when it failed to rendezvous with the supply ship. By the time they reached the first mission site at present day San Diego, they were almost out of food and supplies, and the soldiers were suffering from disease and pestilence. The Spanish commander made a decision to abandon the journey and turn back immediately. But Father Serra got the commander to agree to wait 9 days—until the feast of St. Joseph—for the supply ship to arrive. The Franciscans began a novena of continuous prayer to St. Joseph. On the ninth day—the feast of St. Joseph—at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, the sails of the supply ship were spotted and the journey that led to the establishment of all the missions in CA was allowed to continue. All because of St. Serra’s belief in the power of persistent prayer. St. Serra was an incredible advocate for the indigenous people. My guess is that Father Serra was not well liked by the Spanish authorities, the Spanish military or the Spanish colonists. He constantly intervened between them and the native people to prevent their exploitation—and he usually won.Finally I want you to know the significance of the Bell in Serra. You can see it in our logo, and one of our regular newsletters is called the Bellringer. Father Serra used an ingenious method to call the native peoples to learn about Christ. You have to realize that sites for the California missions were created from scratch and usually there were no native people there. One of the first things Father Serra would do is have one of the monks hang a bell in a tree and begin ringing it continuously. The bell could be heard for miles and miles. And soon the natives would come--out of curiosity--to see what was causing the strange sound. When they did, the Franciscans would befriend them, give them food, treat any illnesses they could. Then they would send them back to their families, friends and villages to invite all to come back to the mission. It was an incredibly simple but effective way to call people to learn about Jesus Christ. Always know this about St. Serra. We have an incredibly effective advocate in heaven for our vocations work!Slide 8: Serra InternationalLet’s talk about Serra International. There are about 12,500 Serrans worldwide, operating through about 470 clubs in 46 countries. Serra is organized primarily into 10 councils of which the US Council is one. Serra’s Episcopal Advisor is Cardinal Collins from Toronto CA. Serra International has a board consisting of representatives from each council and officers of the organization. The current president of Serra Intl is Ruben Gallegos from Texas. Serra Intl also has an Executive Director who reports to the board. That person is a young man named John Liston—himself a former seminarian. John is also Executive Director for the Serra Foundation and the US Council of Serra. He has a staff of 3 full timers and one part timer in the Chicago office. John and his staff are the only persons who draw a salary for Serra work. All the rest are volunteers.Slide 9: Value of Serra Intl to local ClubsIn terms of the value that Serra Intl brings to clubs, it is important to note that our mission is to serve the worldwide Catholic Church, not just the church in the US.So Serra Intl brings the Serra model to areas of the world where no such vocation effort exists, adapting it as needed to the local culture.Serra also brings all Serrans together once a year at an international convention. The Serra Intl convention is held in the US every other year. It is a wonderful way to share experiences, inspire each other and increase our spirituality.Serra Intl also insures that Serra activities are coordinated with the worldwide priorities of the Vatican—again reflecting our standing as an official lay apostolate of the worldwide Catholic Church.Slide 10: Serra FoundationLet’s look briefly at the Serra FoundationThe Foundation is the grant giving arm of Serra and is managed through Serra International. It’s mission closely parallels that of Serra itself. It exists to fund programs that foster new vocations; to fund formation programs for existing vocations; and to enhance recognition of Serra worldwide.Slide 11: Overview of Serra Foundation GrantsHere’s an overview of recent grants that the Foundation has given. In 2016 and 2017 the foundation gave grants of just over $150,000 each year. About 45% of these went to religious institutions associated with the US. The rest—about 55%--went to institutions in other countries. The foundation gave a total of $123,000 in 2018. You can get a flavor of the types of programs and institutions receiving grants from the two pages following—pages 4a and 4b.The Foundation does a lot of good work for vocations. Each year in November you will receive a letter requesting a donation to the Foundation. I encourage you to consider some donation, no matter how small. This is an easy and convenient way to help fulfill our mission for vocations in the worldwide Catholic Church.Slide 12: US Council for SerraLet’s drop down one level from Serra Intl to the US Council for Serra. I mentioned there are about 12,500 Serrans worldwide. Just over half of these--or 7500 Serrans--are in the US, which is no surprised since Serra started in this country. There are 201 clubs in the US. Serra’s US Episcopal Advisor is Archbishop Tom Daly from Spokane, WA. Serra US is organized into 9 geographic regions. Each region has a Regional Director. Each Region in turn is organized into districts--or groups of clubs usually in close geographic proximity. There are a total of 44 districts in the US. Each district has a District Governor. The District Governor is the primary interface between individual Clubs on one hand and Serra Intl and the US Council on the other. The District Governor’s job is to advise, encourage and inform clubs they serve about best practices and Serra priorities in order to achieve Serra’s three-fold mission on a national and worldwide basis. Like Serra Intl, the US Serra Council has a board made up of the regional directors and Council officers including the President, Treasurer, Vocations VP; Programs VP, VP for Membership and VP for Communications. The current President of the US Council is Judy Cozzens from the Twin Cities. Slide 13: Value of US Council to ClubsThe value the US Council brings to Serra Clubs falls into four categories.First, it is the repository of the Wisdom of Serra. At present, this is shared primarily by the extensive training for club officers held at least bi-monthly by conference calls in the areas of vocations, programs, communications and membership.It is also a source of new ideas and problem solving for clubs. The US Council holds what is called the Serra Rally each year in January to train club presidents, district governors, regional directors and any other interested Serrans. The Rally is filled with new ideas for clubs and great discussion concerning issues all clubs face at any one time. Also, the US Council--in conjunction with Serra Intl--publishes a great quarterly magazine called the Serran, a hard copy of which is mailed to all Serrans.Third, the US Council communicates the vocations priorities of the US Bishops to local clubs. The US bishops currently have three priorities for Serra Clubs. First is to have Serra Clubs support vocations awareness in parishes through the four annual vocations awareness events. We’ll talk about these a little later, but Serra US has prepared extensive support materials and programs—available on the website--to help clubs do this. The second priority of the US Bishops is the Newman Connection. This program was actually started by Serra and is an effort to keep young Catholics connected to their faith when they go to college. It is important because so many young Catholics fall away from the Church when they go to college. Yet studies show this is an age when many religious vocations are discerned. Serrans support the Newman Connection by gathering and providing information to the Newman Connection date base of graduating high school Catholics, which Newman Connection then forwards to the Catholic youth ministries on their campuses so incoming students can be contacted to get involved with the Catholic Church on campus.A third priority of the US Bishops is to have Serra US develop web resources—a sort of digital tool box—for vocations directors in each diocese to use in their vocations work. The result has been the website with over 25 programs ready for Diocesan Vocations Directors to use in their work. It is constantly being updated and refined based on input from Vocations Directors. Almost a third of vocations directors are new in the US each year. And there is no real training to be a Vocations Director. Often times, priests are plucked from parishes or high schools and dropped immediately into this important job. Through , Serra US fills a critical role in making Vocations Directors effective.A final value to local clubs is the professional support for all the volunteers. Included in this is maintenance of the website.Slide 14: Status of US VocationsI’ll finish up the Big Picture by a review of the State of Vocations in the US. The simple fact is that the Shortage of Diocesan Priests in the US remains a very real CRISIS. Clearly, a lot of good things have been happening. New priest ordinations have been increasing since 2000 and the number of graduate level seminarians has gone up since 1995. But as the CARA table on the following page shows, these have not been enough to offset the loss of priests due to death or retirement. So the overall number of diocesan priests continues to decline. Add to this the fact the number of Catholics in the US has grown by 50% since 1965 and you can see the continuing nature of the priesthood crisis and why our Serra work for vocations is so important.Another aspect of the diocesan priesthood shortage is the grave shortage of Hispanic priests. While 35%--over one-third of the US Catholic population—are Hispanic, only 5% of priests are Hispanic and most these were not born in this country. With the evolution of our Church into a bi-cultural institution we desperately need Hispanic priests that can serve both cultures well.Slide 15: What We Know about VocationsThere are some basic facts you should know about vocations to be an effective Serran. These are mostly from a book by Father Brett Brannen called A Priest in the Family.First and most important, the Holy Spirit calls the vocation, not us.So creating a culture of vocations is critical to the call being heard, and this is what Serrans do.Priests have identified other priests as the key influencer in their decision to become a priest. So creating opportunities for young people to be around priests should be a focus of Serra Clubs.The time of most serious consideration to become a priest is Age 17. (This is why the US Bishops are so keen about Serran support for the Newman Connection.)Time spent in Eucharistic Adoration was identified as an important factor in discerning a priesthood vocation. For that to happen, there have to be opportunities for Eucharistic Adoration, which is something Serrans can support.60% of all priests were Altar Servers. This is why many clubs have Altar Server recognition and awards program.On average, 50% of seminarians “discern out”. This is not a failure, but part of the discernment process that leads to a vocation calling being correctly understood. And those young men who do discern out often become incredibly strong Catholic lay leaders in our Church.92% of priests surveyed are happy being priests. While priesthood is much more than a career, it is notable that no other “career” has such a high satisfaction level.Finally, it is important to realize that celibacy is not the cause of the priesthood shortage—we know this because main-line protestant churches are experiencing the same shortage of ministers and they allow marriage. Too many Catholics naively think this is the silver bullet for solving the priesthood shortage. The only real “silver bullet” is prayer in creating a culture of vocations in a diocese.Slide 16: How Clubs WorkThat’s the Big Picture of Serra and Vocations. I’m going to take a short break here so you can pause this presentation if you wish to ask your club officers questions about what has been presented.(Brief Pause in my presentation)Let’s look at how most clubs work.All Clubs are chartered by Serra Intl and have a club number. Clubs are organized by geographic areas within dioceses. But they are organized by diocese—not by parish--and work with and for the Bishop and the Vocations Director. They focus on prayer, service and fellowship. The typical year for a club is July 1 – June 30 as is true for Serra US and Serra Intl as well.Here’s a final important point: Vocations “recruitment” is not the primary function of a Serra Club. While many individual Serrans do on occasion encourage young people one-on-one to consider a religious vocation, our primary function is to create a culture of vocations so a call can be heard—and to accomplish this by a heavy emphasis on prayer. Slide 17: How Clubs are StructuredClubs are structured basically as you would expect. There is a board consisting of current and former club officers. In addition, there is a group of active officers. All Clubs have a President, and hopefully, a president-elect. There are usually several vice-presidents as well: a VP for Vocations; for Programs; for Membership and for Communications. In addition almost all clubs have a Secretary and Treasurer who are also VP’s. Not all clubs have all these officers and in some clubs the same person may hold more than one position, but this is the most common structure clubs use. Clubs are also encouraged to have a Serra Foundation Rep to promote awareness of the good work of the Foundation.Slide 18: Club MeetingsLet’s look at club meetings. Club boards usually meet quarterly. The main meetings for all club members happen usually twice per month. The first is a more formal program meeting in which there is a planned presentation usually by a guest speaker. It is almost always focused on some facet of vocations. Usually these monthly program meetings occur on the 3rd week of the month.A second and often less formal meeting for all club members happens after First Friday or First Saturday Mass each month. There is an exchange of information about Serra activities and vocations usually headed up by the President. But there is also time for chat and fellowship between club members after the Mass.In addition, all club members are invited to participate in special appreciation events throughout the year. Often these take the place of the normal monthly program. There are five appreciation events clubs might sponsor and hold:An event connected with the Annual ordination Mass at the CathedralA Priests Appreciation eventThe Bishop’s Appreciation dinnerA Sisters’ Appreciation eventA lunch or dinner for seminariansNot all clubs engage in all of these events, but most clubs do at least some of them as a way to achieve the second prong of our mission—to affirm and support existing religious vocations.That’s a look at how most clubs function. I’ll take another short break here so you can pause this presentation and ask questions of your club officers regarding any information that’s been presented.(Brief Pause in my presentation)Slide 19: Vocations Activities within the ClubThe third area we want to cover is Vocations Activities.I’m going to discuss these activities in two groups: first, the vocations activities within the club that are pretty much just for club members; second, activities outside the club that Serra Clubs organize to engage all Catholics in creating a culture of vocations as part of our leadership role.In terms of activities within the club, the two most prevalent are Eucharistic Adorations to pray for Vocations and weekly or monthly rosaries. Adorations can be one-hour liturgies OR prayers stretched over a period of 6 to 24 hours with each hour covered by at least one Serra Club member. Often these are organized in parishes covered by the club and happen during Adorations already scheduled in those parishes. Weekly or monthly rosaries are often referred to as a 31 Club. Usually a club member can sign up for a day of the week or a date each month to pray for vocations on an on-going basis.Another program growing in popularity is Adopt a Seminarian. Club members sign up to spiritually “adopt” a seminarian and send letters of encouragement, pray specifically for their seminarian by name, send birthday, Christmas and Easter cards. Some even invite seminarians to a family dinner when the sems are home. You don’t have to know these people personally when you start. All seminarians are grateful to know they are being specially mentioned in someone’s prayers. And there are many great stories of Serrans who have formed a special, personal bond with a seminarian that has continued long after the seminarian becomes a priest.Some clubs get together as a club to put together “Care Packages” for all the seminarians in their diocese. These are often sent out in the Fall or during the start of second semester in January. They can include simple items like postage stamps, microwave popcorn, gift cards, movie passes, phone cards, books, prayer cards—anything seminarians might use during their time in seminary. They are much appreciated as you can guess. And they let seminarians know they are in your club’s thoughts and prayers.Some clubs have annual altar server recognition and awards events, usually with pizza and pop. Again, we know that 60% or priests were altar servers so we know this is a rich environment for future vocations.Serra International holds a monthly conference call for an international rosary for vocations. At present, this is held on the last Saturday of each month at 8:00 am Central Time. You should begin receiving a monthly email about how to participate.Finally, many clubs are actively involved in gathering information about graduating high school seniors to forward to the Newman Connection so these students can be contacted by the Catholic youth ministries on the campuses they are attending.Slide 20: Newman ConnectionI’ve talked a lot about the Newman Connection and how important the Bishops think this is. I encourage you to review the information on this slide on your own. But mostly I want to encourage you and your clubs to engage in this activity. Because, if Serrans don’t do it, it won’t get done.Slide 21: Special Serra Programs within the ClubThere are three other special programs that many but not all clubs engage in.The first is to organize visits by 3 to 5 Serrans in the club to seminaries on a weekend. Almost all seminaries are open to this. Often you can stay right in the dorm with the seminarians and shadow them during the weekend. From personal experience, I think you will come away uplifted about the good hands that the future of our Church is in.Many clubs hold an annual retreat focused not as much on vocations as on the holiness of club members. Often the Club Chaplin or Vocations Director leads this, and it is often held during advent or lent. This is in fulfillment of our third mission: to increase our holiness.A final special event is an annual Mass to pray for deceased Serrans by name. Slide 22: Vocations Prayer leadership Outside the ClubThat’s been a review of Vocations Activities within the club that pretty much just club members engage in. Let’s turn to vocations activities to engage non-club members in creating a culture of vocations. These activities are generally organized, promoted and led by the club and in some cases they parallel programs we have already discussed.Rosary programs in parishes—getting parishioners to sign up for a weekly or monthly rosary for vocations (the 31 Club). Just like what we do within the club, but for non-club Catholics in our parishes.Special Adorations for Vocations. When we decide to do a club Adoration for Vocations we can extend its impact by inviting parishioners who are not members to join us through bulletin announcements in advance of the scheduled Adoration.A program growing in popularity is the Call by Name program. The Club works with a parish priest to invite parishioners at Mass one weekend to fill in a card with the name(s) of young people from the parish they think the parish priest or diocesan vocations director might want to speak with about a possible religious vocation. The card is placed in a box in the back of Church; Serrans supply the card to the parish and follow up by collecting these and forwarding to the parish priest or vocations director. It’s an easy way for all Catholics to become involved in vocations work even if they feel uncomfortable themselves approaching young people about a vocation. Great results have been achieved where this program has been used.Starting and supporting Parish Vocations Ministeries is another great way to engage all Catholics in vocations work. This should include sharing all vocations program material Serra has compiled for the Parish Vocation Ministry’s use, including especially the programs on the website.Many clubs put together display boards with pictures and brief biographical information about the current seminarians in the diocese. These are distributed or rotated to the parishes for display in the back of the Church along with individual cards for each seminarian (sort of like baseball cards) that can be taken home to be placed on a refrigerator to remind folks to pray for specific seminarians. Then there are the four national awareness events that the US Bishops have asked us to support in parishes. They are:Priesthood Appreciation Sunday (last Sunday of September);Vocations Awareness WeekWorld Day for Consecrated Life;World Day of Prayer for Vocations (Good Shepard Sunday in the Spring).These are supported in parishes by Serra Clubs using the many programs that are available on the website.Finally, many clubs sponsor and organize a traveling crucifix, traveling chalice or traveling St. Serra Statue among families OR school classrooms for a week at a time. These sacramentals are accompanied by a 7-day prayer program with a focus on vocations.So there’s lots we can do to engage Catholics who are not Serrans in praying for vocations.Slide 23: How YOU can engage immediately in Serra Vocations WorkWe’re just about done. I want to strongly encourage you as a new Serran to actively engage immediately in your Club’s vocation work. Here’s how:Start with the basics. Attend the regular monthly meetings, First Friday or First Saturday Mass and follow-up meetings, and all appreciation events.But go beyond that.Sign up to pray a rosary once a week or month for vocations.Dedicate one hour a month to Eucharistic Adoration for vocations. Find out where these are scheduled to be held and help by covering an hour. Ask for any printed prayers your club might have to help you pray.Adopt a Seminarian. Again, you don’t have to know the seminarian personally. That will happen as you find ways to encourage them in their vocations through letters, cards or phone calls. There is no more intimate way to encourage a vocation at such a critical time in the discernment process.Help with Newman Connection information gathering (usually May thru August)Sign up to assist with an appreciation event. These take a lot of work, but they are effective and vital to affirming existing religious vocations.Last but not least, if you like what you see, help recruit new members to Serra—especially friends you know who have a special place in their hearts for vocations. We need more prayers for vocations! We need more hands for service! And we need more Serrans to demonstrate there IS strong support from lay Catholics for priests and religious.Slide 24: Welcome to Serra!Again, welcome to Serra! I hope you have a much better understanding of what Serra’s all about and how Serra works. Our work is incredibly important to the future of the Catholic Church. So engage in Serra immediately! Take time to talk to your club officers about how to do this and ask any questions you may have.Thank you for your time, and may God bless you and your work for Serra and for religious vocations. ................
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