Washington D.C., Sep 8, 2005 / 22:00 pm
Parishes, youth ministers, vocations directors and faith communities will soon have a new vocations-awareness and promotion tool at their fingertips. "You Could Make a Difference," a 17-minute vocation video and DVD, will be released this fall.
Producers say the short film is a great conversation-starter on the topic of vocations. It features four segments that illustrate how priests and religious can serve the needs of the Church.
"We need to keep the idea of a call to total commitment to the Church front and center as an option for Catholic young people,” said Bishop Blase Cupich, chairman of the bishops' vocations committee. “This video/DVD helps parish leaders do that."
The short film features two priests and three sisters.
Fr. Mike Schwarte in Petersburg, Alaska, is the pastor of two parishes separated by a glacier, and pilots a small plane between them. He tells a compelling story of personal conversion and reflects his delight in bringing the sacraments to the people.
Fr. Agustin Mateo, pastor of a Latin American parish in Washington, D.C., shares about life in an urban, multi-cultural parish, where Sunday means mass, religious education, and hospitality. He highlights the strength he draws from the congregation and his belief that he can face anything because God provides for whatever is humanly lacking in him.
Sr. Janet Gildea, MD, and Sr. Peggy Deneweth, RN, Sisters of Charity from Cincinnati, show life in the medical clinic they founded in El Paso, where they practice what they call "poverty medicine," resembling what the Charity sisters did in the pioneer days.
Sr. Mary Claudina Sanz, a member of the Oblates of St. Francis, directs the Mary Elizabeth Lange Center Baltimore, a home for troubled young women named for the Oblates' founder. She speaks of the girls from the program who go to college and return to help others.
The video/DVD was developed by the U.S. bishops' Department of Communications and funded by the Catholic Communication Campaign.
It is available in English and Spanish. The DVD costs $10; the video costs $15. It also includes a brief study guide, available online, to facilitate discussion.
For more on the video or order information, go to: www.usccb.org/vocations/