Nov. 4, 2015

By Fr. Bryan Stitt
Diocesan vocation director

Recently when travelling through Troy, NY I visited the campus of my alma mater.  As a freshman engineering student, we simply used to call the college R.P.I.  Since then, someone in marketing decided that a better way of speaking of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute would be to call it “Rensselaer.”  To emphasize this new handle the slogan on the banner at the entrance to campus reads: “One Word Changes Everything.”  How right they are.   

One word does change everything.  But we as faithful Catholics know that that “word” is much more significant than the name of a college.  That word that really does change everything is The Word: Jesus, the Word who became flesh. 

When one meets Him, everything changes.  Just ask Peter and Paul.  Ask Mary Magdalene.  Ask Augustine, Francis, or whoever your patron saint is.  When one meets the person of Jesus Christ, the Word made Flesh, everything changes.

These days, the Vocations office is continually trying to help these encounters with the Word happen.
Through the first priority of Mutually Shared Vision of the Diocese, we’re trying to “Create a Culture of Vocations.”  The “We are Called” Plan is being rolled out this fall, and we’re all looking forward to the INSPIRE: Called to Love Summit in Lake Placid next fall.  

We’re also making sure that our seminarians have the best possible formation.  We want them to grow spiritually, intellectually, pastorally, and humanly to be ever more like Jesus Christ. 

As I looked back to my days at R.P.I., I can’t overemphasize how different I am since I really met the Word made flesh and how much seminary formed me into the man and priest I am today.  But it started with an encounter.  It started with a Word. 

Thank you for likewise welcoming Him into your own life and sharing Him with others.  Our culture so deeply needs the change of that one Word.  When we encounter the Word and follow Him, that’s living out our vocations.  So thank you too for the witness you give in living out your respective vocations.   But of course, besides your witness, we also need your financial support to make our programs happen.  Everything from the seminarians’ tuition costs, book stipends, and travel expenses to the binders of the “We are Called” Plan to the Olympic arena rental for the INSPIRE Summit, it all costs.  We purchase books, holy cards, posters, and pamphlets in order to help people discover their vocations.  Of course, there are many generous supporters of vocations from the Knights of Columbus and the Catholic Daughters to the Diocese of Ogdensburg Vocations Society (D.O.V.S.), but we just can’t do it without the Bishop’s Fund Appeal.  So thank you for your generosity as well. 

Donations can be mailed to:  The Bishop’s Fund Appeal, PO Box 150, Ogdensburg, New York 13669.  To learn more about the Appeal and to view the 2014 Bishop’s Fund video, please visit the Appeal website at www.rcdony.org/development.

To learn more about the Vocations Office go to www.myvocation.net.