“The Church needs to create a vocational culture, where everyone discovers where they can serve and feel fulfilled”

Daily

The priesthood, the Church of new times, young people and faith and the 13th of May were some of the topics covered in an interview with the Bishop of the Diocese of Viseu, António Luciano

Photographer: Jornal do Centro

Are there a lack of priests in the Diocese of Viseu?
We live in a moment in the Church in which the decline in priestly vocations is felt. In the Diocese of Viseu we currently have four seminarians, with two interns (Alexandre and Eduardo) and, in half a year, they will be ordained deacons. Here we are returning to a path that had been interrupted, because almost every year, or every two years, there were ordinations of priests. This hasn’t happened for seven years, so it’s a reason for hope. Of course, we are working, simultaneously, on the pre-seminar, which is the meeting with young people. It doesn’t mean that those who go to pre-seminary are to be priests, the important thing is to have a sense of what our life project is and then value it so we can serve others. Being a priest today is not the same as 50 years ago, the reality we live in is different. Therefore, in addition to the training of priests, their integration into communities and the response of communities in their relationship with priests must be different.

Can these changing times make a difference in attracting more young people?
I think so. Our presence, our posture, proximity, relationship and friendship with people. Our Pope will meet these days in Rome with 200 parish priests from all over the world, including Portugal. Certainly, according to his experience and teachings, he will tell you how the priest today should receive this ministry as a parish priest, in closeness to people, in attention to their problems and difficulties, always having as objective that which has always been conferred on the priestly ministry, which is to be the presence of Christ among people.

How do you captivate young people?
I think because of this openness, this reception and this relationship. Young people are captivated like that. Just recently, a young man at a Higher Education Pastoral meeting, regarding the mass for the blessing of the folders in Viseu, told me to convey to young people that the Church is Mother and that she welcomes them. And I emphasized that, and when I said it I felt the applause. How do you get captivated? I don’t know exactly, but maybe because of the proximity, the simplicity, the welcoming attitude, the respect for others and, therefore, I have to be someone close, fair, affable. I can’t be arrogant or think I know everything. I think that what captivates us with each other is always the good we do.

Was the Church to blame for this distancing of young people?
I don’t know if there was fault, I don’t think anyone can be blamed. But there is effectively a paradigm shift. Before we expected young people to look for the Church or through their families, in this new era we are the ones who have to go looking. And that’s why I like to question them and suggest the priesthood, leaving the seed. There are some who don’t leave it aside, there are others who immediately tell me no! The problem of vocations is a global problem for the Church, but we have to address it. And there is work that also has to be done with families and young people, and I think World Youth Day helped and inspired us.

The Journey is a worldwide event. What actions and initiatives can dioceses, at their scale, take?
There is a document from the 80s that had a sentence: all pastoral care in the Church is vocational. And sometimes we forget that. Family pastoral care, pastoral care in the world of work, teachers, health, social pastoral care, catechesis, all have to be vocations. Not in the sense of thinking that someone would come from this as a priest, but so that they have a vocation of service to the community. The Church must serve. What can happen is that sometimes it is not very visible, which is why in all dioceses there are at least four sectors that must be fundamental from the perspective of vocations pastoral: the family, catechesis and evangelization, youth (with higher education) and vocations ministry more focused on this path of the priesthood. And there are initiatives like the one that will take place on May 26th, where the Pope will meet with children in catechesis and a group from the Diocese of Viseu, from the parish of Abraveses, will be there.

In the case of the Diocese of Viseu, the average age of priests is around 60/70 years old. Can the rejuvenation of the “paintings” also be more captivating?
I believe so, although spirit is more important than age. But if we have more young priests, I believe it can bring that “click”. If young people feel that we are calling them to a path that makes them feel good, it will make a difference. The Church needs to create a vocational culture, which is an environment where each person discovers where they can serve and feel fulfilled, whether in the priesthood, great, or in the family, wonderful, in other words, wherever it may be.

Does the figure of the Pope himself, who in recent years has become closer to young people, also make a difference?
It was an invitation that came from the Second Vatican Council, with John XXIII and John Paul VI. John Paul II was extraordinary in his relationship with young people, with the creation of World Youth Day and also Pope Benedict and Pope Francis have insisted on this a lot. And this is the sign of the Church that wants to renew itself and that goes beyond itself to go to all the places where people need to be taken care of. And I continue to believe that a community with a parish priest is a community with added value. There are fewer priests, parishes, especially in the interior, lose services, and without the figure of the priest I think there is an impoverishment of communities.

A few days before May 13th, what message is important to leave to the community?
In a text I wrote about this month of May, I invited us to fix our gaze on Mary, because Mary also fixes us. And the month of May is an opportunity for us to do this, they even call it the month of Mary, with the prayer of the rosary, with the pilgrimage to Fátima. I think it is a strong, unifying and joyful moment. I wish the pilgrims of Fátima and all believers and less believers to find a path of light and happiness.