Florida Catholic | Serra Clubs

Serra saves planet in a different way

It's SERRA Clubs that promote religious vocations, NOT SIERRA Club.

PEGGY DEKEYSER | FLORIDA CATHOLIC PENSACOLA-TALLAHASSEE BUREAU EDITOR

Published: 10.19.07

During his homily at Mass for the District 86 Serra Convention Oct. 6 at Our Lady of the Assumption on Pensacola Beach, Bishop John H. Ricard, SSJ, talks about the doubts faced by Blessed Teresa of Calcutta as reported in Time magazine.
PEGGY DEKEYSER | FC

PENSACOLA BEACH | Saddled with something of an identity crisis, 30 members of the Serra Clubs in District 86, which comprises parts of Alabama, Mississippi and Florida, met at Our Lady of the Assumption Church Oct. 5-6 to gather strength to answer their call to support and promote vocations for the church.

One after another, members and officers repeated that they are often confused with the Sierra Club, the environmental organization.

Longtime Serran Beverly Matsoukas, a former resident of the Pensacola-Tallahassee Diocese who was visiting from Port St. Lucie, talked about the spirit of Serra.

"The spirituality of Serra, supporting vocations, the call to help the priesthood, really enriches individuals and the church. I would love to see Serra clubs everywhere." She said she hoped that canonizing Blessed Father Junipero Serra would bring more publicity to Serra and help to eliminate some of the confusion between the two groups.

Dick Sweeney, regional director for the USA Council of Serra International, was impressed by the dedication of the people in attendance toward the recruitment of vocations to the priesthood, diaconate and religious life, and the support of those already living in those vocations. "The great gift and message of today is that we are called together to support them, to encourage them and to affirm them."

In addition to supporting vocations, the clubs educate young people about vocations and building membership in their clubs. Betsy Bowser, president of the Serra Club of Pensacola, said the club will undertake a major awareness program in November. "We hope to get all the Catholic school principals and religious education teachers, religious education ministers in all the parishes, deacons and others involved in vocations programs at the parish level to become more aware of Serra and its programs, and hopefully, to become members."

Paul Halladay, district governor of Serra District 86, was encouraged by the wealth of information shared at the convention, which had the theme "Take Courage, Get Up, He is Calling You." "It will be great to see the clubs take this information back to the local level to implement it, to support vocations." He acknowledged that building membership is the greatest challenge faced by the clubs in his district.

On Saturday, members heard from Father Jack Gray, pastor of St. Anne Parish in Bellview. Father Gray suggested that they remember to thank a priest for his vocation and the gift of himself that he gives to the church.

Brotherhood of Hope Brother Stephen Quense, who ministers with the Catholic Student Union at Florida State University in Tallahassee, described a five-stage paradigm of a vocation based on the Gospel of Mark, 10:17-31. "You can't go too quickly or wait too long. You have to wait for the right moment," he cautioned about recruiting vocations.

Coming from Mobile, Ala., for the meeting, Little Sister of the Poor Sister Mary Paul shared her hopes that all will see the joy of vocations and that those in discernment will realize that they have to be willing to give up something to get something.

Newly ordained Father Richard Schamber, parochial vicar of Blessed Sacrament Parish in Tallahassee addressed the group, describing his days as a seminarian at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, and how much the prayers and support from his home diocese meant to him as he studied in a foreign land and a foreign language (Italian).

Bishop John H. Ricard, SSJ, celebrated Mass with the Serrans as an evening storm rolled across Santa Rosa Island. Holding up a copy of Time magazine from Sept. 3, he compared the day's Gospel to the intense media interest in the reported crisis of faith that Blessed Teresa of Calcutta experienced. "Jesus tells us that if we have faith the size of a mustard seed, it can grow to become larger than the largest tree, larger than the most majestic live oak. We might say, 'Lord, I give myself entirely to you, to you alone; I'll go wherever you lead me' but the fact is we don't mean it. In Mother Teresa's own words, she speaks about her struggles with faith, the absence of God that she felt for many, many years. It was an existential doubt, not a skeptical doubt — what many saints have come to know as a 'dark night of the soul.' But she persisted. She lived secure in her faith, walking steadily through the darkness. She remained faithful, as we are called to remain faithful. The cross is the supporting staff that leads us through the darkness," the bishop said.

Before Mass, Father John Licari, parochial vicar of Nativity of Our Lord Parish, sang his original composition Totus Tuus (All for You). As a Communion reflection, he played the piano and sang his original composition, The Secret of My Life.

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Serra saves planet in a different way

It's SERRA Clubs that promote religious vocations, NOT SIERRA Club.

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