tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26883902.post5136751947956681205..comments2024-03-25T11:09:41.538-04:00Comments on a minor friar blog: Praying For VocationsBrother Charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07780326836452864455noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26883902.post-38192906425794243362011-04-05T17:08:55.383-04:002011-04-05T17:08:55.383-04:00I like what you said to the woman who was mad that...I like what you said to the woman who was mad that she couldn't get a Mass intention!Rachelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06624317806947588259noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26883902.post-89903897225514689592011-04-05T03:52:32.790-04:002011-04-05T03:52:32.790-04:00Thank you. We need more commonsesnse in our approa...Thank you. We need more commonsesnse in our approach to "praying for vocations". I notice everyone always thinks it applies to someone else and we forget the graces we have each received are for the whole Church.Digitalnunhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15698300417345045874noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26883902.post-28927826730243322302011-04-04T14:04:37.327-04:002011-04-04T14:04:37.327-04:00Thank you Lee!!! I cannot tell you how many times ...Thank you Lee!!! I cannot tell you how many times family members and friends have ridiculed me for not even subscribing to cable T.V. I've been told to get into the 20th century let alone the 21st. My response has always been that my husband and I are otherwise too busy to justify paying for cable, and our 7-year old daughter doesn't need it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26883902.post-5528309831180710342011-04-04T13:42:37.096-04:002011-04-04T13:42:37.096-04:00Great comment! Thanks for the push!Great comment! Thanks for the push!Brother Charleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07780326836452864455noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26883902.post-37121375020880579362011-04-04T13:40:17.163-04:002011-04-04T13:40:17.163-04:00In my semi-retirement I drive foster children from...In my semi-retirement I drive foster children from their new foster homes back to their old schools. In this way the state endeavors to maintain some continuity in the child's life.<br /><br />Now for example I am drving Billy, an 11 yr old boy, who from the moment he gets in the car till the moment he gets out is listening to his Ipod and singing along. This is true both coming and going.<br /><br />The same was true of Melanie, an 17 yr old girl, and Twyla, a ten year old, children that I recently drove. <br /><br />I am convinced that from the moment most of this generation gets up till falling asleep at night, virtually all their time is taken up with distractions. How can God get a word in edgewise?<br /><br />Often Catholic writers, pundits and priests will refer to a vocations crisis, but to me this is almost laughable. We have a leadership crisis. We have a parenting crisis, and have had one for the better part of fity years. <br /><br />We need popes, bishops, pastors, priests and parents to stand up against television and other mass media in the Catholic home. We need to create or re-create our own culture of reading aloud to one another in the evening, singing together, playing board games, praying the rosary, and going for walks together. <br /><br />It seem to me that for us to pray for vocations borders on tempting God, like a man praying for financial relief while playing blackjack in the casino. It verges on the ludicrous.<br /><br />IF our clergy could persuade only 15% of our young families to get the mass media out of their homes, we would have more vocations that we would know what to do with in 15-20 yrs.<br /><br />But to do that, our clergy would have to set the example, and here the supreme importance of being current with what's going on in the world of televised sports definitely gets in the way.<br /><br />The Church is entertaining itself to death. Catholic parents, practically all of us Catholics in the West are deciding in effect that we do not want the sacraments. We emphatically prefer the Culture of Distraction to the Culture of Vocation, all prayers to the contrary notwithstanding.Lee Gilbertnoreply@blogger.com