Collins beefs up vocations team

'We need more priests' says new director

By RENATO GANDIA
WCR Staff Writer
Rimbey

On Aug. 6, Father Paul Moret, now pastor at Rimbey and administrator in Rocky Mountain House, will become the full-time vocations director replacing Father Stephen Hero, who will leave to study in Rome.

Moret will be helped in his efforts by Fathers Patrick Baska, pastor of St. Alphonsus Parish, and Father Michael Mireau, associate pastor at St. Theresa Parish. Both will serve on a part-time basis.

It's only been four years since the archdiocese got a full-time vocations director when then-Archbishop Joseph MacNeil appointed Father Sylvain Casavant to that post.

Now, Archbishop Thomas Collins is putting an even greater emphasis on expanding the number of priests.

"We need more priests - that's why this is being done," Moret told the WCR.

Moret said there is a need for a renewed emphasis on vocations ministry so young men are encouraged to think about the diocesan priesthood.

"We are in a difficult situation right now that we don't have enough priests to go around in the diocese. We need a special emphasis on trying to encourage young people to respond to God's call," said Moret, a priest for almost 15 years.

To have two extra priests would enable the team to cover a wider area to do more because there's a lot to be done with regard to promoting vocations, he said.

Mireau said, "The more people we have working in that area, getting to know people, building relationships with other people, the more likely we will have vocations. Plus I think it is a lot of work for one person."

He believes having more opportunities to build relationships with people is the most effective way to address the archdiocese's need for more priests.

"We need a special emphasis on trying to encourage young people to respond to God's call," - Fr. Paul Moret

When he received the appointment he was "a little apprehensive but excited at the same time."

Moret praises the work his predecessors have done in this ministry.

"I'm planning on continuing the good works that Father Stephen and Father Sylvain have started, all the programs they have begun and then start looking at new areas where we can reach out."

One area he thinks they might do more is in working with Catholic schools. "That's one area that we can probably expand to."

Mireau agreed with Moret.

"I would agree that a lot of vocations are in the schools right now, a lot of potential priests are in the schools. The problem is that some of them may not be practising their faith."

"I think we have to reach out to the ones who are on the fringes. And that's where the vocations are going to come from," said Mireau, a priest for just over a year.

One of the gifts Mireau brings to his ministry is his passion for reaching out to youth. Most of his adult life he has been involved with Camp Encounter.

"I think it will help that I can relate to young people at their level rather than expecting them to come to mine."

"One-on-one dialogue, one-on-one relationship is the most important not only in vocational ministry but also in my ministry as a Christian minister."

Baska felt encouraged when the archbishop approached him and asked him to do this ministry.

He too believes that the previous directors did a remarkable job.

"But whether it's one priest or it's three priests or with lay people involved, it's always a team approach for working for vocations," Baska told the WCR.

"The parishes especially are our team because our parish families and the whole community are also part of the vocations team. The people are certainly involved in fostering and nurturing vocations too."

Baska brings to the team his own experience as a young person having discerned his vocation as well as his experiences in ministry. He is also the incoming chairperson of the archdiocesan Council of Priests.

"I do consider myself very young in terms of ministry but I hope to bring to the team the experiences I have had in more than five years of priestly ministry."

Copyright © 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 -- Western Catholic Reporter