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‘To sail moved by the winds of the Holy Spirit, we must raise our sails’
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April 24, 2024‘To sail moved by the winds of the Holy Spirit, we must raise our sails,’ archbishop tells vocation directors
“We must be what we want to find.”
That was the message given by Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller, MSpS, to more than a dozen vocation directors from the dioceses of Texas gathered at Assumption Seminary April 22-24, including our own Father Rodel Faller.
In an April 23 Mass in Our Lady’s Chapel at the seminary, the archbishop told the priests that they must continually be attentive to the will of God, constantly moving from prayer to action and action to contemplation.
“Like the first Christian communities, we must develop endurance against discouragement, through an attitude to trust in the power of the Holy Spirit. The fruits and the growth of the community of disciples depend on Him,” he explained. “Only through that trust can we persevere with joy in our proclamation. We must be aware of the current context of transition between eras, when the references which give meaning to life and order to coexistence have been lost.”
The San Antonio prelate exhorted the vocation directors to be a reference of light in the midst of darkness; to bring flavor to the bitterness that so much of the flock suffers.
“We must fully live our identity, finding in our filial support to Pope Francis the greatest assurance of fidelity to the voice of the Holy Spirit,” he emphasized. “Nothing is timelier than the pope’s invitation to every Christian -- so simple and yet so fresh -- ‘to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting Him encounter them; I ask all of you to do this unfailingly each day.’”
Lastly, the archbishop prayed, “Our Lady of Guadalupe help us be what we seek, breaking the inertia that scares away instead of attracting, and renewing our adventurous spirit of missionary disciples with a universal vision.”
Attendees at the gathering included Father Ryan Rojo from the Diocese of San Angelo; Father Leonel Rodriguez from the Diocese of Brownsville; Father Kristopher Fuchs from the Diocese of Victoria; Father Rick Kramer from the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter; Father Greg Gerhart from the Diocese of Austin; Bob Cummings from the Diocese of Corpus Christi; Father Rodel Faller from the Diocese of Beaumont; Father Gabriel Garcia from the Diocese of Amarillo; Father Bret Metzler from the Diocese of Fort Worth; Father Francisco Quiroz from the Diocese of Laredo; Father Richard McNeillie from the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston; and Auxiliary Bishop Gary Janak, vocation director, as well as Sister Ana Cecilia Montalvo Villanueva, FSpS, associate vocation director for the Archdiocese of San Antonio.
Seminary representatives included Father Jim Myers, PSS, from Assumption Seminary; Father Vincent Anyama from Holy Trinity Seminary in Dallas; and Father Eurel Manzano from St. Mary’s Seminary in Houston.
Meetings included discussions on best practices and admissions as well as breakout sessions for small and large dioceses.