Youth vocation rally plants seeds in hearts of young people

Published: July 23, 2011

By Heather Strojek
Little Rock Correspondent

Heather Strojek

Discerner Juliane Pierini of Little Rock and Sisters Mary Clare Bezner and Laura Cathcart of Holy Angels Convent in Jonesboro speak candidly with teen girls during the Vocations Rally in North Little Rock July 7.

Heather Strojek

Praise dancers and Gospel music kicked off the first Vocations Rally at St. Augustine Church in North Little Rock July 9. Nearly 100 priests, seminarians, sisters, parishioners and teens attended to hear God's call.

Meg Miskin, 17, a member of Christ the King Parish in Little Rock, was one of the 40 participants. She has been discerning the religious life since the eighth grade. One night recently at adoration, she got frustrated with God and was yelling at him asking what she was supposed to do with her life.

"Then I heard the lyrics to Bruno Mars' song 'Marry Me.' After that, I ran out of the church and ended up at Christ the King's chapel."

When she arrived at the chapel, two ladies came in talking about "Mary's yes" and saying yes to God.

"I realized that God was giving me a calling that night."

She said she hoped the rally would help her to understand the call she had received from God.

Deacon Alejandro Puello of Paragould, who will be ordained a priest in May, was given the task of defining a vocation for the participants. He said the best way for him to define it was to tell his story. When he was younger, he said that he had always wanted to be a soldier.

"I wanted to be a part of something that was bigger than me," he said.

One day he saw the Uncle Sam poster, "I want you for the U.S. Army," but he saw it a little differently. He saw it as God calling him to be an invading force in the world. He defined vocation as being a tool for God's work in the world.

Following Puello's presentation, the genders were divided into two groups. The boys learned more about the priesthood. The girls got to hear from the Olivetan Benedictine sisters of Holy Angels Convent in Jonesboro. Each sister was given a chance to tell how she answered God's call to religious life.

Sister Mary Clare Bezner, OSB, said she had never thought about being a nun. She wasn't sure what she wanted to do, but she knew she wanted to serve God. She spent two years in the Air Force and it showed her what life would be like without God in it. When she got out, she realized she really wanted to be Catholic and she learned her faith through leading a youth group.

"I told God that I would have as many children as you want if you will leave me alone. I did not have a good image of sisters when I was younger. I knew I did not want to be a sister," she said. But one night she was reading a book about a woman who became a nun and it was like a shock to her heart that God was calling her to be a nun.

Along with the sisters was Juliane Pierini, a member of Christ the King Church in Little Rock, who has begun to discern a religious calling.

On the second-to-last night of a discernment retreat with a friend, she was sitting in the chapel and heard a soft calling and started to cry.

"I felt ashamed because I heard the call but was not ready to answer it," Pierini said.

She said it was not an easy thing to tell her family and friends and told participants the world isn't going to be very accepting of the religious life, but they needed to listen for God's call.

At the beginning of the rally, which was targeted for Catholics 11 to 18 years old, Father Jeff Harvey, CM, nephew of Father Warren Harvey of Pine Bluff, said participants should not be afraid and God is always calling each person.

Stephen Hart, a member of Christ the King Church in Little Rock who will begin his diocesan seminary studies in the fall, said, "Our hope is that the youth (will) consider that God may be calling them to one (religious vocation) in their own lives. Although they are not old enough yet to pursue religious life, the rally is an opportunity for God to plant the seed of a religious vocation in their hearts."

The event was hosted by the diocesan Vocations Office and St. Augustine Church.