It strikes a nerve. The popular YouTube video “Why I love Jesus but hate religion” http://youtu.be/1IAhDGYlpqY  hits home with some painfully accurate accusations against organized religion. The young rapper finds it easy to love Jesus Christ and claim him as his Lord and Saviour while firmly criticizing and rejecting the Church that bears Christ’s name.
I identify easily with the anger and disillusionment expressed in the video. A realistic and honest look at the organized religion called Christianity has to acknowledge the sins and failures perpetrated in its name throughout history and even sadly, still today. But I can’t agree with his conclusions: unlike our young rapper, such sin in the Church does not cause me to reject it.
Instead, I feel more like Father Pontifex who responds to the video with his own rapping: ‘Why I love Jesus and love religion http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru_tC4fv6FE.  The sins and faults of the people IN the Church do not express the true reality of who and what the Church is. The Church is so much more than that.

In the poetic imagery of Oblate founder Eugene de Mazenod, the Church is the ‘glorious inheritance which Christ, the Saviour, purchased at the cost of his own blood [Preface]. As such, it is infinitely precious: “How is it possible to separate our love for Jesus Christ from our love for His Church? The two loves are inseparable: to love the Church is to love Jesus Christ and vice versa.” {Pastoral Lenten letter, 1860}.

Even so, the young rapper and Eugene would find some common ground. Eugene is not blind to the sins and faults of the Church. In the wake of the French Revolution, Eugene acknowledges: “Such is the state of things brought about by the malice and corruption of present-day Christians that it can truly be said that the greater number of them are worse off now than was the gentile world before its idols were destroyed by the Cross” [Preface to the Constitutions and Rules]. Violence, apostasy, heresy, corruption, hypocrisy, greed, scandal: the Church of Eugene’s time was guilty of all the vices which so disillusion us today.
Yet Eugene’s response was not to abandon organized religion or the Church. Instead, Eugene was fired up to reform it. Inviting others of zeal and fire to join him, his desire was to ‘rekindle the flame of faith’ across the French countryside, and eventually the world. And so the Oblates were born.
So where are you? Disillusioned and rejecting or forgiving and reforming? They are good questions. . .

Sandy Prather, HOMI

Recently a member of my high school graduating class (1984) whom I had not seen since the end of high school, was at the home of my parents installing their wireless internet. As he worked he visited with my mother and as you’d expect he asked her what I had ended up doing. She told him that I had become a Roman Catholic priest, and a member of a missionary order of brothers and priests. His response to this news was, “Wow, I didn’t see that one coming.” And the fact is that at that time I really didn’t see it coming either.

Fr Ken

My road to life as an Oblate priest was quite unspectacular. I never heard a voice, saw a vision, or had a dream that led me to the path I now happily tread. In fact, as the remark of my classmate shows, I wasn’t what might have been considered priesthood material. Academically I just squeaked by in high school, and my religious and spiritual life, while active, was relatively ordinary.

My family went to church each Sunday like clockwork, though we were never an overly devotional bunch. My father, who had grown up with my traditional Dutch Catholic grandmother for his mother, tried at various times to work some of the traditional family devotions into the family schedule, but for some reason it never caught on. We were an ordinary, quite mundane Catholic family with all the blessings and afflictions this brings.

There was however one incident early on in my life that I count as significant in my journey. As I, and each of my brothers and sisters approached our Confirmation, we were sat down by our parents for a conversation. They told us that as Catholics approaching adulthood we had to consider as a possible life choice, religious life or priesthood. I’m not sure where they got the idea; perhaps it came from our parish priest or, perhaps it came from my Aunt Lucy, who is a member of the Sister’s of Sion (NDS) and a mentor and friend to my siblings and I, or perhaps it came from our great uncle Joe who was the Abbott at a Cistercian Monastery or perhaps the idea emerged from the wise hearts of my parents themselves. In itself this conversation was not a turning point for me, but I see it now as significant in that it communicated my parent’s comfort with one of their children choosing to follow the path I have followed. The conversation was one of a number of incidents in my life that made the idea of priesthood or religious life normal… accessible. The conversation mom and dad had with each of us was in reality, part of the long discernment process that is growing up.

If you are a Catholic parent I would encourage you to have a similar conversation with your own children for three reasons. The first is that it normalizes a lifestyle choice that is for most young people today, quite unusual. Secondly, and more importantly, it tells your child that such a choice is okay with you. The opinion of parents is immensely important to children, even adult children, and unless you tell them, they won’t know that you’re okay with the things that might be stirring in their hearts. Finally, religious life or priesthood might be the place where your child is going to most become the person God is calling them to be. Having such a conversation will introduce an opportunity they might otherwise miss.

Fr Ken

Welcome to this new vocation site for the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. My name is Fr Ken Thorson OMI. I am the Director of Vocations for my Oblate Province, OMI Lacombe Canada. My ministry is pretty simple, I help people who are discerning their vocation; that is, I try to help people as they sort out what it is God might be calling them to do with their lives. Prior to this ministry I served in Birmingham, England, and Saskatoon.

Frederick Buechner wrote that vocation is, that place where your deep gladness meets the world’s deep need. It is God’s desire that each of us live a life of deep gladness or joy. But in the life of Jesus, and in the lives of those who followed him, we see that this joy seems possible only when we are giving of ourselves to God in service of others. What’s key is that we find what we are meant to do and then apply that to the many faces of poverty and need in the world. The goal of oblatevocations.ca is to provide information for people in the process of making a prayerful decision (discernment) as to how God is calling them to live their lives.

One option for Catholic men is to live as a religious brother or priest. I have to say, that while it’s not for everybody, it is a great life for those of us who answer God’s call. For those of you considering this option our site provides some information on the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate that might help you in your discernment.

There will be at least one new post each week on the blog so be sure to check in once in awhile. Also, feel free to check out the links Facebook page and YouTube channel. And finally, don’t hesitate to get in touch with me any time (you’ll find my contact details on the homepage) with your thoughts, insights and questions. And if there’s anything else you want to see on the site let me know about that too.

Fr Ken Thorson OMI