PRESS RELEASE
10 JULY 2003
IRISH PRIEST TO COORDINATE
EUROPEAN VOCATIONS SERVICE
At the Annual Conference of the European Vocations Service (EVS) which took
place this week in Warsaw, the Irish Delegate to the Conference, Fr Kevin
Doran was elected Coordinator of the EVS for a three-year term. The European
Vocations Service is a federation of the National Vocations Services of Europe
linked to the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE).
Fr Doran is currently Vocations Director for the Archdiocese of Dublin and
National Coordinator for Diocesan Vocations in Ireland and will continue in
these roles in addition to his new position with the EVS. He succeeds
Monsignor Rainer Birkenmaier of Germany, and will work closely with the
President of EVS, Archbishop Alois Kothgasser of Salzburg.
Over 60 delegates from 23 countries, including 12 bishops, attended the
EVS Conference in Warsaw, the theme of which was The Integration of
Vocations Ministry into the Broader Structures of Pastoral Life. The
keynote speaker was Fr Amedeo Cencini, who lectures at the Salesian
University in Rome. He spoke of the essential elements of a renewed
vocations ministry, stressing that a pastoral strategy that is not
vocational is not really pastoral and will not be effective. He also
argued that a well integrated Christian life includes four essential
elements, namely prayer, community, service and witness.
Speaking about the issue of Vocations on his return from Warsaw, Fr Doran
said: “Every human being wants to know the meaning of his or her life. The
Scriptures teach us that life is a gift which has been received from a God
who loves us. That awareness, of its very nature, sparks off in us the
desire to respond, so that we also begin to see our lives as a gift which
must be given. We are drawn almost inevitably into some kind of commitment
or service, which nobody else can carry out on our behalf. The challenge
for the Church in Europe is to create this culture of vocation. It is
the responsibility of every believer – not just of vocations directors.
Only against the background of that broader understanding of vocations
ministry can we realistically and confidently propose the more specific
radical commitments to Christian marriage, to priesthood, to religious
life and to other forms of consecration in the Church.”
ENDS
10 July 2003
Further information:
Fr Martin Clarke (087 220 8044)
Ms Brenda Drumm (087 233 7797)
Fr Kevin Doran (087 244 7358)
