As the US welcomes Pope Frances, I can’t help but wonder what the effect will be on those discerning or even thinking
about discerning a religious vocation.
I have read the accounts of Saint John Paul the Great at World Youth Day in Denver in 1993. The strength of his personality and his ability to communicate the truths of the faith inspired young people all over the world. His love of the youth inspired an entire generation. Many religious vocations came out of the Pope John Paul 2 years and today are referred to as JP2 priests and religious.
Here is a exert from a National Catholic Register article: “Looking at the Good Fruit of World Youth Day Denver ’93 about vocations that sprang from the 1993 World Youth Day in Denver:
Among the young attendees was Giovanni Capucci, who traveled from Italy at the age of 19. Today, he’s known
as Father Capucci, judicial vicar for the Archdiocese of Denver.
“It was such a marvelous event that it’s difficult to express,” Father Capucci said. “It was a beautiful experience of communion, with hundreds of thousands of people coming from all over the world. Pope John Paul II was able to transmit the Holy Spirit to all of us. You could just feel the holiness and the presence of God. It so radically changed my life that every single day since has been fulfilling.”
As the authors on this blog pray for parents of discerning sons and daughters, we hope Pope Frances will inspire other young men and women to be open to the idea of a heroic life spent serving the people of God.
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Seminarian Parents 