Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Nouméa (Fides Service) - In the Year of the Eucharist October 2004 - October 2005 called by Pope John Paul II to intensify prayer and adoration, Catholics in the Pacific have been urged in particular to pray for vocations. The call to Catholics in New Caledonia and everywhere in the Pacific Islands was launched by missionary Fr. Francis Xavier de Viviés.
In an open letter to all Catholics in Oceania Fr. de Viviés, involved in vocation pastoral in New Caledonia, stressed the importance of prayer for every Christian community: prayer, he said, is a means of universal communion, it unites believers all over the world.
The priest recalled that the birth of new vocations is rooted in Christian life lived with intensity and profundity in one’s own family, underlining the responsibility of authentic Christian families. If there is a decline in vocations to the consecrated life, said Fr de Viviés, it means there is a decline in lived Christian witness in the family. Therefore vocation pastoral is a task not only for priests and religious, it involves also the laity, parents especially, who are called to hand on the contents of the faith to their children and to bear witness to the Gospel in the home.
Addressing the faithful Fr. de Viviés invited them also to pray for missionaries and religious engaged in pastoral service in the Pacific Islands; for all local young people who have already decided for a consecration and are on a path of formation; for catechists who offer some of their time to giving children and young people a Christian education.
Fr. de Viviés said to young people: “Give yourselves to Christ: and He will give you joy”. He has asked for churches and chapels to be kept open for as long as possibile in these last two months of the Year of the Eucharist, to encourage people to spend some time in prayer in front of Jesus, present in the consecrated Host in tabernacle. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 30/8/2005 righe 22 parole 241)
