Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2009 / St. John Vianney continues to inspire priests, vocations
St. John Vianney continues to inspire priests, vocations
by Jared Field of The Michigan Catholic
Published September 25, 2009
Detroit - St. Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney, all 5 feet and 2 inches of him, was described as a thin, awkward, hurried and even nervous Frenchman who struggled with Latin.
"He was gentle, but of all things challenging - a walking contradiction," spoke Bishop Earl Boyea of Lansing during his keynote address to the second annual Vocations Convocation for the Priesthood and Consecrated Life on Saturday at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. "This wiry bundle led an incredible life."
Just more than 100 gathered in the gymnasium at Sacred Heart to listen to Bishop Boyea, formerly of Detroit, draw contemporary insights from the life of the patron saint of parish priests.
Bishop Boyea spoke of a priest of little worldly account and limited formal education who became a venerated man of God.
"(St. John Vianney) revolutionized his village," Bishop Boyea said. "He was counter-cultural."
Tom Clark, pastoral associate and youth minister at St. Joseph in Trenton, was taken by St. John Vianney's example, one that he believes can inspire the young people in his parish.
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Photo by Jared Field
Lansing Bishop Earl Boyea speaks about St. John Vianney, "a walking contradiction," during the keynote address at the Vocations Convocation for the Priesthood and Consecrated Life. |
"He was probably less than ordinary in the eyes of people," Clark said. "Teens are so influenced by the world, so it's inspiring to see someone ordinary, or less than ordinary, become spectacular because of who they are in God and because they allowed God to move in them."
Clark said that St. John Vianney did the impossible because of God's grace, sufficient for all.
"We can all do this," he said. "Putting our hearts in God's hands takes us out of ourselves and into the realm of what God wants us to do ... I think that's a message for all of us. When we lock into God, we can do things that don't seem possible. And even if we don't get that, we can, most importantly, reach into who we are, find out who we are in line with God, and be more than we could ever hope to be."
David Obia, a 15-year-old sophomore from University of Detroit Jesuit High School, was the youngest to attend the convocation. Learning about the life of St. John Vianney seemed to affirm what David believes may be his calling.
"Sometimes I wish (a vocation) wasn't for me, but it really might be something I'm called to do," he said.
Obia said he was struck by St. John Vianney's desire to be content in his calling.
"He kept it real, and simple," David said. "All he wanted to do was to follow what God wanted him to do, and he did that in any way he could."
St. John Vianney once said that he believed it was his vocation to remain a shepherd all his life. And so it was.
"It's clear that St. John Vianney became a saint in a culture that was very anti-religious, and he won it over," Bishop Boyea said.
The one-day event was sponsored by the Office for Priestly Vocations of the Archdiocese of Detroit.
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