Prof.Thomas A. Wong
President of Serra International
Prof. Thomas Anthony Sze Pok Wong, D.C., C.M.D., C.C.S.P., I.C.S.S.D., from the Republic of China, is the 68th President of Serra International (2011-2012). Born in a Catholic family, he graduated in Medicine and, at present, is a chiropractic doctor and a doctor of Chinese medicine. He is a visiting Professor at the Medical College of the Jinan University in China. He was raised in Hong Kong and completed his studies at the Colleg eof William and Mary in the United States. Prof. Wong has served on the Serra’s governing board since 2007. He was elected President during the 69th international convention, held in Ottawa (Canada, July 2011). He
is Serra’s first President from the Republic of China. (See below: Profile in Italian, French and Spanish)
SERRA INTERNATIONAL
INTRODUCTION
Your Eminence Zenon Cardinal Grocholewski, Your Excellency Archbishop Jean-Louis Brugues, Monsignor Francis Bonnici, Your Excellencies, Bishops’ elegates for Pastoral Ministry for Vocations, Directors of Vocations, my brothers and sisters in Serra and other members of Christ’s lay faithful:
On behalf of the governing
board of Serra International
(“Serra”) and its 18,000 members around the
world, I warmly extend to you
greetings of affection in Christ Jesus. By
the grace of God, we have come
together in the Eternal City to celebrate
the 70th Anniversary of
the founding by His Holiness Pope Pius XII of the
Pontifical Work for Priestly
Vocations, and the 60th anniversary of Serra’s
aggregation to that institution,
which is now known as the Pontifical
Pastoral Ministry for Priestly
Vocations.
THE INSPIRATION OF HIS HOLINESS POPE PIUS XII
I am
mindful that this Congress is beginning just 25 days
after the 53rd
anniversary of the death of Pope Pius XII, to whom all promoters
of
vocations to the holy priesthood in the Catholic Church will always owe an
enormous debt. There are many of
you here today who lived under the
leadership and governance of this amazingly
gifted Supreme Pontiff. Some
of
you will still be acutely aware of the extent to which the world
“descended into
the abyss”during the turbulent years that followed the Nazi
invasion of
Poland in September 1939 and the
unprecedented challenges
that the Holy Father was required to face as a
result. When I reflect on
those
traumatic times, I am astounded that Pope Pius XII, in the midst of
all that
chaos, conceived and implemented his powerful vision for the
promotion of
priestly vocations that was given to the Church in his Motu
Proprio Cum
Nobis of 04 November
1941.
Who was this remarkable man
that we now call Venerable
Pius XII?
Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli was born on 02
March 1876
in Romeinto a deeply
religious family living in Rome. Eugenio made clear
his intentions to
enter the priesthood when he was just 12 years of age.
From 1895 to 1896, he
studied philosophy at the University of Rome
La
Sapienzaand received degrees in
theology and in utroque
iure (civil and canon law) in 1899. Pacelli was the financial
adviser to
His Holiness Pope Leo XIII. After
being appointed papal
chamberlain, he served as a Vatican representative at the
International
Eucharistic Congress inLondon in 1908, where he met Winston
Churchill. In
1911, he represented
the Holy See at the coronation of King George V of
England.
In 1915, he travelled to Vienna to assist
the Papal Nuncio to Austriain his negotiations with Franz Joseph I of
Austriaregarding
Italy.
Pacelli was appointed Papal Nuncio to what
was essentially the whole
German Empire from 1920 onwards.
In 1935,
the year that Serra was founded, he was made the Camerlengo of
the Catholic
Church by His Holiness Pope Pius XI.
On 02 March 1939, Eugenio Cardinal
Pacelli was elected Supreme Pontiff,
taking the name Pius XII. During
his pontificate, he infallibly proclaimed the dogma of the Assumption of Mary in
his 1950 Apostolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus.
His
forty-one encyclicals include Mystici Corporis, the Church as
the
Body of Christ; Mediator Dei on liturgy reform; Humani
Generison the Church's position on theology and evolution.
He
eliminated the Italian majority in the College of Cardinals in
1946. No
one in the Church seemed
more qualified to do so which is probably why the
Holy Spirit inspired the
College of Cardinals to choose him as the next
Successor of
Peter.
It
is a sad reflection on our times that, in recent years, there has a been a
movement in secular and even some Catholic circles to try to re-craft the image
of Pius XII by accusing him of being complacent to the point of becoming an
unwilling accomplice in the extreme persecution of people of the Jewish
faith by
the Third Reich. In reality, Pius
XII remained strong and
defiant against overwhelming force, something that was
attested to by the
many Jews who stood up to defend him against the extreme
allegations made
in the book Hitler’s Pope
Rabbi Dalin explains how, contrary to
the“anti-papal polemics of
ex-seminarians like Garry Wills and John
Cornwell (author of Hitler's
Pope), of defrocked
priests such as James Carroll, or of lapsed or
angry liberal Catholics”[1],
Pius XII in fact
saved more Jews than Schindler and exposed the whisperings
of blood libel as
fictitious.
In fact, so powerful was the message of rebuttal in
Mit Brennender
Sorge that the Royal Air Force and the French Air Force
dropped 88,000
copies of that book over Germany.
It seems fair to ask if a neutral
writing would justify the use of so
much scarce military resources.
Supporters and admirers of Pius XII included Chief Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi
Herzog of the Palestinian Mandate and Israel, Israeli Prime Ministers Golda Meir
and
Moshe Sharett, and Israel's first president Chaim
Weizmann. It
seems to me that a
more just and balanced world would be appreciative of
having such a strong
leader during a time when great evil was rending the
social fabric of Europe.
As Serrans,
we are particularly grateful for the
remarkable foresight and leadership of
Pius XII in the field of vocations to the
holy priesthood. During a period
when seminarians were plentiful, he recognized the importance of
encouraging
groups of Christ’s lay faithful to become front-line supporters
of their
shepherds in the vital work of promoting priestly
vocations.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS
CONGRESS
This Congress with its
beautiful and challenging theme:
“I have chosen you. Priests for
our times” marks an important point in
the history of organized
support for priestly vocations by members of the lay
faithful, and
especially for Serra.
Sixty years ago, Serra had yet to venture beyond the
boundaries of the
United
States.
Since 1951, with the blessing
and encouragement of the Holy See, Serra
has worked energetically and
strategically to establish its presence in an
additional 45 countries of
the world located on every habitable continent.
While we are proud of that
achievement, we fully
understand that this is no time for complacency. For
as long as so many Catholic
dioceses remain unaware of what Serra can offer
them when they embrace its
active presence, we will continue to strive
every day to make Serra worthy of
its recognition by the Holy See as the
global lay apostolate for vocations in
the Catholic
Church.
To begin, I would like to
speak briefly about the origins
of Serra and the extent of its development
and outreach over the period of 16
years leading up to its aggregation to
the Pontifical Work for Priestly
Vocations on 03 May 1951.
Secondly,
I will describe what Serra has been doing to increase its
outreach and the
effectiveness of its work for vocations since that time as well
as to
recognize various important figures along the way.
I will conclude with
some insights into where Serra’s apostolic work for
vocations is likely to
take the organization in the
future.
SERRA’S
FOUNDING
Serra
can trace its roots back to 1934 when four Catholic
businessmen from
Seattle in the State of
Washingtonin the United States of
America
organized weekly luncheon meetings for
business and professional men to
exchange ideas on Catholic thought.
During those informal meetings, they
became conscious of the need to set
up an organization that encouraged the
spiritual growth of its members, and
worked to strengthen Catholicism in
modern society.
These four
men, Harold Haberle, Daniel Rooney, Leo
Sharkey and Richard Ward, were the
founders of what was to become known as Serra
International. They soon
invited
others to join them. Over the next
few months, the founders
came to the conclusion that the group that had formed
around them should
devote itself to a worthwhile Catholic objective.
They sought the advice
of their bishop, the Most Reverend Gerald
Shaughnessy, to help them
determine what that objective should be.
Shaughnessy had been appointed the
fourth Bishop of
Seattle by His Holiness Pope Pius XI on 01 July 1933.
His talent for administration and attention to detail kept the diocese
financially stable during the Great Depression. He also supported various other
growing
programs such as the St. Vincent de Paul Society and Catholic
Charities. Bishop Shaughnessy agreed to serve as
the new group’s first
chaplain which turned out to be a great blessing during
those crucial
formative years
Guided by their
bishop’s wise counsel, Serra’s founders
decided that the primary purpose of
their new organization would be to foster
vocations to the holy priesthood
and to aid in financing the education of
seminarians. Thus the first Serra
community of the lay faithful committed to fostering and promoting priestly
vocations came into being in Seattleon 12 June
1935.
Of the four founders, only
Daniel Rooney was elected
international president. He served
in that
office from 1941 to 1946.
In 1952, he received the honor of a private
audience with Pope Pius
XII. Harold Haberle, the last
surviving
founder, had the privilege of meeting with Pope John Paul II in
1979.
SERRA’S
PATRON
Not only because of his place
in American history as the
founder of a chain of missions along the
California coast, but also because of
his life of priestly zeal and heroic
virtue, Fray Junipero Serra OFM was chosen
as the organization’s patron.
This
gifted Franciscan friar had occupied the Duns
Scotus chair of
philosophy in Mallorca until he felt the call
to commit himself further to the
service of Christ as a missionary in the
New
World. Departing from
Cadizin Spain in 1748, he made the perilous
crossing of
the Atlantic Ocean in a small ship, landing at Veracruz on the
southern shore of the Gulf of Mexico.
From there, he journeyed on foot to
the Capital (Mexico City) where
tradition has it that he prayed at the
church built over the famous site where
the Virgin of Guadalupe appeared to
St. Juan Diego in
1531.
Fray
Junipero Serra was transferred to the Sierra Gorda
region at his own
request, and was appointed President of the Sierra Gorda
missions in 1751.
To get there, he
made the arduous journey across the Sierra Madre mountain
range.
After nine years, he was asked to undertake his missionary work some
2,800
km away on the Pacific coast of the North American
continent, much of the time suffering with an ulcerated leg.
Fr. Serra and
his fellow Franciscan friars eventually established a chain
of missions in
Alta California and worked
tirelessly to bring Christ to the indigenous
peoples.
After a lengthy period of demanding missionary activity, Fr.
Serra died
at his favorite Mission Carmel in 1774.
Despite the fact
that, during his time as a missionary, Father Serra had
very little
involvement with promoting priestly vocations, today it can only be
considered providential that a holy priest who demonstrated such zeal for souls
would be chosen as the patron of a global vocations apostolate, considering
that
the primary focus of its work is fostering and promoting vocations to
the holy
priesthood and to supporting the sacred ministry of priests, those
who spend and
consume themselves for the salvation of
souls.
Serrans are encouraged by the
beatification in 1988 of
our patron, Blessed Fray Junipero Serra, and
continue to offer prayers and
sacrifices imploring God to bless His
faithful servant with the honor of being
recognized as a saint of the
universal Church. Blessed Fray Junipero Serra, pray
for
us!
SERRA’S INITIAL
OUTREACH
In the first two years,
Serra Clubs were chartered in
Spokaneand Tacoma
in Washingtonand also
in Portland, Oregonand
San Francisco, California. As the need for stronger
management
became apparent, representatives of all six Serra Clubs met in
Seattle
on 08 July 1939 and voted to form Serra International as a
Washington not-for-profit
corporation. Dr. Thomas Sheehan
was elected
its first president, serving in that office until 1941.
He was succeeded by
Daniel Rooney who served as president until
1946.
It may be thought that Serra’s
founders and early
promoters had already adopted a grand vision of a future
global organization
when they chose to add the word “International” to the
name of their new
organization. However, it is
unlikely that such was
the case, since it was quite customary in Seattleat that time to differentiate
commercial
entities with any potential for doing business in the Canadian
provinces across
their northern border by adding the word “International”
to their names. In fact, in the 16 years prior to the
granting of the
Decree of Aggregation, Serra’s outreach was confined to
chartering 50 Serra
Clubs located in 23 states and one territory of the
United States(namely
Washington.
Oregon, California, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Texas,
Arizona, Missouri,
Pennsylvania, Nevada, Michigan, Kansas, Indiana,
Colorado, Puerto Rico,
Tennessee, New Mexico, Iowa, Rhode Island,
Louisiana, Connecticut,
Massachusetts, and West
Virginia).
It was not until 06
February 1952 that Serra finally
lived up to its official name when the
first Serra Club outside the
United States was chartered
in Toronto,
Canada.
SERRA’S FIRST
EPISCOPAL ADVISER AND THE REQUEST FOR
AGGREGATION
Samuel
Alphonsus
Stritch was born in 1887 in the State of Tennessee
in the United
States.
He entered the seminary at 16 years of age and demonstrated his
brilliance and devotion to his studies by completing all required courses
of
study for the priesthood within six years. Being only 22 years old,
Stritch was
below the age requirement for ordination.
However His
Holiness Pope Pius X granted a dispensation saying,
"[Stritch] is young in
years but old in intelligence.
Let him be ordained."[2]
While studying in Romein later years, Stritch
would also become
friends with the future Pope Pius XII, Eugenio Pacelli.
In 1940, despite his protests, Stritch was appointed to succeed His
Eminence George Cardinal Mundelein as Archbishop of Chicago.
In addition
to his work with Serra, Cardinal Stritch oversaw the
establishment of Opus
Dei in America, the initiation of the
Christian Family Movement, and an
outreach to the Puerto Rican
community.[3]
His Eminence Samuel Alphonsus Cardinal Stritch was
appointed Serra’s first
Episcopal Adviser in 1945 and served in that capacity
for a record 12
years. Cardinal
Stritch was a visionary and he put his vision for Serra
into action when he
convinced the organization to move from Seattle
in
1947 and to establish its first central secretariat in Chicago, hiring Mr. Harry
O’Haire as Serra’s first full-time Executive Secretary.
The
Cardinal’s next move was to arrange a series of meetings in The
Vatican
with the Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for Seminaries and
Universities, His Eminence Giuseppe Cardinal Pizzardo.
As Serra’s
Episcopal Adviser, Cardinal Stritch earnestly requested that
Serra be given
formal recognition by the Holy See for its apostolic work for
priestly
vocations. During some of
these meetings, he was accompanied and supported
by Colonel Ralph Hauenstein, a
Serran with significant international
experience.
These efforts culminated in the signing on 04 November 1951 of
a formal
document on behalf of His Holiness Pope Pius XII, aggregating the
fledgling lay
organization to the Pontifical Work for Priestly Vocations,
within what was then
known as the Sacred Congregation for Seminaries and
Universities.
SERRA’S
APOSTLES AND POST AGGREGATION
GROWTH
While there have been many Serrans who are worthy of
recognition for
their commitment to and success in establishing and supporting
new Serra
communities in other parts of their home dioceses or in neighboring
dioceses, I want to tell you about some remarkable Serrans who, in imitation of
Christ’s Apostles, journeyed far and wide to establish a Serra presence in
countries a long way from home and, by so doing, contributed significantly
to
its global outreach.
Colonel Ralph
Hauenstein
During his visits to The Vatican in the early 1950’s, a
distinguished
Serran by the name of Ralph Hauenstein worked closely with
Cardinal Stritch
in support of his request that the Holy See formally recognize
Serra’s
apostolic work of promoting priestly vocations, meeting with Pope Pius
XII
in the process of those negotiations.
During World War II, Colonel
Hauenstein served as Chief
of Intelligence for the United States Army in
the European Theatre of
Operations. In 1945, he was among
the first
Americans to enter liberated Paris,
war-torn Germany, and the Nazi
concentration
camps. The terrible destruction
that he saw convinced
him to work for better international relations and
peaceful solutions to
conflict.
After World War II, he became a successful entrepreneur,
eventually
owning companies that conducted business internationally.
Because of his extensive travels,
Hauenstein was
appointed by Serra’s governing board as District
Governor-at-large to work for
the extension of Serra across the world.
In that way, he became the first Serran to promote the organization
outside of North America.
His efforts helped establish the first Serra
communities in
England (Liverpool in 1957),
Italy (Genoa in 1959), and
Hong
Kong (1963). He told
me personally that he brought the Serran
Bell to Hong
Kong by himself at our charter ceremony.
The Serra Club
of Genoa became the first non-English-speaking Serra
community. Hauenstein
was elected
Serra’s international president in 1960.
He is the oldest
living Serran.
In his hundredth year, he remains a shining example of
dedication to
Serra and its vital work for priestly
vocations.
Jan
Berbers
A native of the
Netherlands, Berbers moved to Uruguaywhere he
ran a very successful
business for many years. He donated a retreat house for priests
and
seminarians as well as the premises for a local Serra office in Montevideo.
He was elected Serra’s international president in 1966.
Later he
lived in Spain where he bought a downtown
apartment for use as the Serra
office in that country.
He eventually retired to his native land,
remaining active in Serra until
the time of his
death.
New Serra countries:
Uruguay(1961), Argentina (1962), Paraguay (1964), Spain (1972),
The
Netherlands (1990)
Paul
Mariani
Mariani, a native of
California, was in the fresh fruit
import/export business. He was an
active Serran and used his business trips to Australia to meet with members of
the Catholic
hierarchy in Sydney and Melbourne and, with their support, to
identify and
motivate groups of Catholic men who became the nucleus of
Serra in
Australia and later in
New
Zealand.
New Serra countries:
Australia(1969), New Zealand
(1982)
Antonio
LaVerghetta
LaVerghetta served as a general officer in the Italian
army during World
War II. When he
retired, he undertook the challenge of introducing Serra
into the former
Soviet-bloc countries of Central Europe. LaVerghetta
remained active in that
missionary work until just a few years before his
death in
2004.
New Serra
countries: Slovenia(1991), Hungary (1992), Croatia (1993), Romania
(1998)
Chainarong
Monthienvichienchai
Chainarong
worked as a Professor at the (Catholic)
Universityof St. John in Bangkok
for many years, eventually becoming its
Vice Chancellor. He travelled
extensively throughout Asia promoting Serra in
new
countries.
Chainarong was elected
Serra’s international president in
2004 and co-chaired Serra’s 63rd
international convention held in Bangkok, Thailandin June 2005.
That
convention attracted Serra’s most global audience being attended by
representatives of 32 countries.
New
Serra countries: Myanmar(2001), Bangladesh (2001), India (2003), Singapore
(2006)
John M. “Tomi”
Asenuga
A native of Nigeria,
Asenuga studied Architecture and Town
Planning in Britainand the
United States before
returning to Nigeriato practice his
profession.
He later joined the
Nigerian army where he worked on the design of military
barracks.
Upon his retirement, he became very active in promoting the
growth of
Serra in Nigeriaand also
worked to restore its active
presence in Ghana where the
first Serra Club had been chartered in 1982.
Asenuga served as Serra’s international
president in 2010-2011, the first
from the continent of Africa. He
was instrumental in presenting a special
brochure about Serra to all the bishops
of Africa and Madagascar
assembled for their SECAM meeting
in Ghana in September
2010.
Potential Serra countries
(works in process):
Ivory Coast,
Kenya,Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, and
South
Africa.
SERRA’S GLOBAL
OUTREACH
It
should be apparent now that since the 1960’s, Serra
has achieved
significant growth. It has entered Italy, the countries of Central Europe, South
America, Oceania, Asia and Africa.
As the first Chinese International
President, I personally pledge to
strengthen the Serra bond in throughtout
Asia. I will
also try my best to outreach more Asian countries like China,
Vitanam, Japanand Korea.
This challenges Serra to continue its global
outreach, so that it may
truly reflect the universality of the Church and
more fully achieve its purpose
as the global lay apostolate for vocations
in the Catholic
Church.
HOW
SERRA WORKS FOR
VOCATIONS
As
Blessed John Paul II told us on more than one
occasion, the primary means
of doing the work of Serra is prayer.
Serra encourages its members (known
as Serrans) to offer daily prayers
and additional Masses each month for
vocations and to organize centers for
Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
where fellow Catholics can join them in
praying for
vocations.
Serra is widely recognized
and respected for the
following activities directed at fostering and
promoting vocations to the sacred
priesthood:
■
The 31 Club. Serrans
encourage fellow members of
their parishes to commit to attending one
additional Mass each month to pray for
priestly vocations.
■
Called by Name. Serrans
promote this program in
their parishes to encourage the identification of
possible candidates for the
seminary.
■
Vigil for Vocations. This
program gathers members
of the lay faithful on the eve of Good Shepherd
Sunday to pray for priestly
vocations before the Blessed Sacrament exposed.
■
Cards Program. We send
cards of support and
encouragement to seminarians and priests on
anniversaries.
■
Serran
Rosary for Priestly Vocations. This is a
pamphlet which was composed by
Monsignor John K. Aniagwu in Nigera and has been
mass produced and
distributed globally due to high demand. The focus here
again, is begging
for laborers for the vineyard and is an example of how the
real work of
Serra is done at a grassroots level and becomes crystallized in
various
worldwide programs.
■
Serra
Unites!. This is an effort to unite Serra
throughout the world by reducing
diverging and differing programs and
concentrating on the prayer for
vocations manifest in worldwide initiatives.
We Serrans continue to pledge our
duty to “fish for
fisherman”. I hope other faithful
Catholics will
join us in these projects.
The more personal and community effort that we
have, and the more prayer
for vocations, the more energy that will build in
support of vocations. I
believe God will answer our
prayers.
SERRA LEARNING FROM ITS
MISTAKES
Since that time, Serra
has had its successes and
struggles, especially during a confusing time of
apparent revolution. During the
1970’s and 1980’s various negative things
happened to Serra. During this time,
some Serra Clubs seemed to become more
like Rotary clubs, focusing on business
and events and less on prayer and
work for vocations. Also, while a large
portion of our original members
were retained, we failed dismally in attracting
new members to replace them
as they aged. Thus Serra has become an aging
organization facing a
demographic winter that will make it difficult to ensure
that Serra is
effective in its interactions with candidates for the priesthood,
in some
cases, separated by three
generations.
However,
Serrans
throughout the world embraced the powerful message contained in Blessed
John Paul II’s insightful Post Synodal Exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis.
In his writings, John Paul II seems to echo the vision and foresight of
Pius XII
regarding the promotion of priestly vocations: “All the members of
the Church,
without exception, have the grace and responsibility to look
after
vocations.”[4]
Later in the same document, we read the words
of the Holy Father
describing what we like to think is Serra and its vital
prayer and work for
vocations: “With regard to diocesan and parish
communities, special appreciation
and encouragement should be given to
groups which promote vocations, whose
members make an important
contribution by prayer and sufferings offered up for
priestly and religious
vocations, as well as by moral and material
support.”[5]
We have found not only a confirmation of the
importance of our work in
this important teaching document of our beloved
Church, but also a description
of it in the same sentence. As a
result, we have changed the focus of the opus of Serra to place more
emphasis on prayer, since “begging the Lord of the Harvest to send
laborers” is
the most efficacious way today for Serra to support the holy
priesthood.
SERRA
CONSOLIDATES
Serra’s leaders were
also inspired by their Episcopal
Adviser, His Eminence Justin Francis
Cardinal Rigali, Archbishop of
Philadelphia, to redefine what Serra is by
clearly stating what Serra does. Serra’s process of redefining itself
reached its fruition in June 2005, when the delegates to Serra’s 63rd
international convention in Bangkok, Thailand approved amendments to the
Constitution which restated Serra’s objectives and purposes as
follows:
■
To foster and
promote vocations to the
ministerial priesthood in the Catholic Church as a
particular vocation to
service and to support priest in their sacred
ministry;
■
To encourage and
affirm vocations to consecrated
religious life in the Catholic Church;
and
■
To assist its members to
recognize and respond in
their own lives to God's call to holiness in Jesus
Christ and through the Holy
Spirit.
The
thinking behind these amendments is as follows: As Blessed John
Paul II exhorted
those attending the Third Continental Congress on
Vocations in North America in
April 2002, “"On
the issue of the
vocation to priestly ministry, I would like to emphasize that
it cannot be
considered to be a call among many otheres. In fact, on it depend
the
realization and development of all other vocations. The priest represents
Christ in his office of Head, Pastor, Priest and Spouse.”[6] The new first
objective emphasizes the
primacy of the priestly vocation and adds the
obligation that Serrans must
also support priests in their sacred ministry. The
new third objective
takes the beautiful words of Christifidelis Laici in
reminding our
organization that it must commit itself to assisting Serrans to
recognize
and respond in their own lives to the call to holiness in Jesus
Christ.
SERRA LOOKS FORWARD WITH
CONFIDENCE
These are indeed exciting
times for Serra, not because of
these words on a piece of paper, but
because the recent recognition of mistakes
allows Serra to take action in
the correct direction.
In 2011 many unprecedented things have taken place
in Serra.
In brief, I will describe a few of
them:
In June, amidst the chaos of
preparing for an
international convention whose venue had changed only
months before, we have run
into more than a few priests who have joined the
work of Serra with great
excitement and enthusiasm about the life and times
of Fr. Junipero Serra. Along with his enthusiasm, he has
brought great
ideas and plans for new Serra
Clubs.
In July, sixty of our members made a prayerful pilgrimage
to the Holy
Land where they walked in the footsteps of Christ in Galilee and
later in
Jerusalem. The highlight of the pilgrimage was
a Mass in the Holy Sepulchre
of the Lord, where prayers for vocations were
offered at the site where
Christ laid in death and was raised from the dead.
In August 2011, for the first time
in our history, we
commemorated Fr. Serra at World Youth Day in Madridby
handing out 2,500 of his holy
cards. A bell with an engraving of
Fr.
Serra and the words “Siempre adelante, nunca retroceder” was given to
the Spanish Episcopal Conference through His Eminence Antonio Cardinal
Rouco
Valera as a symbolic gift of appreciation for the heroic missionary
work of Fr.
Serra.
In September
2011,
aprayer initiative which started in Singapore called
“Serra
Unites!”was put into action.
After much preparation, a manual for the
first annual “Day of Prayer
throughout the Serra World” was put into use on
the Feast of the birth of Mary,
Mother of Vocations, celebrated each year
on the eighth day of September. I am sure that the hours spent begging
the
Lord of the harvest will bear much good
fruit.
NOTABLE EVENTS RESULTING FROM
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SERRA AND
THE SACRED CONGREGATION
Since
the
aggregation there have been various positive things which here will be
summarized:
■
The
invitation from the Holy See for Serra to
send Auditors to the Synod of
Bishops that produced the seminal work on
vocation to the ordained
priesthood: Pastores Dabo
Vobis.
■
The invitation
arranged by the Congregation to
make it possible for Serra to make a
pilgrimage to Rome to celebrate the
Great Jubilee Year 2000 with Pope John
Paul
II.
■
Beginning in
2001, the commitment to holding an
annual meeting in October of each year
by between the Prefect of the Sacred
Congregation and his staff and Serra’s
leaders.
■
On 25 October
2004, receiving the approval of the
Holy See for use in promoting vocations
both within and outside Serra of the
invocation: Mary, mother
of vocations, pray for
us!
■
The
invitation arranged by the Congregation for
Serrans from four continents to
receive special monstrances blessed by Pope
John Paul II on 24 November
2004 specifically for use in adoration for
vocations during the Year of the
Eucharist.
■
The
Congregation arranging for Serra to have a
special monstrance blessed by
Pope Benedict XVI for use in adoration for
vocations during Serra’s
international convention each
year.
■
The calling on 21-24 June 2005 of the Fourth
Congress on
Vocations to the Ordained Priesthood and Consecrated Life in Asia
to
coincide with Serra’s 63rd international convention in Bangkok,
Thailand.
■
Welcoming the
Prefect of the Sacred Congregation
for Catholic Education, His Eminence
Zenon Cardinal Grocholewski, as the Keynote
Speaker at Serra’s 63rd
international convention in Bangkok on 24 June
2005.
■
The invitation by His
Eminence Zenon Cardinal
Grocholewski, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation
for Catholic Education, for
Serra to provide up to 80 participants to a
special Congress in Rome on 03-05
November 2011 to celebrate the 70th
anniversary of the founding by His Holiness
Pope Pius XII of the Pontifical
Work for Priestly Vocations, and the 60th
anniversary of Serra’s
aggregation to that
institution.
CONCLUSION
Here we are today in
Rome
for the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Pontifical Pastoral
Ministry for
Priestly Vocations. But our
challenge goes beyond just
this.
Anniversaries are a time to celebrate, yes, but they may also be
considered a time to ask ourselves as Catholics trying to support vocations,
“Where are we now and where we are going as a group?
How are we going to
leave a lasting impression on this world for
Christ?” The priest is the one
who
brings the Mass and all the graces associated with the sacraments into
the
world. Should we not unite and
press forward with as much strength
as ever for the salvation of souls, which is
so greatly assisted by this
great sacrament of Holy Orders given to us by
Christ?
All
of humanity needs men who
are courageous in proclaiming the truth and living its
example, thoroughly
living it. Pope
Pius XII was just such a priest.
Consider the words of
Pope Pius XI about his successor: "When today the
Pope dies, you’ll get
another one tomorrow, because the Church continues. It would be a much bigger
tragedy if
Cardinal Pacelli dies, because there is only one.
I pray
every day, God may send another one into one of our seminaries,
but as of
today, there is only one in this world.”[7]
This was said at a time when seminaries were
overflowing with candidates
who had responded generously to the call to
priesthood.
Serra has begun to recognize as well that the quality of priest
is in
fact more important than quantity.
Quality is found in the
candidate’s response to the will of God and the
way to really assist that
from the Serran perspective is through prayers and
sacrifices alongside our
apostolate.
Serra is shrinking
in the West along with many other
Catholic organizations due to hardening
secularism.
In Asia, and even more so in Africa,
Serra is growing in
leaps and bounds.
Currently Serra has established a presence in 46 of the
196 countries in
the world. That is only 23% of
the countries in the
world. Why
are we not present in nearly all that we can be? If we are
taking Christ’s missionary
call seriously, it is essential that every last
one of these countries has a
Serra community present, encouraging and
supporting the priesthood.
Sometimes it can seem like trying to start a
fire with wet leaves, but
God does not ignore our
efforts.
As for Serra, we intend to
dramatically reallocate our
expenditures to improve the efficiency and
ensure the viability of the
organization and direct greater resources to
the development of new programs and
initiatives which aim to communicate,
expound upon and promote the essence of
the sacerdotal calling. We believe
that this change is going to bring great graces for the work of Serra and
begin
to involve the youth. We pray that
Serra communities will soon
be ablaze so that those considering the ordained
priesthood will be
encouraged to make the transition to discernment and seminary
life more
confidently.
As President of Serra, I
wish to thank all of you for
coming and commemorating the foundation of
this essential institution which is
the fruit of the foresight of Venerable
Pius XII and the continued support of
his Successors. May God bless all
of our work and bring us closer to Him in whom we become closer to each
other.
Mary, Mother of Vocations
Pray for
Us!
M. Thomas A.
WONG
Président de Serra
International
M. Thomas Anthony Sze
Pok Wong, docteur en
médecine, est originaire de la République de Chine. Il
est le
68e président de Serra International (2011-2012). Il est
né dans une famille catholique. Diplômé en médecine, il est actuellement
médecin
chiropraticien et spécialiste de médecine chinoise. Il est
également professeur
invité au Medical College de
l’Université Jinande Chine. Il a
grandi à Hong Kong et a ensuite
étudié au College
of William and Mary aux États-Unis. Durant ses
études, il a été institué au
service de l’Eucharistie, et il participe au
Conseil directeur de Serra depuis 2007. Il en fut élu président lors du
69e Congrès international, en juillet 2011 à Ottawa au Canada. Il est le
premier président de Serra
originaire de la
République de
Chine.
Dr. Thomas
A.
WONG
Presidente del
Serra
International
El Dr.
Thomas Anthony Sze Pok Wong, D.C., C.M.D.,
C.C.S.P., I.C.S.S.D., de la
República de China, es el 68° Presidente del Serra
International
(2011-2012). Nacido en una familia católica, se ha licenciado en
medicina y
actualmente es Doctor quiropráctico y Doctor de medicina china.
También es
profesor invitado en Medical
College de la Universidad
Jinan
de China. Vivió en Hong Kong y sucesivamente estudió en el
College
of William and Mary de USA.
Durante sus estudios ha
sido ministro de la Eucaristía. El Dr. Thomas está
desarrollando sus
servicios en el Consejo directico del Serra desde 2007. Es el
primer
presidente del Serra, procedente de la República
China.
Dott. Thomas A.
WONG
Presidente del Serra
International
Il
Dott.
Thomas Anthony Sze Pok Wong, D.C., C.M.D., C.C.S.P., I.C.S.S.D.,
proveniente dalla Repubblica di Cina, è il 68o Presidente del Serra
International (2011-2012).
Nato
in una
famiglia cattolica, si è laureato in medicina e attualmente è
Dottore chiropratico e Dottore di medicina Cinese. Egli è anche professore
invitato presso il Medical
College della Università Jinan
di Cina.
È
cresciuto a Hong
Kong e successivamente ha studiato presso il College
of William and
Mary negli Stati Uniti. Durante i suoi anni di studio è
diventato
ministro dell’Eucaristia. Il Dott. Thomas sta svolgendo il suo
servizio
presso il Consiglio direttivo del Serra dal 2007. È stato eletto
presidente
durante il 69° convegno internazionale tenuto a Ottawa (Canada,
luglio
2011). Egli è il primo Presidente del Serra proveniente dalla Repubblica
di
Cina.
[1]Dalin,
David G.
The Myth of Hitler's Pope: How Pope Pius XII Rescued Jews from
the Nazis.
Washington, DC:
Regnery Pub., 2005. Print.
2.
[2]Thornton, Francis
Beauchesne. Our
American Princes; the Story of the Seventeen American
Cardinals. New
York: Putnam, 1963.
Print.
[3]"Cardinal
to
Rome". TIME
Magazine.
1958-03-10.
[4]John,
Paul. Pastores Dabo Vobis:
Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation, March 25,
1992. Washington, D.C.:
United States Catholic Conference,
1992. Print.
41.
[5] Ibid.
41.
[6]Letter
from Pope John Paul II To The
North American Congress On
Vocations,
Appendix B of Pastoral
Plan. Vatican, 12 April 2002.
[7]Pascalina
Lehnert, Ich durfte Ihm Dienen, Erinnerungen an Papst Pius XII. Naumann,
Würzburg, 1986,p. 49 (Pascalina Lehnert, I could serve him, memories of
Pope
Pius XII. Naumann, Würzburg, 1986, p.
49
President of Serra International
Prof. Thomas Anthony Sze Pok Wong, D.C., C.M.D., C.C.S.P., I.C.S.S.D., from the Republic of China, is the 68th President of Serra International (2011-2012). Born in a Catholic family, he graduated in Medicine and, at present, is a chiropractic doctor and a doctor of Chinese medicine. He is a visiting Professor at the Medical College of the Jinan University in China. He was raised in Hong Kong and completed his studies at the Colleg eof William and Mary in the United States. Prof. Wong has served on the Serra’s governing board since 2007. He was elected President during the 69th international convention, held in Ottawa (Canada, July 2011). He
is Serra’s first President from the Republic of China. (See below: Profile in Italian, French and Spanish)
SERRA INTERNATIONAL
INTRODUCTION
Your Eminence Zenon Cardinal Grocholewski, Your Excellency Archbishop Jean-Louis Brugues, Monsignor Francis Bonnici, Your Excellencies, Bishops’ elegates for Pastoral Ministry for Vocations, Directors of Vocations, my brothers and sisters in Serra and other members of Christ’s lay faithful:
On behalf of the governing
board of Serra International
(“Serra”) and its 18,000 members around the
world, I warmly extend to you
greetings of affection in Christ Jesus. By
the grace of God, we have come
together in the Eternal City to celebrate
the 70th Anniversary of
the founding by His Holiness Pope Pius XII of the
Pontifical Work for Priestly
Vocations, and the 60th anniversary of Serra’s
aggregation to that institution,
which is now known as the Pontifical
Pastoral Ministry for Priestly
Vocations.
THE INSPIRATION OF HIS HOLINESS POPE PIUS XII
I am
mindful that this Congress is beginning just 25 days
after the 53rd
anniversary of the death of Pope Pius XII, to whom all promoters
of
vocations to the holy priesthood in the Catholic Church will always owe an
enormous debt. There are many of
you here today who lived under the
leadership and governance of this amazingly
gifted Supreme Pontiff. Some
of
you will still be acutely aware of the extent to which the world
“descended into
the abyss”during the turbulent years that followed the Nazi
invasion of
Poland in September 1939 and the
unprecedented challenges
that the Holy Father was required to face as a
result. When I reflect on
those
traumatic times, I am astounded that Pope Pius XII, in the midst of
all that
chaos, conceived and implemented his powerful vision for the
promotion of
priestly vocations that was given to the Church in his Motu
Proprio Cum
Nobis of 04 November
1941.
Who was this remarkable man
that we now call Venerable
Pius XII?
Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli was born on 02
March 1876
in Romeinto a deeply
religious family living in Rome. Eugenio made clear
his intentions to
enter the priesthood when he was just 12 years of age.
From 1895 to 1896, he
studied philosophy at the University of Rome
La
Sapienzaand received degrees in
theology and in utroque
iure (civil and canon law) in 1899. Pacelli was the financial
adviser to
His Holiness Pope Leo XIII. After
being appointed papal
chamberlain, he served as a Vatican representative at the
International
Eucharistic Congress inLondon in 1908, where he met Winston
Churchill. In
1911, he represented
the Holy See at the coronation of King George V of
England.
In 1915, he travelled to Vienna to assist
the Papal Nuncio to Austriain his negotiations with Franz Joseph I of
Austriaregarding
Italy.
Pacelli was appointed Papal Nuncio to what
was essentially the whole
German Empire from 1920 onwards.
In 1935,
the year that Serra was founded, he was made the Camerlengo of
the Catholic
Church by His Holiness Pope Pius XI.
On 02 March 1939, Eugenio Cardinal
Pacelli was elected Supreme Pontiff,
taking the name Pius XII. During
his pontificate, he infallibly proclaimed the dogma of the Assumption of Mary in
his 1950 Apostolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus.
His
forty-one encyclicals include Mystici Corporis, the Church as
the
Body of Christ; Mediator Dei on liturgy reform; Humani
Generison the Church's position on theology and evolution.
He
eliminated the Italian majority in the College of Cardinals in
1946. No
one in the Church seemed
more qualified to do so which is probably why the
Holy Spirit inspired the
College of Cardinals to choose him as the next
Successor of
Peter.
It
is a sad reflection on our times that, in recent years, there has a been a
movement in secular and even some Catholic circles to try to re-craft the image
of Pius XII by accusing him of being complacent to the point of becoming an
unwilling accomplice in the extreme persecution of people of the Jewish
faith by
the Third Reich. In reality, Pius
XII remained strong and
defiant against overwhelming force, something that was
attested to by the
many Jews who stood up to defend him against the extreme
allegations made
in the book Hitler’s Pope
Rabbi Dalin explains how, contrary to
the“anti-papal polemics of
ex-seminarians like Garry Wills and John
Cornwell (author of Hitler's
Pope), of defrocked
priests such as James Carroll, or of lapsed or
angry liberal Catholics”[1],
Pius XII in fact
saved more Jews than Schindler and exposed the whisperings
of blood libel as
fictitious.
In fact, so powerful was the message of rebuttal in
Mit Brennender
Sorge that the Royal Air Force and the French Air Force
dropped 88,000
copies of that book over Germany.
It seems fair to ask if a neutral
writing would justify the use of so
much scarce military resources.
Supporters and admirers of Pius XII included Chief Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi
Herzog of the Palestinian Mandate and Israel, Israeli Prime Ministers Golda Meir
and
Moshe Sharett, and Israel's first president Chaim
Weizmann. It
seems to me that a
more just and balanced world would be appreciative of
having such a strong
leader during a time when great evil was rending the
social fabric of Europe.
As Serrans,
we are particularly grateful for the
remarkable foresight and leadership of
Pius XII in the field of vocations to the
holy priesthood. During a period
when seminarians were plentiful, he recognized the importance of
encouraging
groups of Christ’s lay faithful to become front-line supporters
of their
shepherds in the vital work of promoting priestly
vocations.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS
CONGRESS
This Congress with its
beautiful and challenging theme:
“I have chosen you. Priests for
our times” marks an important point in
the history of organized
support for priestly vocations by members of the lay
faithful, and
especially for Serra.
Sixty years ago, Serra had yet to venture beyond the
boundaries of the
United
States.
Since 1951, with the blessing
and encouragement of the Holy See, Serra
has worked energetically and
strategically to establish its presence in an
additional 45 countries of
the world located on every habitable continent.
While we are proud of that
achievement, we fully
understand that this is no time for complacency. For
as long as so many Catholic
dioceses remain unaware of what Serra can offer
them when they embrace its
active presence, we will continue to strive
every day to make Serra worthy of
its recognition by the Holy See as the
global lay apostolate for vocations in
the Catholic
Church.
To begin, I would like to
speak briefly about the origins
of Serra and the extent of its development
and outreach over the period of 16
years leading up to its aggregation to
the Pontifical Work for Priestly
Vocations on 03 May 1951.
Secondly,
I will describe what Serra has been doing to increase its
outreach and the
effectiveness of its work for vocations since that time as well
as to
recognize various important figures along the way.
I will conclude with
some insights into where Serra’s apostolic work for
vocations is likely to
take the organization in the
future.
SERRA’S
FOUNDING
Serra
can trace its roots back to 1934 when four Catholic
businessmen from
Seattle in the State of
Washingtonin the United States of
America
organized weekly luncheon meetings for
business and professional men to
exchange ideas on Catholic thought.
During those informal meetings, they
became conscious of the need to set
up an organization that encouraged the
spiritual growth of its members, and
worked to strengthen Catholicism in
modern society.
These four
men, Harold Haberle, Daniel Rooney, Leo
Sharkey and Richard Ward, were the
founders of what was to become known as Serra
International. They soon
invited
others to join them. Over the next
few months, the founders
came to the conclusion that the group that had formed
around them should
devote itself to a worthwhile Catholic objective.
They sought the advice
of their bishop, the Most Reverend Gerald
Shaughnessy, to help them
determine what that objective should be.
Shaughnessy had been appointed the
fourth Bishop of
Seattle by His Holiness Pope Pius XI on 01 July 1933.
His talent for administration and attention to detail kept the diocese
financially stable during the Great Depression. He also supported various other
growing
programs such as the St. Vincent de Paul Society and Catholic
Charities. Bishop Shaughnessy agreed to serve as
the new group’s first
chaplain which turned out to be a great blessing during
those crucial
formative years
Guided by their
bishop’s wise counsel, Serra’s founders
decided that the primary purpose of
their new organization would be to foster
vocations to the holy priesthood
and to aid in financing the education of
seminarians. Thus the first Serra
community of the lay faithful committed to fostering and promoting priestly
vocations came into being in Seattleon 12 June
1935.
Of the four founders, only
Daniel Rooney was elected
international president. He served
in that
office from 1941 to 1946.
In 1952, he received the honor of a private
audience with Pope Pius
XII. Harold Haberle, the last
surviving
founder, had the privilege of meeting with Pope John Paul II in
1979.
SERRA’S
PATRON
Not only because of his place
in American history as the
founder of a chain of missions along the
California coast, but also because of
his life of priestly zeal and heroic
virtue, Fray Junipero Serra OFM was chosen
as the organization’s patron.
This
gifted Franciscan friar had occupied the Duns
Scotus chair of
philosophy in Mallorca until he felt the call
to commit himself further to the
service of Christ as a missionary in the
New
World. Departing from
Cadizin Spain in 1748, he made the perilous
crossing of
the Atlantic Ocean in a small ship, landing at Veracruz on the
southern shore of the Gulf of Mexico.
From there, he journeyed on foot to
the Capital (Mexico City) where
tradition has it that he prayed at the
church built over the famous site where
the Virgin of Guadalupe appeared to
St. Juan Diego in
1531.
Fray
Junipero Serra was transferred to the Sierra Gorda
region at his own
request, and was appointed President of the Sierra Gorda
missions in 1751.
To get there, he
made the arduous journey across the Sierra Madre mountain
range.
After nine years, he was asked to undertake his missionary work some
2,800
km away on the Pacific coast of the North American
continent, much of the time suffering with an ulcerated leg.
Fr. Serra and
his fellow Franciscan friars eventually established a chain
of missions in
Alta California and worked
tirelessly to bring Christ to the indigenous
peoples.
After a lengthy period of demanding missionary activity, Fr.
Serra died
at his favorite Mission Carmel in 1774.
Despite the fact
that, during his time as a missionary, Father Serra had
very little
involvement with promoting priestly vocations, today it can only be
considered providential that a holy priest who demonstrated such zeal for souls
would be chosen as the patron of a global vocations apostolate, considering
that
the primary focus of its work is fostering and promoting vocations to
the holy
priesthood and to supporting the sacred ministry of priests, those
who spend and
consume themselves for the salvation of
souls.
Serrans are encouraged by the
beatification in 1988 of
our patron, Blessed Fray Junipero Serra, and
continue to offer prayers and
sacrifices imploring God to bless His
faithful servant with the honor of being
recognized as a saint of the
universal Church. Blessed Fray Junipero Serra, pray
for
us!
SERRA’S INITIAL
OUTREACH
In the first two years,
Serra Clubs were chartered in
Spokaneand Tacoma
in Washingtonand also
in Portland, Oregonand
San Francisco, California. As the need for stronger
management
became apparent, representatives of all six Serra Clubs met in
Seattle
on 08 July 1939 and voted to form Serra International as a
Washington not-for-profit
corporation. Dr. Thomas Sheehan
was elected
its first president, serving in that office until 1941.
He was succeeded by
Daniel Rooney who served as president until
1946.
It may be thought that Serra’s
founders and early
promoters had already adopted a grand vision of a future
global organization
when they chose to add the word “International” to the
name of their new
organization. However, it is
unlikely that such was
the case, since it was quite customary in Seattleat that time to differentiate
commercial
entities with any potential for doing business in the Canadian
provinces across
their northern border by adding the word “International”
to their names. In fact, in the 16 years prior to the
granting of the
Decree of Aggregation, Serra’s outreach was confined to
chartering 50 Serra
Clubs located in 23 states and one territory of the
United States(namely
Washington.
Oregon, California, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Texas,
Arizona, Missouri,
Pennsylvania, Nevada, Michigan, Kansas, Indiana,
Colorado, Puerto Rico,
Tennessee, New Mexico, Iowa, Rhode Island,
Louisiana, Connecticut,
Massachusetts, and West
Virginia).
It was not until 06
February 1952 that Serra finally
lived up to its official name when the
first Serra Club outside the
United States was chartered
in Toronto,
Canada.
SERRA’S FIRST
EPISCOPAL ADVISER AND THE REQUEST FOR
AGGREGATION
Samuel
Alphonsus
Stritch was born in 1887 in the State of Tennessee
in the United
States.
He entered the seminary at 16 years of age and demonstrated his
brilliance and devotion to his studies by completing all required courses
of
study for the priesthood within six years. Being only 22 years old,
Stritch was
below the age requirement for ordination.
However His
Holiness Pope Pius X granted a dispensation saying,
"[Stritch] is young in
years but old in intelligence.
Let him be ordained."[2]
While studying in Romein later years, Stritch
would also become
friends with the future Pope Pius XII, Eugenio Pacelli.
In 1940, despite his protests, Stritch was appointed to succeed His
Eminence George Cardinal Mundelein as Archbishop of Chicago.
In addition
to his work with Serra, Cardinal Stritch oversaw the
establishment of Opus
Dei in America, the initiation of the
Christian Family Movement, and an
outreach to the Puerto Rican
community.[3]
His Eminence Samuel Alphonsus Cardinal Stritch was
appointed Serra’s first
Episcopal Adviser in 1945 and served in that capacity
for a record 12
years. Cardinal
Stritch was a visionary and he put his vision for Serra
into action when he
convinced the organization to move from Seattle
in
1947 and to establish its first central secretariat in Chicago, hiring Mr. Harry
O’Haire as Serra’s first full-time Executive Secretary.
The
Cardinal’s next move was to arrange a series of meetings in The
Vatican
with the Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for Seminaries and
Universities, His Eminence Giuseppe Cardinal Pizzardo.
As Serra’s
Episcopal Adviser, Cardinal Stritch earnestly requested that
Serra be given
formal recognition by the Holy See for its apostolic work for
priestly
vocations. During some of
these meetings, he was accompanied and supported
by Colonel Ralph Hauenstein, a
Serran with significant international
experience.
These efforts culminated in the signing on 04 November 1951 of
a formal
document on behalf of His Holiness Pope Pius XII, aggregating the
fledgling lay
organization to the Pontifical Work for Priestly Vocations,
within what was then
known as the Sacred Congregation for Seminaries and
Universities.
SERRA’S
APOSTLES AND POST AGGREGATION
GROWTH
While there have been many Serrans who are worthy of
recognition for
their commitment to and success in establishing and supporting
new Serra
communities in other parts of their home dioceses or in neighboring
dioceses, I want to tell you about some remarkable Serrans who, in imitation of
Christ’s Apostles, journeyed far and wide to establish a Serra presence in
countries a long way from home and, by so doing, contributed significantly
to
its global outreach.
Colonel Ralph
Hauenstein
During his visits to The Vatican in the early 1950’s, a
distinguished
Serran by the name of Ralph Hauenstein worked closely with
Cardinal Stritch
in support of his request that the Holy See formally recognize
Serra’s
apostolic work of promoting priestly vocations, meeting with Pope Pius
XII
in the process of those negotiations.
During World War II, Colonel
Hauenstein served as Chief
of Intelligence for the United States Army in
the European Theatre of
Operations. In 1945, he was among
the first
Americans to enter liberated Paris,
war-torn Germany, and the Nazi
concentration
camps. The terrible destruction
that he saw convinced
him to work for better international relations and
peaceful solutions to
conflict.
After World War II, he became a successful entrepreneur,
eventually
owning companies that conducted business internationally.
Because of his extensive travels,
Hauenstein was
appointed by Serra’s governing board as District
Governor-at-large to work for
the extension of Serra across the world.
In that way, he became the first Serran to promote the organization
outside of North America.
His efforts helped establish the first Serra
communities in
England (Liverpool in 1957),
Italy (Genoa in 1959), and
Hong
Kong (1963). He told
me personally that he brought the Serran
Bell to Hong
Kong by himself at our charter ceremony.
The Serra Club
of Genoa became the first non-English-speaking Serra
community. Hauenstein
was elected
Serra’s international president in 1960.
He is the oldest
living Serran.
In his hundredth year, he remains a shining example of
dedication to
Serra and its vital work for priestly
vocations.
Jan
Berbers
A native of the
Netherlands, Berbers moved to Uruguaywhere he
ran a very successful
business for many years. He donated a retreat house for priests
and
seminarians as well as the premises for a local Serra office in Montevideo.
He was elected Serra’s international president in 1966.
Later he
lived in Spain where he bought a downtown
apartment for use as the Serra
office in that country.
He eventually retired to his native land,
remaining active in Serra until
the time of his
death.
New Serra countries:
Uruguay(1961), Argentina (1962), Paraguay (1964), Spain (1972),
The
Netherlands (1990)
Paul
Mariani
Mariani, a native of
California, was in the fresh fruit
import/export business. He was an
active Serran and used his business trips to Australia to meet with members of
the Catholic
hierarchy in Sydney and Melbourne and, with their support, to
identify and
motivate groups of Catholic men who became the nucleus of
Serra in
Australia and later in
New
Zealand.
New Serra countries:
Australia(1969), New Zealand
(1982)
Antonio
LaVerghetta
LaVerghetta served as a general officer in the Italian
army during World
War II. When he
retired, he undertook the challenge of introducing Serra
into the former
Soviet-bloc countries of Central Europe. LaVerghetta
remained active in that
missionary work until just a few years before his
death in
2004.
New Serra
countries: Slovenia(1991), Hungary (1992), Croatia (1993), Romania
(1998)
Chainarong
Monthienvichienchai
Chainarong
worked as a Professor at the (Catholic)
Universityof St. John in Bangkok
for many years, eventually becoming its
Vice Chancellor. He travelled
extensively throughout Asia promoting Serra in
new
countries.
Chainarong was elected
Serra’s international president in
2004 and co-chaired Serra’s 63rd
international convention held in Bangkok, Thailandin June 2005.
That
convention attracted Serra’s most global audience being attended by
representatives of 32 countries.
New
Serra countries: Myanmar(2001), Bangladesh (2001), India (2003), Singapore
(2006)
John M. “Tomi”
Asenuga
A native of Nigeria,
Asenuga studied Architecture and Town
Planning in Britainand the
United States before
returning to Nigeriato practice his
profession.
He later joined the
Nigerian army where he worked on the design of military
barracks.
Upon his retirement, he became very active in promoting the
growth of
Serra in Nigeriaand also
worked to restore its active
presence in Ghana where the
first Serra Club had been chartered in 1982.
Asenuga served as Serra’s international
president in 2010-2011, the first
from the continent of Africa. He
was instrumental in presenting a special
brochure about Serra to all the bishops
of Africa and Madagascar
assembled for their SECAM meeting
in Ghana in September
2010.
Potential Serra countries
(works in process):
Ivory Coast,
Kenya,Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, and
South
Africa.
SERRA’S GLOBAL
OUTREACH
It
should be apparent now that since the 1960’s, Serra
has achieved
significant growth. It has entered Italy, the countries of Central Europe, South
America, Oceania, Asia and Africa.
As the first Chinese International
President, I personally pledge to
strengthen the Serra bond in throughtout
Asia. I will
also try my best to outreach more Asian countries like China,
Vitanam, Japanand Korea.
This challenges Serra to continue its global
outreach, so that it may
truly reflect the universality of the Church and
more fully achieve its purpose
as the global lay apostolate for vocations
in the Catholic
Church.
HOW
SERRA WORKS FOR
VOCATIONS
As
Blessed John Paul II told us on more than one
occasion, the primary means
of doing the work of Serra is prayer.
Serra encourages its members (known
as Serrans) to offer daily prayers
and additional Masses each month for
vocations and to organize centers for
Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
where fellow Catholics can join them in
praying for
vocations.
Serra is widely recognized
and respected for the
following activities directed at fostering and
promoting vocations to the sacred
priesthood:
■
The 31 Club. Serrans
encourage fellow members of
their parishes to commit to attending one
additional Mass each month to pray for
priestly vocations.
■
Called by Name. Serrans
promote this program in
their parishes to encourage the identification of
possible candidates for the
seminary.
■
Vigil for Vocations. This
program gathers members
of the lay faithful on the eve of Good Shepherd
Sunday to pray for priestly
vocations before the Blessed Sacrament exposed.
■
Cards Program. We send
cards of support and
encouragement to seminarians and priests on
anniversaries.
■
Serran
Rosary for Priestly Vocations. This is a
pamphlet which was composed by
Monsignor John K. Aniagwu in Nigera and has been
mass produced and
distributed globally due to high demand. The focus here
again, is begging
for laborers for the vineyard and is an example of how the
real work of
Serra is done at a grassroots level and becomes crystallized in
various
worldwide programs.
■
Serra
Unites!. This is an effort to unite Serra
throughout the world by reducing
diverging and differing programs and
concentrating on the prayer for
vocations manifest in worldwide initiatives.
We Serrans continue to pledge our
duty to “fish for
fisherman”. I hope other faithful
Catholics will
join us in these projects.
The more personal and community effort that we
have, and the more prayer
for vocations, the more energy that will build in
support of vocations. I
believe God will answer our
prayers.
SERRA LEARNING FROM ITS
MISTAKES
Since that time, Serra
has had its successes and
struggles, especially during a confusing time of
apparent revolution. During the
1970’s and 1980’s various negative things
happened to Serra. During this time,
some Serra Clubs seemed to become more
like Rotary clubs, focusing on business
and events and less on prayer and
work for vocations. Also, while a large
portion of our original members
were retained, we failed dismally in attracting
new members to replace them
as they aged. Thus Serra has become an aging
organization facing a
demographic winter that will make it difficult to ensure
that Serra is
effective in its interactions with candidates for the priesthood,
in some
cases, separated by three
generations.
However,
Serrans
throughout the world embraced the powerful message contained in Blessed
John Paul II’s insightful Post Synodal Exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis.
In his writings, John Paul II seems to echo the vision and foresight of
Pius XII
regarding the promotion of priestly vocations: “All the members of
the Church,
without exception, have the grace and responsibility to look
after
vocations.”[4]
Later in the same document, we read the words
of the Holy Father
describing what we like to think is Serra and its vital
prayer and work for
vocations: “With regard to diocesan and parish
communities, special appreciation
and encouragement should be given to
groups which promote vocations, whose
members make an important
contribution by prayer and sufferings offered up for
priestly and religious
vocations, as well as by moral and material
support.”[5]
We have found not only a confirmation of the
importance of our work in
this important teaching document of our beloved
Church, but also a description
of it in the same sentence. As a
result, we have changed the focus of the opus of Serra to place more
emphasis on prayer, since “begging the Lord of the Harvest to send
laborers” is
the most efficacious way today for Serra to support the holy
priesthood.
SERRA
CONSOLIDATES
Serra’s leaders were
also inspired by their Episcopal
Adviser, His Eminence Justin Francis
Cardinal Rigali, Archbishop of
Philadelphia, to redefine what Serra is by
clearly stating what Serra does. Serra’s process of redefining itself
reached its fruition in June 2005, when the delegates to Serra’s 63rd
international convention in Bangkok, Thailand approved amendments to the
Constitution which restated Serra’s objectives and purposes as
follows:
■
To foster and
promote vocations to the
ministerial priesthood in the Catholic Church as a
particular vocation to
service and to support priest in their sacred
ministry;
■
To encourage and
affirm vocations to consecrated
religious life in the Catholic Church;
and
■
To assist its members to
recognize and respond in
their own lives to God's call to holiness in Jesus
Christ and through the Holy
Spirit.
The
thinking behind these amendments is as follows: As Blessed John
Paul II exhorted
those attending the Third Continental Congress on
Vocations in North America in
April 2002, “"On
the issue of the
vocation to priestly ministry, I would like to emphasize that
it cannot be
considered to be a call among many otheres. In fact, on it depend
the
realization and development of all other vocations. The priest represents
Christ in his office of Head, Pastor, Priest and Spouse.”[6] The new first
objective emphasizes the
primacy of the priestly vocation and adds the
obligation that Serrans must
also support priests in their sacred ministry. The
new third objective
takes the beautiful words of Christifidelis Laici in
reminding our
organization that it must commit itself to assisting Serrans to
recognize
and respond in their own lives to the call to holiness in Jesus
Christ.
SERRA LOOKS FORWARD WITH
CONFIDENCE
These are indeed exciting
times for Serra, not because of
these words on a piece of paper, but
because the recent recognition of mistakes
allows Serra to take action in
the correct direction.
In 2011 many unprecedented things have taken place
in Serra.
In brief, I will describe a few of
them:
In June, amidst the chaos of
preparing for an
international convention whose venue had changed only
months before, we have run
into more than a few priests who have joined the
work of Serra with great
excitement and enthusiasm about the life and times
of Fr. Junipero Serra. Along with his enthusiasm, he has
brought great
ideas and plans for new Serra
Clubs.
In July, sixty of our members made a prayerful pilgrimage
to the Holy
Land where they walked in the footsteps of Christ in Galilee and
later in
Jerusalem. The highlight of the pilgrimage was
a Mass in the Holy Sepulchre
of the Lord, where prayers for vocations were
offered at the site where
Christ laid in death and was raised from the dead.
In August 2011, for the first time
in our history, we
commemorated Fr. Serra at World Youth Day in Madridby
handing out 2,500 of his holy
cards. A bell with an engraving of
Fr.
Serra and the words “Siempre adelante, nunca retroceder” was given to
the Spanish Episcopal Conference through His Eminence Antonio Cardinal
Rouco
Valera as a symbolic gift of appreciation for the heroic missionary
work of Fr.
Serra.
In September
2011,
aprayer initiative which started in Singapore called
“Serra
Unites!”was put into action.
After much preparation, a manual for the
first annual “Day of Prayer
throughout the Serra World” was put into use on
the Feast of the birth of Mary,
Mother of Vocations, celebrated each year
on the eighth day of September. I am sure that the hours spent begging
the
Lord of the harvest will bear much good
fruit.
NOTABLE EVENTS RESULTING FROM
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SERRA AND
THE SACRED CONGREGATION
Since
the
aggregation there have been various positive things which here will be
summarized:
■
The
invitation from the Holy See for Serra to
send Auditors to the Synod of
Bishops that produced the seminal work on
vocation to the ordained
priesthood: Pastores Dabo
Vobis.
■
The invitation
arranged by the Congregation to
make it possible for Serra to make a
pilgrimage to Rome to celebrate the
Great Jubilee Year 2000 with Pope John
Paul
II.
■
Beginning in
2001, the commitment to holding an
annual meeting in October of each year
by between the Prefect of the Sacred
Congregation and his staff and Serra’s
leaders.
■
On 25 October
2004, receiving the approval of the
Holy See for use in promoting vocations
both within and outside Serra of the
invocation: Mary, mother
of vocations, pray for
us!
■
The
invitation arranged by the Congregation for
Serrans from four continents to
receive special monstrances blessed by Pope
John Paul II on 24 November
2004 specifically for use in adoration for
vocations during the Year of the
Eucharist.
■
The
Congregation arranging for Serra to have a
special monstrance blessed by
Pope Benedict XVI for use in adoration for
vocations during Serra’s
international convention each
year.
■
The calling on 21-24 June 2005 of the Fourth
Congress on
Vocations to the Ordained Priesthood and Consecrated Life in Asia
to
coincide with Serra’s 63rd international convention in Bangkok,
Thailand.
■
Welcoming the
Prefect of the Sacred Congregation
for Catholic Education, His Eminence
Zenon Cardinal Grocholewski, as the Keynote
Speaker at Serra’s 63rd
international convention in Bangkok on 24 June
2005.
■
The invitation by His
Eminence Zenon Cardinal
Grocholewski, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation
for Catholic Education, for
Serra to provide up to 80 participants to a
special Congress in Rome on 03-05
November 2011 to celebrate the 70th
anniversary of the founding by His Holiness
Pope Pius XII of the Pontifical
Work for Priestly Vocations, and the 60th
anniversary of Serra’s
aggregation to that
institution.
CONCLUSION
Here we are today in
Rome
for the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Pontifical Pastoral
Ministry for
Priestly Vocations. But our
challenge goes beyond just
this.
Anniversaries are a time to celebrate, yes, but they may also be
considered a time to ask ourselves as Catholics trying to support vocations,
“Where are we now and where we are going as a group?
How are we going to
leave a lasting impression on this world for
Christ?” The priest is the one
who
brings the Mass and all the graces associated with the sacraments into
the
world. Should we not unite and
press forward with as much strength
as ever for the salvation of souls, which is
so greatly assisted by this
great sacrament of Holy Orders given to us by
Christ?
All
of humanity needs men who
are courageous in proclaiming the truth and living its
example, thoroughly
living it. Pope
Pius XII was just such a priest.
Consider the words of
Pope Pius XI about his successor: "When today the
Pope dies, you’ll get
another one tomorrow, because the Church continues. It would be a much bigger
tragedy if
Cardinal Pacelli dies, because there is only one.
I pray
every day, God may send another one into one of our seminaries,
but as of
today, there is only one in this world.”[7]
This was said at a time when seminaries were
overflowing with candidates
who had responded generously to the call to
priesthood.
Serra has begun to recognize as well that the quality of priest
is in
fact more important than quantity.
Quality is found in the
candidate’s response to the will of God and the
way to really assist that
from the Serran perspective is through prayers and
sacrifices alongside our
apostolate.
Serra is shrinking
in the West along with many other
Catholic organizations due to hardening
secularism.
In Asia, and even more so in Africa,
Serra is growing in
leaps and bounds.
Currently Serra has established a presence in 46 of the
196 countries in
the world. That is only 23% of
the countries in the
world. Why
are we not present in nearly all that we can be? If we are
taking Christ’s missionary
call seriously, it is essential that every last
one of these countries has a
Serra community present, encouraging and
supporting the priesthood.
Sometimes it can seem like trying to start a
fire with wet leaves, but
God does not ignore our
efforts.
As for Serra, we intend to
dramatically reallocate our
expenditures to improve the efficiency and
ensure the viability of the
organization and direct greater resources to
the development of new programs and
initiatives which aim to communicate,
expound upon and promote the essence of
the sacerdotal calling. We believe
that this change is going to bring great graces for the work of Serra and
begin
to involve the youth. We pray that
Serra communities will soon
be ablaze so that those considering the ordained
priesthood will be
encouraged to make the transition to discernment and seminary
life more
confidently.
As President of Serra, I
wish to thank all of you for
coming and commemorating the foundation of
this essential institution which is
the fruit of the foresight of Venerable
Pius XII and the continued support of
his Successors. May God bless all
of our work and bring us closer to Him in whom we become closer to each
other.
Mary, Mother of Vocations
Pray for
Us!
M. Thomas A.
WONG
Président de Serra
International
M. Thomas Anthony Sze
Pok Wong, docteur en
médecine, est originaire de la République de Chine. Il
est le
68e président de Serra International (2011-2012). Il est
né dans une famille catholique. Diplômé en médecine, il est actuellement
médecin
chiropraticien et spécialiste de médecine chinoise. Il est
également professeur
invité au Medical College de
l’Université Jinande Chine. Il a
grandi à Hong Kong et a ensuite
étudié au College
of William and Mary aux États-Unis. Durant ses
études, il a été institué au
service de l’Eucharistie, et il participe au
Conseil directeur de Serra depuis 2007. Il en fut élu président lors du
69e Congrès international, en juillet 2011 à Ottawa au Canada. Il est le
premier président de Serra
originaire de la
République de
Chine.
Dr. Thomas
A.
WONG
Presidente del
Serra
International
El Dr.
Thomas Anthony Sze Pok Wong, D.C., C.M.D.,
C.C.S.P., I.C.S.S.D., de la
República de China, es el 68° Presidente del Serra
International
(2011-2012). Nacido en una familia católica, se ha licenciado en
medicina y
actualmente es Doctor quiropráctico y Doctor de medicina china.
También es
profesor invitado en Medical
College de la Universidad
Jinan
de China. Vivió en Hong Kong y sucesivamente estudió en el
College
of William and Mary de USA.
Durante sus estudios ha
sido ministro de la Eucaristía. El Dr. Thomas está
desarrollando sus
servicios en el Consejo directico del Serra desde 2007. Es el
primer
presidente del Serra, procedente de la República
China.
Dott. Thomas A.
WONG
Presidente del Serra
International
Il
Dott.
Thomas Anthony Sze Pok Wong, D.C., C.M.D., C.C.S.P., I.C.S.S.D.,
proveniente dalla Repubblica di Cina, è il 68o Presidente del Serra
International (2011-2012).
Nato
in una
famiglia cattolica, si è laureato in medicina e attualmente è
Dottore chiropratico e Dottore di medicina Cinese. Egli è anche professore
invitato presso il Medical
College della Università Jinan
di Cina.
È
cresciuto a Hong
Kong e successivamente ha studiato presso il College
of William and
Mary negli Stati Uniti. Durante i suoi anni di studio è
diventato
ministro dell’Eucaristia. Il Dott. Thomas sta svolgendo il suo
servizio
presso il Consiglio direttivo del Serra dal 2007. È stato eletto
presidente
durante il 69° convegno internazionale tenuto a Ottawa (Canada,
luglio
2011). Egli è il primo Presidente del Serra proveniente dalla Repubblica
di
Cina.
[1]Dalin,
David G.
The Myth of Hitler's Pope: How Pope Pius XII Rescued Jews from
the Nazis.
Washington, DC:
Regnery Pub., 2005. Print.
2.
[2]Thornton, Francis
Beauchesne. Our
American Princes; the Story of the Seventeen American
Cardinals. New
York: Putnam, 1963.
Print.
[3]"Cardinal
to
Rome". TIME
Magazine.
1958-03-10.
[4]John,
Paul. Pastores Dabo Vobis:
Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation, March 25,
1992. Washington, D.C.:
United States Catholic Conference,
1992. Print.
41.
[5] Ibid.
41.
[6]Letter
from Pope John Paul II To The
North American Congress On
Vocations,
Appendix B of Pastoral
Plan. Vatican, 12 April 2002.
[7]Pascalina
Lehnert, Ich durfte Ihm Dienen, Erinnerungen an Papst Pius XII. Naumann,
Würzburg, 1986,p. 49 (Pascalina Lehnert, I could serve him, memories of
Pope
Pius XII. Naumann, Würzburg, 1986, p.
49
