I have heard of mobiles going off in church, but an electronic toothbrush?! As I stood praying on the opening night of the 2011 Invocation Festival, my mind became distracted by a vibrating sound. My usual annoyance towards the anonymous person who had failed to turn off their mobile in church, was replaced by great embarrassment as I looked down at my bag and realised my electronic toothbrush had got switched on and was now spinning away in my bag.
I waited hoping it would stop, only to realise it was onto its second two-minute cycle. People were by now turning round wondering where this irritating noise was coming from. So I had no choice but to search inside my bag and switch it off. A great start to my period of serious discernment. The people next to me shuffled in embarrassment. I just hope Archbishop Bernard did not hear it!
It had all started so well before the toothbrush incident. BCYS were acting as the friendly faces to greet and orientate people, and seeing Peter Lucas, the area officer of BCYS for Staffordshire, gave me a familiar face to speak to and calm the nerves. Another familiar face was a Dominican sister I knew. I knew her to have an angelic singing voice and a friendly temperament, and so I ‘showed face’ and I discovered she was one of a very strong Dominican presence at the Festival. The Dominican influence was to continue, as a young Dominican priest was the unlucky culprit of my badly assembled confession on the second night of the festival. He used the usual Dominican intellect and insight to offer encouragement in some situations I was facing in my life, which needed the sacramental presence and influence of Jesus.
There were three keynote speakers for the Invocation Festival, all of very high calibre. Fr John Hemer MHM kicked off with an incredibly lively talk, which enlivened our spirits wearied from our journey. He began by looking at the craze of New Age thinking, and the ways to dissect the arguments of New Age philosophy, as well as the increasingly aggressive face of atheistic secularism. Though an important topic, he managed to insert plenty of jokes to keep the mood light. My favourite was where he talked of some rickety, old bridges he had to cross on his various travels around the world. He said how a favourite policy was to chuck the catechist on the bridge first, to check it was safe, and then let the religious across once the catechist was over the other side!
Indeed jokes were a familiar part of the weekend. The speaker who was in charge of organisation of keynote speeches, Dr Gemma Simmonds CJ, was constantly quipping, with my favourite joke being where she said, ‘just to make you aware that we have a lost and found section here. But if you find a vocation, don’t give it back!’
Just to make you aware that we have a lost and found section here. But if you find a vocation, don’t give it back!Another person with a special skill for interacting with youth was Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury, who lead Mass on the second day. He was present throughout this year’s Youth 2000 pilgrimage at Walsingham in late August, and seems keen to interact as much as possible with young people. What impressed me most was before the departing blessing for the Mass, he made clear that he looked forward to chatting with people over and after lunch. This he fulfilled with great humility, and he struck me as very approachable. And a common theme that he and others expressed, was the importance of Eucharistic Adoration in discerning a vocation. It had helped shape his vocation, along with several priests who mentioned this important aspect of prayer. And the Archbishop Nuncio, Archbishop Mennini, in the Sunday Mass also stressed the importance of Eucharistic Adoration for vocations and for discernment.
Monsignor John Armitage, after recovering from being made fun of for being a West Ham United football fan, delivered a lively keynote speech. Among other things he stressed the importance of reading saints’ writings. It was not enough he argued to read hagiography, however accurate. Instead we must go directly to the source and thought of these great people, and be inspired to see what lay behind their journey in faith.
Along with Masses and keynote speakers, we discerners were asked to sign up to three workshops. The most popular with us lads, was what it takes to be a priest and what the life of a priest is like. What impressed me most was the seriousness of those in my group in the searching questions they asked priests. It was clear that people were here to seriously discern and were keen to be helped come to a deeper realisation of what it was to be a priest. Areas covered included celibacy and not having a family, mental and physical health, life as a seminarian, the variety of roles of a priest, and an exploration of whether there were any regrets, for which the overwhelming answer was ‘none’.
As mentioned there were various Orders represented at the festival. As well as Dominicans, Franciscans, Carmelites and Jesuits, who all had workshops, were a huge variety of stands from other Orders, as well as stands for permanent diaconate and consecrated lay life. Having a deep love of St Padre Pio and St Francis, I went along to the Franciscan spirituality workshop.
What struck me most was how happy and humble the Franciscans were. They just kept laughing and explained their journey with a great sense of fulfilment. Another feature was how they did not take themselves too seriously, and the Capuchin priest fielded questions such as, ‘what is the deal with the beard?” They were a wonderful contradiction to the materialism of our generation. The only slight confusion was the degree of strictness in relation to poverty, depending on which Franciscan Order they belonged to. I had to laugh that as the Renewal sisters discussed issues of poverty, the Capuchin priest, Fr Paul Coleman pulled out his mobile and began checking for messages.
And that sense of fulfillment was a strong feature of the consecrated lay apostle, Andrea Verde, who was the final keynote speaker. She gave the sense that her journey and vocation, despite being only thirty, was one of fulfilling God’s will and having achieved a great deal after initially taking the courage to commit deeply to God in her late teens. I found her to be quite Johaninne in her theology, and a favourite phrase which she came back to again and again was that ‘God is love’.
Certainly it was an interesting weekend, with as many unanswered questions as there were answered. But all went away with full stomachs following the wonderful catering service, and a sense that some will be on a new road of discernment which will lead them much closer to fulfilling God’s plan for the ‘definite service’ they are being asked to accomplish.
