The Camillan Fishing Industry

When the second semester of this school year opened early this month, the office of the Philippine Province’s Vocation Promotion Committee in St. Camillus College Seminary once again went though the intricacies of one of its arduous chores.

Roughly 3500 personalized letters were printed (and sometimes reprinted!), signed, folded, placed in envelopes and mailed at the post office. Siesta-less afternoons and sleepless nights were spent for it. But there were no complaints over the peculiar job. Instead, there were prayers!

“I prayed over them (the envelops), pleading to God: ‘Kahit isa lang, Lord,’” revealed Fr. Nato Maliwat, assistant vocation director, “basta quality!”  (“It’s okay if you give us only one, Lord, as long as it’s quality.”)

True enough, only God knows how many additional fishes for the Camillian religious life He will provide for the Province.

Last school year, a similar number of letters was likewise sent to the different schools in the entire stretch of the Philippine archipelago. The recipients were 4th high school male students who expressed interest in joining the Camillian religious formation after graduation. Unfortunately, out of that very big number – who in one way or another must have been initially inspired by the Camillian scholastics or priests who did the vocation promotion in their schools – only  eighty joined the search-in sessions facilitated in Davao City, Cagayan de Oro City, Surigao City, Tagbilaran City, Iloilo City, Cauayan town in Negros Occidental, Calbayog City, Legazpi City, Baguio City and Marikina City. Sixteen eventually entered the St. Camillus College Seminary.

It is now a common phenomenon that the number of Filipino young men who opt for the priestly and religious life is getting fewer and fewer. Aside from the Camillians, other religious congregations and even the diocesan seminaries experience this downward trend.

“Before, when we conducted Camillian get-togethers, hundreds of students usually attended. But now, twenty participants in each site can already be considered many,” commented Fr. Dey Enriquez, vocation director, on the statistics.

Fr. Nato pointed out that the dwindling priestly and religious vocations must have been greatly influenced by the technological progress taking place in our society. The youth have plenty of options now. Computers and cell phones have invaded even the remotest areas of the country. Years ago this was unimaginable. Everyone seems to have a hi-tech gadget now.

With his background in psychology, Fr. Nato construed that these technological advancements affect the psychological development of today’s youth. “They are now highly conditioned by the culture of instants: instant coffee, instant noodles, 20 movies-in-one DVDs, etc., so their sense of sacrifice has weakened,” he said. And it is common knowledge that priestly and religious life is a life of sacrifice.

Fr. Dey agreed with Fr. Nato’s observation and added that absentee parenthood which has become a common condition among the Filipino families – the reality of parents working abroad leaving their children behind under the care of somebody else they trust – has somewhat compromised the value formation of the information-technology generation. And to think that families, especially the parents, are the first formators of priests and religious. “Today’s lack of religious models further contributes to the decline of priestly and religious vocations,” he added.

Henceforth, more than ever, vocation promotion in this fast-changing world is turning out to be extra challenging. This time, searching for soon-to-be “men of the red cross” entails a lot of creativity, passion, commitment and dedication.

During vocation campaigns, audio-visual aids are preferred by the students. “If you just stand and talk in front, seldom will the students pay attention to you. But if you show PowerPoint presentations (sometimes meaning bringing your own laptop and projector since, let’s face the irony, many schools still don’t have these facilities), they become more attentive and curious,” related Fr. Nato. “That’s why when those who felt the inspiration eventually join seminary formation, the formators should then be prepared to use a more personalized approach in addressing the formation process of every seminarian. Formators have to work on double-time mode in their ministry to inject and modify values in these young men for their personal and religious growth in the Camillian way of life,” he recommended. (And that’s taxing, hence the immense dedication, I believe!)

Reality check: the decreasing number of applicants in the college seminary may also be attributed to the limited time the Camillian promoters have to visit schools. The Province has no full-time vocation promoter whose exclusivefocus is vocation promotion in schools and parishes in the entire country. Thus, this ministry depends solely on the availability of the scholastics and the formators from the college seminary during their semestral breaks. Sadly, their two-week breaks (usually 3rd and 4th weeks of October) are also the time when high schools conduct their periodical exams and intramurals and take their own semestral breaks.  This trims down the promoters’ already trimmed opportunities.

With all these handicaps that the Vocation Promotion office faces as regards its noble mission of fishing for men for the service of the sick and poor people of God, Fr. Dey and Fr. Nato are not losing hope in the capability of the Camillian fishing industry to find good catches. Applicants may turn out to be few but as long as they become quality seminarians and hopefully Camillian religious, Fr. Dey and Fr. Nato said that it’s already a big consolation to thank God for. Amidst all these challenges, Fr. Nato and Fr. Dey still recognize the role of the Holy Spirit in the “greater scheme of things.”  “As long as I’m being sincere in doing my part of giving my best in the times I do the campaigns, I’m at peace.  The rest that I cannot do I just leave to God,” Fr. Nato quipped.

As a final note, Fr. Dey asserted that considering the status of the Province’s vocation promotion ministry and in fidelity to the Constitution, vocation promotion should as much as possible become a concerted effort of all the religious, in whatever institution they may be or whatever ministry they may be engaged in.

“Nonetheless, I thank all the scholastics and college seminarians who have been very active and supportive of our endeavor,”  concluded Fr. Dey.