The interview was conducted by Larry McHugh and began with this memorable quote from Fr Paul, “A sense of vocation should be one of the strands that runs through the life of a Catholic school, whether primary, secondary or sixth form college."

Father Paul is a priest of the Lancaster Diocese, a former diocesan director for priestly vocations and former director / chaplain at Castlerigg Manor, Keswick, the diocesan Catholic Youth Centre. He spoke to me a few days after attending the World Youth Day in Cologne. I asked him to talk about what Catholic schools can do to promote vocations.

We started with a short discussion about the age at which candidates could, or should, be accepted for the ordained ministry.

Fr Paul: For the Catholic community, the average age of seminarians from the dioceses of England and Wales has steadily been increasing over the last few decades. Younger potential applicants in their teens who express an interest in the priesthood are often advised to go and get some 'life experience' before applying again at some date in the future. I've been asked if there was an official policy in the Catholic community to ask young people to 'go away and come back later'. It has been suggested half-jokingly, but also half seriously, that if there was a blanket policy of this nature it could be tantamount to 'ministerial suicide'. Of course there is no official national policy of this sort and candidates are treated on an individual basis that respects the unique nature of each person. Certainly there is no policy to dissuade younger candidates, but to an extent there has been 'received wisdom' to encourage many of those who would have perhaps been accepted twenty years ago to defer entry. As a former diocesan director for priestly vocations, I usually heeded the advice of local clergy who perhaps had known an applicant over a number of years. Usually their advice proved correct. However, whilst visiting seminaries when I was a diocesan vocations director, a fair number of students told stories of how, when they first mentioned the possibility of a vocation to priesthood at a Catholic high school or to their local priest, they were dismissed pretty much out of hand without any serious discussion, discernment or vocational accompaniment. A few I know, now ordained for various dioceses, have gone as far as to say that they became priests despite the discouragement of their local clergy. Ironically, it was often the witness and good example of the same clergy that had inspired these young men in the first place!

I would like to think that such examples are rare, but this should not happen at all in its raw form. Our young people deserve better than this. Helping young people to appreciate their dignity, recognise their gifts and discern their personal vocation are amongst the greatest services we can provide through our schools, parishes and youth groups. Vocational discernment in particular should be approached, not simply by providing information about various ways of life or careers, but by giving young people the tools and opportunities they need to discern. Importantly these opportunities and tools include time spent with experienced adults who walk alongside young people as they explore their life choices. When I look back on my own vocational journey this rings true. For me, a lot of the discernment for the priesthood to which I felt called was done with the accompaniment of good, sound, dedicated priests and laity.

So what about young people considering priesthood or religious life?

Fr Paul: Of course many of them will need to spend time going through a period of faith development and human maturation before they are even considered for priesthood, or indeed any other life-long commitment. On the one hand we might do individual young people a great service by not letting them rush ahead into a big commitment, but this must be balanced on the other hand by a sound theology of vocation and good pastoral practice. If a young person shares the fact that they are feeling a call to priesthood or religious life it is simply not good enough to tell them to go away and come back later. If we do wish to give them advice to this effect, then at least it should only be after some thought and discussion and having considered the possibility of what pastoral support we can offer during this period.

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Fr Paul: For all their faults, the junior seminaries were an example of the Catholic community doing something coherent and planned to encourage vocations to priesthood amongst the young: and for the most part, the Catholic community had ownership of these institutions. At the present time it would appear that, even though there are some examples of good practice in individual schools, parishes and dioceses, there is not a lot of evidence of properly planned programmes that encourage young people to consider priesthood and religious life and then to support those who express an interest.

An example of where something is being done is Birmingham diocese where a real attempt is being made to work with primary schools and secondary schools as part of an overall promotional strategy. A layman works fulltime with the diocesan Vocations Director to promote vocational awareness, (not just for priesthood and religious life). To me this seems innovative and entirely appropriate. In terms of priestly vocations, given that falling clergy numbers present a real challenge for our dioceses, is it not appropriate at this stage to use some of our resources to address this issue? It is possible and, I believe, entirely justified to appoint lay people to work with diocesan vocations directors to promote priesthood and religious life. Why should the important work of promoting priesthood fall on the shoulders of, typically, one priest in each diocese, who is usually running a busy parish also?

We should not however leave this crucial work to just one or two individuals per diocese, clerical or lay. 'Vocations promotion' is one of those areas that really does need to be approached as a whole-Church activity; indeed the very nature of the Church as a community of the called demands this. Priesthood also needs to be promoted, not in isolation, but within the context of the common Christian vocation of all the baptised. We need not so much a quantitative, but a qualitative leap in our thinking about this. There is a richness in what the Second Vatican Council says about Christian vocation that is still waiting to be fully discovered and realised in the life of the Church.

Are there lessons to be learnt from some of the other organisations that 'recruit' young people?

Fr Paul: Major football clubs often look for future talent amongst those of primary school age. The Armed Services are quite happy to encourage the young to join up for a lifetime of work in a job that will always be needed, but the exact role of which seems to change by the week. Does major international crisis or an uncertain future with changing variables put a stop to recruitment? Of course not. It is perhaps time for us to work out how as a Church community in the new millennium we can take to heart the invitation of Jesus to 'put out into the deep', the theme for this year's World Day of Prayer for Vocations, and encourage young people to consider priesthood and religious life. In the words of one observer, we need to 'put the 'ad' back into the Church's venture'. Young people are far more likely to be enthusiastic about a Church and priesthood that appears to be going somewhere with purpose.

Specifically for schools and teachers what message do you want to give them from the national office?

Fr Paul: 'Vocation' in the broadest sense should be taken seriously and the promotion of vocation should be in every Catholic school's development plan and should be in the job descriptions of senior staff, RE staff and school chaplains. The challenge is to get the culture of vocation into school life, using assemblies, days of recollection etc. We should be asking ourselves, for example, 'how is the way that we teach careers different and distinct from the state school down the road?' Our schools provide a great opportunity for our young people to discern their vocation and they are well poised to be part of this process. www.ukvocation.org, www.ukpriest.org.