On this Vocation Sunday we must lift our sights and engage with the Gospel project, we need to ask practical and pastoral questions:

Who will lead the community?
Who will teach and preach the faith?
Who will celebrate for us each Sunday?
Who will guide us in prayer and spirituality?
Who will be there for us at the birth of our children?
Who will accompany us at times of transition
and tragedy?

We are not at all alone in this. Not only are other parts of the church facing exactly the same problems but we also have at the universal level the Synodal Pathway – a mostly realistic assessment of where we find ourselves and what our hopes are.

The hope is that after many centuries of excluding the gifts of the whole membership, now is the time for people to come forward and offer their gifts and energy for the well-being and flourishing of the whole community. This both old and new: a vision of a servant church, going back to the example of Jesus himself. It is new once more in our time: we are rediscovering the Gospel of service, at this critical juncture in our world and in our church. In a word: we cannot hope to build the future by micro-waving the past. The challenge will be to stay in communion, keep alive our tradition of faith and reason and not to let any kind of Catholic fundamentalism take over.

My own sincere hope is that we change the whole way we function as a church, including who may be admitted to ordained ministry and under what conditions. My own hopes are pinned on the Synodal Pathway, even though the church does move excruciatingly slowly.
Pope Leo has yet to show his hand but at the very beginning of his ministry, he signalled support for the Synodal Pathway.

Conclusion
Today is Good Shepherd Sunday. In the tradition, it is the day of prayer for vocations to priesthood and religious life. Today, we know that very, very few are heeding that particular call, even though it can lead to great personal happiness. Instead, we have to think more widely of the community as a whole and the vocations of all the members. After the long season of the clerical church since the time of Cardinal Cullen, we are now moving towards a more participative model, and while this evolution may be triggered by a crisis, it is also a moment of grace. Let us embrace it!
Kieran O’Mahony