GREENWOOD – Saturday, April 21, the Office of Hispanic Ministry and Pastoral Juvenil Hispana gathered a small group of Hispanic youth and young adults from Tupelo, Jackson, Canton, Greenville and Greenwood for a vocations event. The gathering, held at Locus Benedictus Retreat Center, is part of the office’s response to the Pastoral Plan and Encuentro process showing that vocations is an issue important to the community.
“We had a guest speaker from Argentina to help us understand the pros and cons of the millennial generation and how knowing ourselves can best guide our discernment process. In the afternoon, a vocational panel shared their experiences and witness, said Veronica Lopez, coordinator for young adult ministry for the office.
“The panel was composed of a married couple, religious brother, Franciscan friar, religious sister, Cesar Sanchez, a seminarian of the diocese, a lay woman committed to single life and a Redemptorist priest,” she continued. This group represents a whole spectrum of different vocational opportunities and helped the young people see that they can explore different paths.
All of the talks were framed around how the Paschal Mystery has the potential to ignite in each person an authentic call to vocation, which may be different for each person. Participants were encouraged to ask any questions they might have and to contribute to the conversation.
Roberto Zapata from the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle said he was encouraged to hear that God has a vocation planned for each person. “What amazed me was that each of us who attended shared different viewpoints and we came together more as young audlts,” he said.
Byron Lopez from Canton Sacred Heart Parish said he feels more prepared now to speak about vocations in his home community. “I left with a wider knowledge about vocations that I can share with other people so that they too have knowledge about their vocations. I am aware that it can help them enormously,” he said. Fellow Sacred Heart parishioner Dulce Basurta said she enjoyed hearing how each person lives out their faith through their vocation in their day-to-day lives.
Most of the participants commented that they appreciated the variety of vocations shared. The Office of Hispanic Ministry hopes to offer other vocational events in the coming months.