ARTICLES

Diocese Appoints New Director of Vocations

Father Anthony Saroki, 32, Tackles Low Vocations Problem in San Diego

BY ROBERT KUMPEL

San Diego ranks 175th out of 176 U.S. dioceses for new vocations. The low numbers have not been lost on Bishop Brom, who, on July 1, appointed Father Anthony Saroki, 32, as the diocesan director of vocations for the diocese.

Even in an email interview, Father Saroki's excitement about his own vocation is contagious. He openly confesses having drifted away from the faith as a college student at Georgetown. He says the resultant inner emptiness began to heal after he joined the campus Knights of Columbus. Returning to Mass, and praying the Rosary daily, he began studying philosophers such as Aristotle, Burke, Pieper, and Saint Thomas Aquinas. "I lived a typical college lifestyle, including excessive drinking and unchastity. But I returned to the sacrament of Penance for the first time in six years. I was influenced by some Jesuit priests and members of Opus Dei, whom I met at the beginning of my junior year."

He describes the different turn his life took as not unlike the transition from black and white to Technicolor in the Wizard of Oz. "Every day was an adventure of discovering God's mission for me, receiving His love, and sharing it with others. Thanks to Opus Dei, I became aware of the supernatural value of ordinary things like studying. I did not think of being a priest at that time. I planned on serving God as a lawyer (Thomas More was evidence that at least one lawyer had made it to heaven), eventually getting involved in public policy, and getting married and having eight children."

While in France for 1997's World Youth Day, Saroki got his first sense of a call to the priesthood. "I was meditating on a passage from the Gospel of John. In my prayer, I saw myself kneeling before Jesus and he laid hands on me. My spiritual director said that was the gesture of ordination, and for the first time, I gave sustained consideration to a priestly vocation. When I returned to school, I found a wise spiritual director who helped me to discern that God was most likely calling me to the priesthood, but that I should finish law school and work for a couple of years."

Saroki finished law school and worked as a litigator in San Diego for two years. It would not be until May 2001 that Saroki fully pursued the priesthood. It was after his biggest fear, the uncertainty about embracing celibacy, was calmed once and for all -- a gift he attributes to the intercession of the Blessed Mother. In 2001, he entered the Saint John's Seminary in Camarillo.

Asked what changes he wants to make for drawing vocations from San Diego, Father Saroki gets right to the point. "The only change that I would like to see is an increase in the number of resident candidates. Currently, we have two men studying at Saint John's in Camarillo, and two at the North American College in Rome." For Father Saroki, that is just not enough.

As he sees it, a vocations director has a three-fold duty: to promote a culture of vocations, encourage vocations to priestly and religious life, and to assist with priestly formation which, in San Diego's case, takes place at the Saint Francis de Sales Center, where he resides.

The Saint Francis Center dropped "seminary" from its title as the diocese noticed the wildly divergent ages and educational backgrounds of the new candidates and realized that a more individualized approach was needed for priestly vocations. Now under the direction of Father Matthew Spahr, participants may be residents or non-residents while completing formation requirements. Each candidate has an individualized formation plan. Of the three candidates in residence now, two are taking undergraduate classes at the University of San Diego, and a third is beginning at Mesa College. Father Saroki sees little problem with seminarians attending the co-ed University of San Diego. "The fact is, as parish priests, they will have to work with and minister to women. They need to learn how to relate to women in a healthy way, consistent with a commitment to celibate chastity."

When asked what makes a good candidate for the priesthood, Father Saroki initially offers the official list compiled by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, a Dale Carnegie-esque, description that reads more like a job syllabus for Catholic social workers with psychology degrees who will be acting as personal coaches for their parishioners. Fully aware of the idealized nature of the list, Saroki offers his own personal take: "You have to be in agreement with Church teachings. You have to have a deep love for the Eucharist, and you have to have a devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary."

Likewise, Father Saroki is not ignoring the Vatican's recent instruction deeming men with deep-rooted homosexual tendencies as inappropriate candidates. "Our screening practice is in full compliance with the recent Vatican instruction. One of the things I want to know in the interview process is whether the prospective candidate is attracted to married life and would make a good husband and father. In accepting the gift of celibacy 'for the sake of the kingdom,' one should be freely sacrificing the good of marriage."

Besides his experience of living as an adult in the working world, an experience that, until recently, was uncommon among most seminarians, Father Saroki has a knack for getting young men excited about the possibility of priestly life. On July 4, Father Saroki gave a workshop on the priesthood to 250 teens at the Steubenville West conference at SDSU's Cox Arena. When he later addressed the entire conference of 4,500 and invited those considering religious vocations to come forward, hundreds left their seats. He recently gave a vocations talk to six classes at Saint Augustine High School. Not locked in to any single model of developing vocations, Father Saroki bases much of his strategy on the U.S. Bishops' Conference Document Fishers of Men.

A few American dioceses, such as Lincoln, Nebraska and Peoria, Illinois, enjoy high rates of new vocations and full seminaries. Many point to the orthodox and "conservative" reputations of their bishops as a common theme. Father Saroki doesn't entertain those questions. "I can't explain the discrepancy between various dioceses," he says, "and I think anyone who purports to do so will have to rely on a lot of speculation. I know that we are now renewing our commitment as a diocese to create a culture of vocations and to encourage priestly vocations. One step we have taken is the appointment of a full-time vocations director, whereas in the recent past, those priests in vocations work had parish commitments as well. A second step has been our recent 'Fishers of Men' conference. Since we just held our convocation, it is too soon to gauge its efficacy. But it seemed to have been received well by the priests. They seem to be more aware of their duty to invite others by name to follow them in the footsteps of Jesus, the eternal high priest and Good Shepherd. If our young men get to know holy, happy priests, they will be more likely to consider a priestly vocation."

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