Dear Friends,

I hope that as we have begun this Lenten season you are doing well and growing in deeper friendship with Him during this holy season.    I will be providing for you a brief update on the last three months here in the Office of Vocations, sharing with you some upcoming events, and leaving you with this issue’s seminarian article written by Deacon Thiago Ibiapina.  Deacon Ibiapina is a published author in Brazil where he grew up, and I asked him to share a bit about the book he published back in 2017.

Last time I wrote to you, we were about to have our first Advent Day of Recollection for teens and college students.  The event was a success, with almost every attendee filling out a survey after the event saying they would attend a similar event again next year and that they spiritually benefitted.  In April we will have our annual vocations retreat, and we are hoping to once again have a Quo Vadis Days summer program in conjunction with the Archdiocese of Boston in June.  On the day of our vocation retreat, there will be a holy hour to pray for the men on retreat in Worcester.  Details will be forthcoming.  I am looking forward to being present at the Verso L’Alto retreat that Tim Messenger will be running through his Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry on May 20-22.  These events are an important time to help young Catholics encounter God and grow in their faith.  Please promote them in your parishes.  They are wonderful opportunities.  Advertisements regarding all of these are attached.

You may have noticed that there has not been a traveling holy hour since December.  I have reached out to several parishes and had scheduling issues, but we do hope to have them again in the future.

In just over a week, there will be a pancake breakfast at the Hibernian Cultural Centre in Worcester to benefit the Office of Vocations.  This year the money is going specifically to outreach on college campuses.  We have many colleges here in our diocese, and studies show that nationwide only 20% of Catholics are still practicing by the time they graduate.  How many vocations to priesthood (and religious life, and to holy and devout marriages) are being lost during this time?  Please see the attached graphic on how to sign up.

In closing, let me reiterate my gratitude for all of your prayerful support.  All of our mission partners remain in my prayers for all that you do for us.  Let us also pray for peace in our world.

Sincerely,

Father Donato Infante
PS If you received this newsletter by e-mail forwarding and would like to sign up, please visit our website by clicking here.

Contact Info:
director@worcestervocations.com

508-630-4473

By Deacon Thiago Ibiapina

The human person has a complex constitution different from other beings present. Hence, the human person is not just any being thrown into nothingness or other material entity. On the contrary, the human person will differentiate itself from the various other types of beings present in the world from its unique singularity. So, making this reflection throughout my college studies, and after I finished my philosophical studies in 2015, in 2017, I was invited by a Brazilian publisher to publish my thesis. 

Thus, the text is a philosophical reflection on the challenges of human isolation with an anthropological, political, and social approach that appears presented and based on the work of Edith Stein, also known as Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. My book is an “exegesis,” if you will, of a book of hers called The Structure of the Human Person, which is a collection of lectures from 1931-1932. So, I called the book Spirit: An Analysis of the Human Person according to Edith Stein.

Following the phenomenological method, I write about what the human person is formed from, culminating in the human being as a social being. So, I propose through this study to reaffirm the dignity of the human person, so lost in our days. Therefore, my research is about knowing the categories that constitute the human person to defend its dignity. 

Thus, Spirit’s central thesis is to understand how this being called human is moved by the spirit and constituted in a tripartite way (body, soul, spirit), and it has interconnected dimensions. 

The first chapter has the “Analysis of the human being” as its theme. This chapter will see the human being in its most basic composition. The human being is matter, movement, and a living being, as the one who has a psyche and a being who is essentially spiritual.

In the second chapter, we will see what makes a human being a person. So, what are the movements and structure of a truly human person? His free acts, motivation, and spiritual life. Then, I present the concept of psychic contagion, and we will see the significant difference between human beings and animals in terms of belonging to a social group. The chapter’s core is the theme of what I call social aggregation, which does not occur through the influence of a leader, or it is merely a feeling, but it happens through a conscious choice coming from the subject himself.

Finally, in the last chapter of my work, we will approach the social dimension of the human being — the human person itself in experience, movement, and the other in acts and social relationships. We will also see the community as a place of personal fulfillment.

It is essential to emphasize a significant lack of publications of Edith Stein’s works in Portuguese; all her original work is written in German. I used the Italian translation translated under my responsibility and my advisor’s supervision. I have also read the translation in Spanish, French, and English. Some comments are available in Portuguese as well. Unfortunately, the book was published in Portuguese, and the English translation is not available yet. After I finish my formation at the seminary, I hope to dedicate some time to translating it and publishing the work in English.