THE CHRISTIAN

10.1.3
VOCATION

This chapter presents the following key learning points:

• Christians have a vocation to share in the mission
of Jesus as priest
• Christians have a vocation to share in the mission
of Jesus as prophet
• Christians have a vocation to share in the mission
of Jesus as king
• The Christian promise is brought closer to fulfilment
when people cooperate with God who calls them to
their vocations.

Christians have a vocation to share in the

mission of Jesus as priest
For Christians the meaning of human vocation is found in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus
reveals the depth of the human vocation as a sharing in his mission as priest, prophet and king.
The Christian vocation is revealed and perfectly realised in the person of Jesus. Jesus taught all
who follow him how to share in his mission.

The Christian vocation is to put others first as Jesus did when he exercised his mission as priest.
The Christian vocation is to speak out on behalf of the poor and the powerless as Jesus did
when he fulfilled his mission as prophet. The Christian vocation is to exercise stewardship over
all creation as Jesus did when he fulfilled his mission as king.

God first instituted the Old Testament priesthood around

1250BC by commanding Moses to set aside his brother
Aaron and Aaron’s sons as priests (Exodus 28:1). In this way,
God instituted two levels of priestly service: the general
priesthood of the Jews as a priestly people and a special
priesthood of service to the priestly people.

The basic responsibility of Old Testament priests was to act

on behalf of the Jewish people to help reconcile the people
to God. They offered God sacrifices.

Over the centuries from the time of Moses to the

coming of Jesus, God led the Jewish people to a deeper
understanding of sacrifice. This in turn led to a deeper
Jesus Christ is like a tent which
understanding of the meaning of priesthood.
shelters us in life’s desert, 1993
(oil on panel) by Wang, Elizabeth
(Contemporary Artist)

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1. Sacrifices in the time of Moses were blood sacrifices
When God made the Sinai Covenant with the Jewish people, God told Moses to offer blood
sacrifices. Blood symbolised life. By pouring the blood of an animal on the altar, those making
the sacrifice were giving their own lives symbolically to God. They made this intention clear by
eating part of the sacrifice as a community. The role of the priest in the Mosaic sacrifice was to
kill the animal and conduct the sacrifice ritual.

2. Spiritual sacrifice
Before long, the Jewish people were performing the ritual of sacrifice, but not everyone was
sincerely offering their lives to God. They stopped keeping the commandments and often lived
like pagans.

God condemned insincere sacrificial rituals through several of the Prophets and revealed
that sincere efforts to live God’s laws and to give up wrong-doing were in themselves forms of
spiritual sacrifice:

One who keeps the Law multiplies offerings;

one who follows the commandments offers communion sacrifices ...
To abandon wickedness is what pleases the Lord,
to give up wrong doing is an expiatory sacrifice.
(Ecclesiasticus 35:1, 3)

After their conquest by the Babylonians in the early sixth century BC the Jews were forced
into exile and they could no longer offer ritual blood sacrifices. In this situation, God accepted
purely spiritual sacrifices which did not involve a priest. This did not mean that blood sacrifices
should no longer be performed – only that spiritual sacrifices could be offered as well. Knowing
this, the Jews realised that they could offer themselves personally to God in prayer:

We now have no leader, no prophet, no prince,

no burnt offering, no sacrifice, no oblation, no incense,
no place where we can make offerings to you
and win your favour.
But may the contrite soul, the humbled spirit,
be as acceptable to you ...
... and may it please you that we follow you whole-heartedly,
since those who trust in you will not be shamed.
(Daniel 3:38-40)

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3. Offering personal sufferings for the sins of others
God revealed through the prophet Isaiah the Jewish understanding of sacrifice to include the
offering of one-self for the sins of others in order to bring about forgiveness of their sins. As
with spiritual sacrifices, offering personal sufferings for the sins of others did not involve either
a priest or a ritual.

Isaiah wrote about a Suffering Servant who wins God’s favour for others by offering his
sufferings to God:

Yet ours were the sufferings he was bearing,

ours the sorrows he was carrying,
while we thought him as someone being punished …
… and we have been healed by his bruises.
… if he gives his life as a sin offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his life,
and through him Yahweh’s good pleasure will be done.
After the ordeal he has endured,
he will see the light and be content.
… my servant will justify many by taking their guilt on himself.
(Isaiah 53:4-5, 10-11)

Jesus saw himself as fulfilling the prophecy of the Suffering Servant. He gave his life through
his sufferings and death for the whole human race – past, present and future. He made this
clear on a number of occasions (Matthew 20:28; Luke 10:22).

Christians today recognise that Jesus died for their personal sins and each sees him as their
personal Saviour. The death of Jesus was for the sins of the human race so all who sin have
some responsibility for his death.

4. Jesus – Priest and Victim in the Eucharist

When Jesus was on the cross and offered his life to God the Father, he revealed himself as the
perfect priest. He did not sacrifice an animal to the Father, but offered his own life, making
himself victim as well as sacrifice. Jesus also revealed that he did not offer his life to his Father
only on Calvary. Jesus offered his whole life in spiritual sacrifice to God the Father. He gave this
as the basic reason for his life on earth:

… I have come from heaven, not to do my own will, but to do the will of him
who sent me. (John 6:38)

This spiritual sacrifice included his friendships, care of the sick and those in need. It included
his teaching, his miracles, and every aspect of his life.

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Jesus offered his life like the Suffering Servant
The authorities in Jerusalem worked to oppose Jesus. As his followers grew in number, the
Jewish leaders plotted his death.

Jesus recognised that, by his suffering and death, he would fulfil the prophecy of the Suffering
Servant. He taught that:

[He] came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
(Matthew 20:28)

The night before he was killed, Jesus feared his death. He could have avoided this by running
away. If he had done this he would not have fulfilled his mission – and would have disobeyed
God the Father. Using the biblical image of the ‘cup of suffering’, Jesus prayed:

‘Father,’ he said, ‘if you are willing, take this cup away from me. Nevertheless,
let your will be done, not mine.’ (Luke 22:42)

The next day, Jesus died on a cross at Calvary.

This was his perfect sacrifice to God the
Father. He was the blood victim – but, as the
one making the offering, he was also the
priest.

Christ on the Cross,

1627 (oil on panel) by Dyck,
Sir Anthony van (1599–1641)

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The Eucharist: the new sacrifice
The night before he died, Jesus had a Last Supper with his disciples. During this meal, he
replaced all Jewish Old Covenant sacrifices with a new one – the Eucharist, a symbolic
representation of his own sacrifice on Calvary:

Then he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them,
saying, ‘This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ He did the same
with the cup after supper, and said, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood poured
out for you.’ (Luke 22:19-20)

By telling his Apostles to ‘do this in remembrance of me’, Jesus instituted them as a new
priesthood. The Apostles passed on this priesthood to others as Jesus intended, through the
Sacrament of Holy Orders.

Since the time of the Apostles, his Church has celebrated the Eucharist as Jesus commanded.
Each time the priest repeats the action of Jesus during Mass he calls on the power of the Holy
Spirit to change bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus.

Jesus offers himself as sacrificial victim to God the Father. He is both priest and victim. Jesus
fulfilled in himself the Old Testament priesthood, becoming the “supreme High Priest.”
(Hebrews 4:14) He was also the one, perfect and eternal sacrifice that redeemed the sins of
the world “once and for all by offering himself.” (Hebrews 7:27). The Eucharist is the perfect
sacrifice because, unlike the sacrifices of the Old Covenant, the body and blood offered at each
Eucharistic celebration do not merely ‘represent’ the one doing the offering they are the body
and blood of the one doing the offering.

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The Church and every Christian is called by God to
share in the mission of Jesus as priest
Baptised Christians share in the priestly mission of Jesus in a particular way by living and
working as he did. This means that they offer every moment of their lives in spiritual sacrifice to
God the Father, just as Jesus did. It also means that they join Jesus in offering their lives in the
Eucharist.

Christians offer their lives as spiritual sacrifices

Christians understand how to offer their lives as spiritual sacrifices by reviewing their daily
lives. They offer these spiritual sacrifices to God the Father by living in ways that keep God’s
commandments. This includes trying to:
• show love to other family members and to forgive any hurts
• care for anyone they meet who has a special need including
– the poor and sick
– the rejected
– the discouraged
• be just and fair in how they treat others
• fulfil their responsibilities and commitments, including
– their studies
– those to their families.

There are also the more difficult experiences people have that can be offered to God.
These include:
• illness and physical sufferings
• failures and disappointments
• worries and anxieties
• emotional stresses
• severe temptations to break one of God’s Commandments such as:
– to steal or to deceive someone in a business deal
– to give in to sexual desires.

It is by offering these daily life moments to God the Father as spiritual sacrifices, just as Jesus
did, that a Christian becomes a means or an ‘instrument’ through which other people can
experience the transforming power of God’s love in their lives.

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Prayer as spiritual sacrifice
Every prayer, including prayerful thought, is a spiritual sacrifice to God. People generally cannot
think about offering their lives to God as a spiritual sacrifice during every moment of the day.
People can develop the important practice of praying the Morning Offering every day, in this
way they can offer every moment of the coming day to God.

It is important to pray a Morning Offering prayer. This can be a personal expression of offering
the day and everything in it to God or one of the many prayers of offering found in Catholic
prayer books. For example:

Morning Offering

‘Lord, I give you today my prayers,

thoughts, works and actions
that they may be for your glory
and for the good of the world.’

In Class Work
• Find different Morning Offerings from Catholic resources eg The Morning
Offering of St Therese of Lisieux.
• Write your own Morning Offerings to suit different occasions that you will
encounter as a Year Ten student, for example making decisions about what
you will study in Year Eleven and Year Twelve that will enable you to fulfil
your vocation.
• Create prayer cards that can be displayed and used by your class each morning.
• Plan how you will ensure you make a Morning Offering as a class each day.

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Catholics offer their lives in the Eucharist
People share in the mission of Jesus the priest by joining him in offering their lives to God the
Father in the Eucharist. The special prayer of offering in any Mass occurs after the consecration.
For instance, when the Second Eucharistic Prayer is used, the priest prays on behalf of the
people:

In memory of his death and resurrection, we offer you, Father, this life-giving bread, this
saving cup. We thank you for counting us worthy to stand in your presence and serve
you. May all of us who share in the body and blood of Christ be brought together in unity
by the Holy Spirit. (Roman Missal)

Jesus calls all present during Mass to offer their lives, together with his, to God the Father. This
includes their prayers, works, joys, hardships, sufferings, difficulties, temptations and successes.

Because of the suffering of Jesus, the Mass is the greatest of all the prayers people can offer to
God.

Jesus also joins the prayers of those who offer their lives with him to his prayer. This includes
the needs they pray for during the Mass – their own needs and the needs of others.

The power of the Resurrection of Jesus is greater than death. It is stronger than any human
weakness. Jesus shares this power with all who offer their lives in the Eucharist. This power:
• consoles where there is suffering
• strengthens against temptations
and weaknesses
• empowers efforts in areas of daily life
• guides through personal problems and
questions.

When people who participate in the

Eucharist pray for family members,
friends, those with needs, Church members
and many others this power helps them.

Baptised people share in the mission of

Jesus as priest in an especially powerful
way each time they offer their lives as Jesus
does to God the Father in the Eucharist.

Journal Activity
Where in your life at present is there a need for consolation, strength, empowerment
or guidance? Write a letter to God the Father asking for what is needed. Write the
letter as though it were to be given to Jesus to personally support your request.

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Christians have a vocation to share in the
mission of Jesus as prophet
The Christian vocation is
to speak on behalf of the
poor and the powerless
who have no one to speak
for them. Jesus taught
what it is to speak on
behalf of the poor and
powerless and to be a
prophet.

Prophets of the Old

Testament were called
to proclaim the word or
teaching of God and to
speak in God’s name to
others. This work also
involved criticising and
calling others to work to
change what was bad
or evil in their society,
challenging whatever in St. John the Baptist and the Pharisees, illustration for ‘The Life of Christ’,
c.1886-96 (gouache on paperboard) by Tissot, James Jacques Joseph (1836-1902)
society is contrary to
God’s law.

Prophets were people called by God and they were continually strengthened by God as long
as they continued to fulfil God’s mission. The prophets acted out of their deep commitment
to God. They spoke out when they saw that people were not living as God wanted. It was often
difficult to be a prophet who was like a conscience for society, challenging the way people lived
and the injustices they saw around them.

For your information...

John the Baptist was a prophet. He admonished people to straighten out their lives
in preparation for the one who was to come. Luke’s Gospel records John telling tax
collectors to be honest and warning soldiers not to intimidate people or use extortion to
get extra money (Luke 3: 10-14). John upset Herod Antipas when he criticised the king’s
relationship with his brother’s wife. Like many prophets before him, John was silenced,
first by being imprisoned, then by being killed (Mark 6:17-29).

Jesus challenged social trends and practices that conflicted with the teachings and
commandments of God. This led him to be rejected, ridiculed and eventually killed. During
Jesus’ ministry many people recognised him as a prophet (Matthew 21:11; Luke 24:19).

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 Christians can share in
Christ’s mission as prophet
today by helping others
to understand what the
Kingdom of God is all about.

Jesus proclaimed the Kingdom of God, and taught much about it. He also demonstrated its
power through actions.

Jesus always pointed to a future beyond suffering and death (Mark 10:33-34). He taught
about his own Resurrection. He taught his followers about heaven, hell and their own future
resurrection from the dead.

Christians share in the prophetic role of Jesus through the various works they do which teach
others that he is the source of the Kingdom of God whose power they can draw on by:
• repenting and resolving to change all wrongdoing in their lives
• believing in all that Jesus taught.

Christians can share in Christ’s mission as prophet today by helping others to understand
what the Kingdom of God is all about. They try to help people to see what the power of God’s
transforming love can offer them in their daily lives – particularly how it offers hope and
strength to build a society of justice, love and peace in preparation for the new heaven and
new earth to be finally realised when Jesus comes again.

Christians share in Christ’s prophetic role by sharing the good news of the Gospel and
encouraging everyone in society to live as Jesus taught, helping them to see ways in which
they are not living according to Christ’s law of love.

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Christians have a vocation to share in the
mission of Jesus as king
The Christian vocation is to exercise stewardship over all creation as Jesus did when he fulfilled
his mission as king.

Old Testament kings were meant to be servants of God who was the real king of Israel. This was
their calling and their work. Perhaps the best remembered kings are Saul, David and Solomon.

Jesus’ mission as king was to establish the rule (or ‘reign’) of God in the world. He came to
promote a society that reflected God and the values of God. This would be a society of love,
goodness, faithfulness, forgiveness and care for those with special needs.

One way that Jesus exercised his mission as king differently from other kings was through his
service rather than his dominance of others. He told his Apostles:

‘... the Son of man came not to be served but to serve ...’ (Matthew 20:28)

During the Last Supper, Jesus

showed his Apostles that service
meant serving even those regarded
by others as the lowliest people in
society. He did so by washing his
Apostles’ feet. At that time this was
the task of a slave, not a teacher.
(John 13:2-16).

Jesus also taught that his followers

would serve him whenever they
served the hungry and others in
need (Matthew 25:35-40 and 42-45).

Baptised people share in the mission

of Jesus as king by growing in inner
freedom, promoting God’s goodness
and love and promoting respect for
creation.

As king, Jesus sought to promote the

rule of God in the world – the rule of
love and goodness that destroys evil. Christ Washing the Feet of the Disciples (oil on canvas)
To share in this mission of Jesus, (detail of 69587) by Tintoretto, Jacopo Robusti (1518-94)
Christians need to begin with
themselves. They need to repent (Mark 1:15) and draw on God’s power in their lives by
praying daily, worshipping in the liturgical assembly (especially through the Eucharist)
and living every day as Jesus taught.

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Promoting God’s love and goodness in society
Christians promote God’s kingdom in society, as Jesus did, by promoting love and goodness in
every way that they can.

The value of justice is particularly important. This value brings peace, which Christians are
called to promote at every level – in families, among friends, between neighbours and different
groups in society, as well as among nations.

Justice includes social justice – the recognition of the equal dignity and rights of every human
being and the promoting of just distribution of the earth’s resources.

Promoting respect for creation

Sharing Christ’s mission as king also means encouraging proper respect for the environment,
other creatures and the use of the earth’s resources. The earth is to be preserved for future
generations.

Imagine what it would be like if everyone today cooperated with

God in discovering their vocation in life.

Imagine how the lives of people would be different if everyone

shared in the mission of Jesus as:

priest – by living and working as he did – offering every moment

of their lives to God – joining with Jesus in offering their lives in the
Eucharist

prophet – by speaking up and acting on behalf of the poor and

oppressed in society thus building God’s Kingdom here on earth

king – by promoting God’s rule of love and goodness that destroys

evil in the world – bringing order and harmony to God’s creation

How would the world be a different place if all people worked at

their basic Christian vocation and truly shared in Christ’s mission
of priest, prophet and king?

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 You are working for an advertising firm contracted to supply posters for large,

The Christian promise is

road-side billboards. Design a poster that has one of the following themes:
• Today’s Christian youth – called to share in Jesus’ priestly mission

brought closer to fulfilment

• In every age, Christians are called to share in Jesus’ prophetic mission
• ‘Being Christian’ means sharing in Jesus’ mission to build the Kingdom of

when people cooperate with

God in the world.

God who calls them to their

Choose a title and include a short, snappy “mission statement”. This
statement will seek to express, clearly and concisely, what it means to be a

vocations
young Christian who shares in Jesus’ mission as priest or prophet or king in
today’s society.

The poster should include at least three practical examples of how this
mission can be practised in everyday life. This might be expressed most
effectively with illustrations or short phrases.

In Class Work
You are working for an advertising firm contracted to supply posters for large,
road-side billboards. Design a poster that has one of the following themes:
• Today’s Christian youth – called to share in Jesus’ priestly mission
• In every age, Christians are called to share in Jesus’ prophetic mission
• ‘Being Christian’ means sharing in Jesus’ mission to build the Kingdom of God
in the world.

Choose a title and include a short, snappy “mission statement”. This statement
will seek to express, clearly and concisely, what it means to be a young Christian
who shares in Jesus’ mission as priest or prophet or king in today’s society.

The poster should include at least three practical examples of how this mission
can be practised in everyday life. This might be expressed most effectively with
illustrations or short phrases.

The Christian promise is brought closer to fulfilment when

people cooperate with God who calls them to their vocations
Christians work by contributing to God’s creative activity today, just as Jesus did. As they do so,
they experience greater fulfilment as they find answers to the general human heart question,
‘What is the meaning and purpose of my life?’

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There are many examples of people living in a way that God wants and fulfilling their Christian
vocation.

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati – “We must never just simply exist”

Pier Giorgio Frassati was beatified by the Catholic

Church in 1990 and named the Patron Saint of World
Youth Day in 2000. He fulfilled his vocation as a lay
Christian in the way he lived his faith by loving Jesus
and striving to see Jesus in the people he met in the
society in which he lived. It was fitting that the Church
should choose such a vibrant young man as a patron
for youth.

Pier Giorgio was born into a privileged family in Turin,

Italy, on April 6, 1901. His mother, Adelaide, was an
accomplished painter and his father, Alfredo, was the
founder and director of the liberal newspaper,
La Stampa. He was influential in Italian politics serving
a term as senator, and later was Italy’s ambassador to
Germany. Pier Giorgio grew up between the two world
wars, a period of social unrest dominated by Fascism.

From an early age, Pier Giorgio’s concern for others was evident. When he was
only four, he gave away his shoes to the son of a poor woman who came begging
at the door of the family home. Throughout his school years, he used his pocket
money and tram fare to buy food and necessities for the needy. While living in the
embassy in Germany, he continued to serve the poor, even giving away his winter
overcoat to an old man shivering with cold. Often he was so caught up in serving
the poor after school that he had to run home in order to be on time for dinner
and to avoid his father’s displeasure.

Although he was an intelligent young man, Pier Giorgio often struggled to keep
up with his studies. He was involved in many extracurricular activities such as
political organisations, sporting clubs, the Society of St Vincent de Paul, and the
Lay Dominicans. These activities, his attendance at daily Mass and the Rosary,
Eucharistic adoration, his involvement in other religious activities, and his weekend
outings to the mountains for skiing or hiking, limited his time for schoolwork.

His expeditions to the mountains were more than adventures. Pier Giorgio and
his friends used the solitude and peace to pray the Rosary and to appreciate the
wonders of God’s creation. He wrote: ‘Every day I love the mountains more and
more, and if my studies permitted, I would spend whole days in the mountains
contemplating the greatness of the Creator in that pure air.’

14 YEAR 10 | COME FOLLOW ME

 Pier Giorgio was beloved by his schoolmates and teachers alike. He gained a
reputation for pranks like short-sheeting the Jesuit teachers’ beds and was known
as the first to start laughing at a joke and the last to stop. His sense of humour
and his sporting prowess meant that Pier Giorgio developed a strong group
of friends both boys and girls who called themselves ‘I Sinistri’ or ‘The Shady
Characters’.

Pier Giorgio managed to achieve excellent results at the end of his secondary
education and qualified for the Royal Polytechnic. He planned to study mining
engineering. He thought that working with miners who laboured in dangerous
conditions for poor pay would allow him to witness to his faith as a lay missionary.
While a student at the Polytechnic, Pier Giorgio became involved in Catholic
student movements. In 1921, he was involved in organising the first congress of
the Pax Romana. This organisation aimed to unify all Catholic students across the
world to work towards global peace.

When the family went to their country estate or the seashore for holidays, Pier
Giorgio often stayed behind in Turin to help ‘his poor’. He said: “If I leave who will
help them?” He not only gave people material help, he spent time with them. He
ran errands, cleaned houses, bathed and tended the sick, read to the blind and
entertained the children. He never left a home without giving a short religious
instruction and saying a prayer.

While still at university, Pier Giorgio’s father offered him a car or an equivalent
gift of money for his twenty-first birthday. The young man chose the money.
He gave half to the St Vincent de Paul Society and the other half to help an old
woman who had been evicted from her slum home, an invalid suffering from
tuberculosis, and a widow with three small children.

Pier Giorgio attended Mass and received Holy Communion early every morning.
He saw this aspect of his life as a gift that he needed to repay, saying: ‘Jesus
comes to me every morning in Holy Communion and I repay him in my very small
way by visiting the poor.’ He saw Christ in them and said: ‘All around the sick
and all around the poor I see a special light which we do not have… God gives us
health so that we may serve the sick.” He influenced a number of his friends to
join him in his visits to the slums and the charity hospitals.

Pier Giorgio and his friends were politically active. They opposed the power of the
dictator Mussolini and participated in public demonstrations against Fascism.
During one of these marches, Pier Giorgio and some of his friends were detained
by the army. He rescued a young demonstrator who was being threatened with a
soldier’s bayonet and led the group in prayer for themselves and their attackers.
He was considered a hero, but Pier Giorgio understood that his courage came

YEAR 10 | COME FOLLOW ME 15

 from God: “It is not those who suffer violence who should fear, but those who
practise it. When God is with us, we do not need to be afraid.”

Pier Giorgio joined the Italian People’s Party, which supported democratic
principles and Catholic social teachings. He believed that it was his Christian
responsibility to do more than just ‘patch up’ the wounds and sufferings which
resulted from injustice. He would say, “Charity is not enough: we need social
reform.”

In 1925, while in the midst of final exams before attaining his engineering degree,
Pier Giorgio contracted polio. He had never been sick before and ignored the early
symptoms and said nothing to his family until it was too late for him to receive
effective treatment. On July 4 1925 after being bedridden for only two days he
died. He was only twenty-four. On his deathbed, he remembered that he had a
prescription for one of his poor people in his jacket pocket and asked his sister
Luciana to have one of his friends take care of the matter. To the end, his concern
was for the poor and the sick.

Involved as they were in state politics and high society, Pier Giorgio’s family
knew little of his activities among the poor and even less of his deep spirituality.
They were astounded to discover the depth of both when dozens of clergy and
thousands of poor people came to join the family for Pier Giorgio’s funeral. Over the
coming months and years his family received many visits and letters from people
who testified to his influence in their lives. Pier Giorgio had been a young man who
lived life to the full. His life could be summed up in this line from one of his letters:

“To live without faith, without a heritage to defend, without battling constantly
for the sake of truth – that is not living, but simply existing. We must never
simply exist.”

16 YEAR 10 | COME FOLLOW ME

 Danusia Does It
Kate Molony

It’s Christmas morning in 1992. A chaotic scene unfolds in a suburban home as the
final preparations are made for the Christmas delivery Santa couldn’t make.

Presents are wrapped and stacked, tinsel garlands taped down. Festive reindeer
antlers are slipped on. There may not be a sleigh, but there’s a big red truck, and
scores of underprivileged children—naughty and nice—will still get their Christmas
presents.

This is one of the proudest memories for Danusia Kaska, one of two newly
appointed national Vice Presidents of the St Vincent de Paul Society in Australia.
Her fellow Vice President is former WA Police Chief, Brian Bull. In taking office, she
becomes the first woman and the youngest person, at 28, to be elected to a senior
position.

One might say that the wheels were set in motion for this achievement a long time
ago. The daughter of Polish migrants, Danusia saw her parents assist others who
were struggling, even sending parcels to people in need back in Europe.

‘My toys and clothes were always being given away ... so I had the understanding
from a small child that people in need need to be helped.’

While attending high school Danusia began to help others, embarking on a

personal ministry of volunteer work that continues to this day.

From Year Seven, under the supervision of a nun, she fed the hungry, visited
nursing homes, and was touched by the courage of children with mental illnesses.
She experienced her first visit to Ozanam House, a shelter run by the St Vincent de
Paul Society in Melbourne, where she helped feed the homeless and listened to
their stories.

As Danusia continued through high school she became involved with youth Masses
and liturgy, was a special minister of the Eucharist at Mass every week and began
volunteering at schools for disabled children.

‘I was just looking for something positive to do ... and if there was something there, I
would be doing it’, she explains, denying that it was too much for a young person to
take on.

Her involvement with the St Vincent de Paul Society began as she was finishing
Year 12. With more time on her hands, Danusia decided she wanted to find an
organisation that would nurture her calling to help those in need. The answer

YEAR 10 | COME FOLLOW ME 17

 appeared on a parish notice board, and she began attending regular meetings with
‘St Vinnies’.

She describes the first meeting as daunting: an assembly of around twenty people
with a forty-year age gap between herself and the next youngest person!

‘But they were so welcoming’, she reflects. ‘And from that point on, every Thursday
night, one of the other volunteers would pick me up and take me to the soup van,
and every Saturday to Ozanam House.’

Wondering why there weren’t more opportunities for young people to be involved
in the society, Danusia gathered a troupe of friends together and began her own
group. It would be a few years before the Victorian State Council established it
formally, but Danusia can still be recognised for helping to initiate what would
become the Young Vincentians, or ‘Young Vinnies’. Danusia continued running
the Young Vincentians in her area until she felt herself called to a mission in the
remote village of Nongkhai, Thailand, in 2002. She lived and worked in a hospice
for children suffering from or affected by AIDS.

Conditions were poor and primitive, communication with the outside world was
limited, and the children were sick and dying. Danusia describes it as one of the
most moving experiences of her life.

‘I felt such a strong, stirring calling within me and I really knew that God was talking
to me. I was really being a witness to my faith.’

Danusia’s enterprise in the community has also led to her involvement with other
organisations, notably the Marists. She lived in MYAC house, a Marist community
which places young people together to develop their ministry and faith.

‘I admire how Marist brothers work closely with young people,’ she says. She is an
avid supporter of youth ministry, which she insists is vibrant and busy, contrary to
criticism from some quarters.

‘It is sometimes implied that young people aren’t very active in the church today,
that they aren’t very interested in following their faith. That’s rubbish! If you go to
a Catholic youth ministry event, you’ll see how many young people are involved—
try 2.8 million people at a World Youth Day (in Rome, 2000). No rock concert, no
celebrity, no sporting person in the world has ever brought so many young people
together like the Holy Father did.’

Danusia points out that many young people attend Adoration at the cathedral,
Young Vinnies groups, youth Masses and prayer groups. She sees them work with
charities such as MacKillop Family Services, Interchange North-West, and Exodus,
an outreach community in West Heidelberg.

18 YEAR 10 | COME FOLLOW ME

 ‘I meet more and more young people who are involved in these areas. It’s very
inspiring.’

At the age of 28, Danusia had developed an impressive portfolio with her personal
ministry. She was still stunned, however, by her appointment to the position of
national co-Vice President.

Ironically, the gap that Danusia saw in her first St Vincent de Paul meeting ten years
ago will be her main focal point as Vice President.

‘I’m 28. I’m not a Young Vinnie anymore—a lot of Young Vinnies are in college, or
their early twenties. It would be nice if we could find more ways for people who
have less time available, such as those in their late twenties, or thirties and forties, to
participate.’

Aside from bridging the gap, Danusia feels it’s very important to unify what are, at
the moment, two very separate ends of the spectrum: the young and the senior.

This is crucial, for Danusia believes young people have a vital role to play as full
participants in the Society and older people have a lot of wisdom to share.

When she met the International Society President and the International Society
Youth Representative in Seoul in 2001, Danusia admired the respect and support
they gave to each other.

‘That’s something I want to see emulated here’, she explains. ‘Young Vinnies should
be more than the Vinnies of tomorrow. They are the Vinnies of today.’

This article is reproduced with the permission of Australian Catholics magazine. It originally appeared
in the Spring 2003 issue.

In Class Work
1. Research the lives of two other people who through their vocation, shared in
the mission of Jesus as priest, prophet and king.
2. What do the people you researched have in common?
3. What makes them inspirational people?
4. How can you draw on the lives of these people to help you continue to fulfil
your basic Christian vocation?

YEAR 10 | COME FOLLOW ME 19