Could the new pope jumpstart vocations in his order?
Maybe. Check this out, from OSV News:
The Augustinians, Pope Leo XIV’s religious order, have a newly elected prior provincial for their Midwest province, a position the pope held from 1999-2001.
Augustinian Father Tom McCarthy was elected prior provincial of the Chicago-based Province of Our Mother of Good Counsel Dec. 22, in a vote by 73 friars from the Midwest, Canada and the Chulacanas Vicariate of northern Peru, according to the province secretary.
“It was kind of surreal in a way,” Father McCarthy said in describing his election. “You know, I’ve always looked to the provincial, but I never thought I’d be the provincial. And I was very honored and humbled that my brothers entrusted me (with) this responsibility. And my ministry is to them.”
He reiterated his “main ministry” was “to the friars, the people and the institutions” that the Midwest Augustinians serve. As with all mendicant orders, they go where they are needed, he explained, pointing out that in 1244 when the Augustinian order was founded, it was among the first orders to leave its monasteries and serve the people directly.
And there’s this:
In talking about the “Pope Leo effect” on the order, Father McCarthy said when people first meet him they say, “‘Oh, you’re an Augustinian. Oh, you’re like the pope!’ So, what he’s done is really just made it a public thing now about who the Augustinians are. We have people who did not know who we were, who now know who we are.”
“Vocation-wise, it’s certainly getting more people to look at us,” he said. “But generally, it’s just seeing the good works and I think it’s really having more people look into who St. Augustine is, and his writings. I think that’s really happening.”
Father McCarthy said this has been helped by the pope’s frequent reference to St. Augustine’s teachings when he speaks or celebrates Mass.
“And, young people are seeing, ‘Wow, this is something that I want to be a part of.’ It’s pretty exciting, that way,” he said.
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