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November 14, 2019At the request of Archbishop Coakley, a Serra Club is organizing in the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City to help create and sustain a culture of vocations.
Serra is an official lay apostolate of the Catholic Church. The organization takes its name from recently canonized Saint Junipero Serra, who is famous for establishing the missions in California in the 1700s.
The Serra Club’s mission is to foster new vocations to the priesthood and religious life and to affirm and support existing vocations. A Serra Club does this through a combination of prayer, service and fellowship. Such a club could greatly assist the work of the archdiocesan vocations office. They are organized by geographic areas within the diocese and often cover many parishes.
A Serra Club is made up of practicing lay Catholic men and women who meet at least once a month at Mass to pray specifically for vocations. Clubs can have anywhere from 25 to more than 150 members. The new Serra Club for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City will meet on the third Tuesday of the month at 10:30 a.m. at the Catholic Pastoral Center, 7501 Northwest Expressway in Oklahoma City. The monthly event will include a one-hour meeting followed by Mass in the Saint Francis de Sales Chapel and lunch in the refectory.
The monthly program will include a speaker or presentation focused on vocations. In addition, members commit to individual prayer for vocations on a regular basis. This can be a weekly or monthly rosary; an hour spent in Eucharistic Adoration; “spiritually adopting” a seminarian to give encouragement through cards, letters, visits at seminary or even dinners in the home; and prayer for the vocations director.
To support and affirm existing religious vocations, clubs often host appreciation events or dinners for priests and sisters in the diocese. In addition, a Serra Club often serves as a kind of unofficial support staff to the vocations office that the vocations director can call upon for help with various projects.
Serra Club dues support vocations efforts internationally and within the United States. For example, Serra has developed a website more than 25 programs that can be tailored to a specific diocese or even a parish by the vocations director (www.serraspark.org). In the United States, Serra offers on-site training to groups of parishes who seek to form parish vocations ministries. In addition, conventions are held internationally, nationally and regionally where members from various clubs come together for education and inspiration in their vocations work.
For more information on the Serra Club in the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, contact Karen Kenworthy or Sara Brown at serraokc@gmail.com.
