Vocations contest winners attend dinner

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
Posted May 15, 2003

First place winners of the Vocations Creativity Contest and their families attended a recognition dinner with Bishop Daniel N. DiNardo on May 10 at Cathedral of the Epiphany in Sioux City.

Prior to the dinner, they attended 5 p.m. Mass in which the bishop presided and was homilist. In opening comments, he extended words of welcome to the contest winners and their families as well as to members of Serra Club of Siouxland that were on hand for the celebration as the group had co-sponsored the contest with the Office of Vocations.

In his homily, Bishop DiNardo pointed out that the contest winners came to Sioux City each year the weekend of Good Shepherd Sunday. He told them that shepherds could be priests, deacons and sisters.

"We don't have quite the number of shepherds in our church as we would like," the bishop acknowledged. "And right now I am involved in what I call one of the most difficult times of the year. I am transferring priests."

He pointed out that the number of active priests have gone from 145 to 97 in the last 10 years. This makes the task of reassignment all the more difficult.

At a quarterly ecumenical meeting of ministers the bishop said he has learned that the decrease in the number of pastors is not just a reality for the Catholic Church. Other denominations are faced with the same situation and they do have married and women ministers.

"The problem that we are dealing with is that in our culture today, people do not like to deal with the fulfillment that comes from something intangible. People want tangible things," said Bishop DiNardo. "They want to see it and touch it."

Those who answer a call to the priesthood or religious life often have to deal with the intangible, he explained. It is sometimes difficult to find people who will serve as tangible signs within the church.

The bishop asked the people to pray so that God would "give us decent, good shepherds for this church." He also encouraged them to reflect upon how God is calling them and requested prayers for himself as he finalized and announced the priest assignments.

Following Mass, the president of Serra Club of Siouxland, Jerry Reinert welcomed the contest winners and their families.

This year's first place winners were Taylor Beauliea, a kindergartner from Sioux City; Meggie Frischmeyer, a first-grader from Fort Dodge; Amelia Golwitzer, a second-grader from Wesley; Austin Schmit, a third-grader from Alton; Emily Mohr, a fourth-grader from Early; Kelsey Eischeid, a fifth-grader from Halbur; Leann Nelson, a sixth-grader from Humboldt; Megan Barta, a seventh-grader from Carroll who was unable to attend the dinner, and Kaitlin Synder, an eighth-grader from Breda who was also unable to attend.

The students said they enjoyed attending the dinner.

"I think it is really good because I got to meet the bishop. It's really cool to meet him," said Eischeid. "My teacher was real proud of that."

She pointed out that she was surprised by the statistic the bishop used during Mass relating to the number of active priests decreasing in the last 10 years.

"We know that we need priests," said Eischeid.

Nelson said she was surprised to learn that she had won the contest. She found it fun to attend the dinner and said she'd like to do it again if she could.

As they worked on the vocations contest Nelson said her teacher stressed "that we should be thankful for those who have been a priest, sister or deacon."

Beaulieu said she felt good when she heard she won the contest. This kindergartner drew a picture of a sister teaching students.

Schmit said, "It's fun coming here and getting to meet the bishop. It's special."

Golwitzer said she liked meeting the bishop. This was her first time to visit the cathedral.

Sharri Fitzpatrick, a Serran that headed up the creative contest, offered a brief overview of the history and mission of the Serra Club before Lynn Paulsen called the winners forward to receive certificates that were handed out by the bishop.