The subtitle of our conversation says the point of view, or clue that is our point of departure for our analysis.  In fact, it seems to me I can take an interesting element from the experience of the North American meeting, for our reflection on the topic planned for this meeting, which is already in itself a vocation topic. I will treat only this element.

We all know the context in which the North American Vocation Congress was held: a context of scandals and sexual abuse by N.A.(North American) clergy.  For some people it would not be a good time to hold a vocation convention; I think, instead, that the N.A. Church has demonstrated a certain amount of courage in wanting to conduct it, and that the congress itself was an early response to the public opinion, which we know, especially from the media, has been very aggressive in that territory.

Certainly, the topic could have been much more present than it was in reality: the talks touched the dramatic problem only lightly; there was no “vocational interpretation” of these events;  it came out more in the meetings in the corridor and informal conversation.  And still, it could have been a good occasion to formulate a full response and maybe even formulate a precise vocation pedagogy and strategy based on the concrete story, as painful as it was. Many times, in the Church’s history, moments of major human weakness have been moments of grace and blossoming!

We will try, then, to do an early reading of these facts, first of all, in order then, to draw out from them some applications for a plan for vocation and formation discernment, and finally, to pick up a link that seems precious to me, and just so pertinent to our original topic, the connection between the  reality of affective maturity and the cross.