Seminarians for the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend gathered with their families for Mass and brunch after finishing their final exams for the fall semester. The vocations Mass and brunch were sponsored by the Serra Club, which is an international organization with thousands of members who pray for and financially support vocations in the Catholic Church. This annual Mass and gathering happens just before Christmas each year for the diocese’s seminarians, and its location switches between South Bend and Fort Wayne. This year, the Mass was held at St. Monica Catholic Church in Mishawaka on Saturday, December 21. Bishop Rhoades celebrated Mass, while other priests and deacons assisted and seminarians served. Photos by Kasia BalsbaughBishop Rhoades preaches to seminarians and their families at St. Monica Catholic Church in Mishawaka on Saturday, December 21. Those participating in the Mass prayed specifically for vocations in the diocese, as well as Christmas graces for all members of the diocese. Because the Gospel reading was about the Visitation, Bishop Rhoades spent some time in his homily pointing out the parallels between the Gospel of Luke’s account of the Visitation and the arrival of the Ark of the Covenant in 1 Samuel – parallels that highlight the similarities between the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Ark of the Covenant. Bishop Rhoades shared his memories visiting the Church of Our Lady of the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy Land, which stands on the spot where the Ark of the Covenant rested for 20 years as recounted in the Old Testament. Bishop Rhoades took this pilgrimage in the Holy Land during his seminarian years, where the priest who ran the trip spoke primarily on the Old Testament. Later, Bishop Rhoades met this priest again and asked why he had had this focus. Family members of seminarians bring up the gifts for the offertory at the Serra Club’s vocations Mass on Saturday, December 21. “He wanted us to learn to appreciate the permanent value of the Old Testament, because he said that there’s a tendency to neglect the Old Testament,” Bishop Rhoades remembered. He called this tendency “a kind of practical Marcianism,” referencing the Marcian heresy in the early Church that rejected the Old Testament. Bishop Rhoades encouraged the seminarians to “enrich” their understanding of salvation history by reading the Old Testament. “We come to appreciate what God accomplished in the fullness of time in the person of His incarnate Son when we read, study, and meditate on the words and events of the Old Testament,” Bishop Rhoades said. “And the Fathers of the Church showed the unity of God’s plan in the two testaments through typology, like that of the Ark of the Covenant.” One of the main goals of the Mass is to have Bishop Rhoades spend some time with the seminarians, Serra Club member Randy Blum told Today’s Catholic. Blum has been involved with the Serra Club in the diocese for 10 years. He added that, for members of the Serra Club (also known as “Serrans”), the vocations Mass is “a great opportunity to meet the parents of the seminarians that we’ve been praying for.” The Serra Club in the diocese serves in other ways, including ushering at ordinations and running a Father’s Day card sale – the proceeds of which go to the Seminarians’ Education Fund for diocesan seminarians. But the club’s primary work, of course, is prayer. “As Serrans, we pray for priests and seminarians every day,” Blum said. “It’s not just Serrans that need to be praying for priests and vocations, so we encourage everybody, even if you’re not a Serran, to pray actively for vocations and for the seminarians who are in formation.” The post Serra Club Sponsors Mass for Seminarians, Families appeared first on Today's Catholic.