A Catholic bishop on Thursday urged vocation ministers to abandon recruitment-style work and instead serve as spiritual companions in vocational discernment.
Bishop Roberto Gaa of Novaliches, chair of the CBCP Episcopal Commission on Vocations, said ministry must shift toward authentic “co-discernment.”
“What does it mean for us to co-discern now?” Gaa asked during the closing Mass of the 29th National Convention of Directors of Vocations in the Philippines. “It is to listen with the candidate — free from biases, free from our own preferences.”
He warned against treating vocation ministry as recruitment or persuasion, where candidates are pushed toward priesthood or religious life decisions.
“I need to say that — you need to stop being a promoter,” Gaa said, stressing vocational accompaniment rather than persuasion or advocacy roles.
“Because when you remain a promoter, you become an advocate of the candidate,” he said, cautioning against distorted formation dynamics.
The bishop said excessive intervention prevents seminarians, novices, and aspirants from fully owning and maturing in their vocational discernment.
“And if you continue to become their advocate, their lawyer, that vocation will not mature in them,” he said. “They will not learn to search for their own vocation.”
Instead, he said directors must “step back” once formation begins and allow candidates to wrestle personally with God’s call.
“They have to reclaim that for themselves,” Gaa said. “Otherwise, they will continue to be floating.”
He also cautioned against reducing vocation to emotional satisfaction, saying happiness or positive parish experiences alone cannot sustain priestly commitment.
Drawing from St. Ignatius of Loyola, he described authentic discernment as a disciplined spiritual process requiring grace, self-purification, and detachment from personal preferences.
During the Mass, new officers of the Directors of Vocations in the Philippines, led by national coordinator the Fr. Nathaniel Gentizon of the Archdiocese of Jaro, took their oath.
The new leaders will guide the organization’s shared mission through 2028.
