Local woodworkers sought to make boxes for chalices to promote vocations in diocese

Courtesy graphic/Tekton Woodworks

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A rendering of a chalice box is shown.

SALT LAKE CITY —Woodworkers are being asked to lend their talents to help promote religious vocations in the Diocese of Salt Lake City.

The diocesan Office of Vocations recently sent out a call to make wooden boxes for chalices that will be used to promote vocations.

“There is an alarming situation that the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City is facing right now, that is, the lack of vocations to the priestly and religious life,” said Father Carlos Guzman, assistant director of the vocations office; he also is temporary administrator of Blessed Sacrament Parish in Sandy.

This concern has a serious impact on the lives of every one of the faithful, Fr. Guzman said. “It is for this reason that the vocations office of the diocese is launching the Chalice for Vocations [program]. The reason behind this is to make everybody involved in promoting vocations, primarily through prayer. As Jesus said, ‘The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few. Pray, therefore, the Lord of the harvest to send our laborers to gather in his harvest.’ Therefore the Chalice for Vocations becomes an occasion for everybody to respond to these words of Jesus through prayer.”

The chalice boxes will hold a chalice, a rosary and a printed prayer guide. The idea is that parishioners will take one of the boxes home after a weekend Mass “and pray the devotions for vocations during the week,” said Mandi Knaras, who assists in the vocations office. “The family would then return the box to the parish promoter on Saturday in preparation for the next family to receive the chalice box.”

The vocations office is seeking people “to be part of this network and to help coordinate the chalice program in their parish,” Knaras said. “This is a way for us to create a tangible task for a person to be doing in every parish and to help families throughout the diocese to pray for vocations.”

Vocations “start from and are nurtured in the family,” Fr. Guzman said; the chalice box program is meant to help parishioners become aware of the need to promote vocations because currently few young Catholics in Utah are discerning a religious vocation.

Although “a good number of foreign priests” are coming to minister in Utah, the diocese cannot rely on this to continue, Fr. Guzman said. “There is much to be done in the faith formation of the young people because one probable reason why they could not answer the call of Jesus is because they have not yet fully committed to and embraced the faith. On the other hand, we have a lot of possible candidates for either priestly or religious life who are actively involved in the parish ministries.”

This active involvement may lead them to discover their vocational calling, he said.

“Vocations is the answering to the call of God in our daily lives,” Knaras said. “Some of us are called to be married and have families, some are called to participate in the religious communities, some are called to be priests, and some of us are called to be single adults. Each of us is challenged to listen and discern how our lives are glorifying God.”

Every Catholic should promote vocations, from families to schools, parishes and youth and faith formation ministries, Fr. Guzman said. “The urgent call to involve everyone in vocation promotion starts with the call to prayer. The chalice which will be given to every individual or family reminds [us] that every vocation is born from and nourished in the Eucharist.”

Anyone interested in creating chalice boxes is asked to contact Mandi Knaras in the Diocesan Office of Vocations, 801-456-9360.