For 90 years, the Serra Club has been praying for and promoting Catholic vocations around the world in more than 200 chapters, and the Diocese of Little Rock is no exception.
Every month, approximately 80 lay Catholics meet at the St. John Center to celebrate Mass, pray for seminarians, assist with vocations events and hear updates on vocations for men and women religious.
Jennifer Tucker, president of vocations for the Diocese of Little Rock chapter, will be running for president of the organization this June. She said Serra Club has three main goals.
“We have a three-tier mission,” Tucker said. “The first is to foster new vocations to the priesthood and religious life. The second is to affirm and support existing priesthood and religious vocations. And then the third part of our mission is to grow in our own holiness through what we do in helping achieve the first two goals. … Serra is special because it is officially aggregated to the Vatican and the worldwide Catholic Church. In fact, Serra is the only lay Catholic apostolate officially aggregated to the Church.”
Tucker, a parishioner at St. Joseph Church in Conway, became a member in 2021 after discerning whether or not to start a ministry to encourage priests and religious when her pastor told her about Serra Club, which is named after St. Junipero Serra, a Franciscan priest in the 1700s who served in California.
Tucker joined and has been a pivotal part of the organization ever since.
“Everything we do — our prayers, programs, service and fellowship — … is to foster and affirm priesthood and religious vocations, and, in doing so, to grow in our own faith,” she said. “There are other lay groups in the Catholic Church that assist in the vocation effort, like the Knights of Columbus, but Serra is the only lay organization whose sole purpose is to do this.”
In the past four years, the organization has grown significantly, with representation growing from two parishes to five or six in Central Arkansas now.
“We have a very diverse group … a big portion of our board is women. … Since I’ve been here, we’ve put a lot of effort into getting membership and representation from other parishes throughout central Arkansas.”
Tucker said the Serra Club is in the process of changing its name to Serra Club of Central Arkansas, because the organization is “working on planting seeds in northwest Arkansas in hopes that at some point there will be a Serra Club of Northwest Arkansas.”
Tucker said the Eucharist is the most pivotal part of the Catholic faith, and the actions of Serra Club ensure that lay Catholics everywhere can continue to participate in the gift of the Eucharist.
“It’s important to support and encourage vocations to the religious life and priesthood. Our Catholic Church, especially the priesthood, is all centered around the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the way that we’re close to the Lord — physically as well as spiritually. Without priests, there is no Eucharist. It’s important to encourage and promote vocations to the priesthood, so that we’ll continue to be able to be close to the Lord in the Eucharist.”
Serra Club is also working to uplift women’s religious vocations.
“There are so many youth in our diocese who have never had an opportunity to even see a religious sister. How do they even know that that’s out there as an option, that God may be calling them to that religious life if they don’t even know it exists? They hear about it, but for some youth, especially, where there are no sisters in their parish and there are no sisters in their schools, you might as well be talking about a unicorn. They can see it on TV, but they can see superheroes on TV too. Having a religious sister physically present is so important, and our sisters do such a beautiful job and in expressing the joy that they have with that intimate relationship with Christ …”
Bernard Neumeier, a parishioner of Christ the King Church in Little Rock, has been a member of Serra Club since 2019. He said he enjoys being in the organization to learn more about what’s going on with vocations in the diocese.
“We have monthly talks by different people at our meetings, and we hear about different things going on. We get to be involved with Taste of Faith, and you get to meet the seminarians and hear how they’re progressing. We get to adopt one of them and pray for them throughout the month and interface with them.”
Lisa Carey, a member at Christ the King Church in Little Rock, has been a Serra Club member since 2018.
“We need more vocations with the kind of world we’re in today,” she said. “We need a lot of prayer and stability in the Catholic Church. I love all of Serra Club. I love the prayer, and I love the service, the people I meet, and then I really like to keep up with what’s going on in the diocese with the talks that we have. We learn a lot about what’s happening.”
The Serra Club met May 2 at the St. John Center to hear from Father Jeff Hebert, diocesan vocations director. In the meeting, he asked Serra Club members to pray for seminarians to be brave in their discernment.
“You all are so generous to the seminarians,” he told attendees. “That in their discernment, they’re afraid to look too closely sometimes, because they’re afraid they might have to leave. And they’re afraid … not because of being out on their own, but they’re afraid of letting you down. They know we’re a missionary diocese, we need priests, even though we’re doing very well for our size. They still know that the need is there, and that’s always very difficult for them when they want to have the vocation, but sometimes it’s just not there. That limits their ability to be very honest with themselves.
“So I would ask you to pray to give them the courage to be very honest about their vocation without fear. … I wish they would know just how much it means to you all that they’re even in the seminary at all.”
How Serra Club helps
The Serra Club’s mission manifests in the form of prayer and helping at events throughout the diocese. Some of Serra Club’s activities include:
- Preparing and serving meals for the Come and See Retreat for diocesan men inquiring about a vocation to the priesthood, as well as the Women’s Diocesan Vocation Discernment Retreat for those women considering a religious vocation
- Preparing and serving lunch for the Priests’ Continuing Education at St. John Center, as well as for seminarians, their families, the bishop and the Vocations Office staff at the end of summer prior to the seminarians’ departure for school
- Running the registration table, providing religious medals and supporting those attending Vocations Day, an annual diocesan event for fifth graders to introduce the concept of vocations
- Assisting at diocesan priesthood ordinations
- Sponsoring and praying for a seminarian through the Adopt-a-Seminarian program
- Attending Mass or offering prayers each month for an increase in vocations as part of the 31 Club
Serra Prayer for Vocations
O God, Who wills not the death of a sinner, but rather that he be converted and live, grant we beseech You through the intercession of the Blessed Mary, ever Virgin, Saint Joseph, her spouse, Saint Junipero Serra, and all the saints, an increase of laborers for your Church, fellow laborers with Christ to spend and consume themselves for souls, through the same Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who lives and reigns with You, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, One God forever and ever. Amen.
Serra Prayer for the Perseverance of Vocations
O God, You have constituted Your only-begotten Son supreme and eternal Priest for the glory of Your majesty and the salvation of mankind: grant that those whom He has chosen ministers and dispensers of His mysteries may be found faithful in fulfilling the ministry they have received.
