On Tuesday night, April, 26, 2011 Msgr. Frank Scollen, the colorful pastor of St. Peter's parish in Worcester attended the last Vocation Discernment Evening of the year at Emmanuel House, the Assumptionist residence on the campus of Assumption College. These evenings, held monthly during the academic year, gather young men from the College and the area who are thinking about priesthood and religious life.

All of Msgr. Scollen's 40 years of priesthood have been spent in the Worcester inner-city parishes. He is able to understand and serve the spiritual and physical needs of those who live in the city. He defines the priesthood. He is in love with the service of God, an instrument of God’s love to the world.

Msgr. Scollen shared with those who came Tuesday night the genesis of his vocation as a student at St. John's High School in Shrewsbury, his desire to become a missionary, and then the realization that he was called to be a missionary right here in the inner city of Worcester. As he spoke, it was easy to see the extraordinary relationship and love he has for the poor, the immigrant, and the disadvantaged. For him, it is no burden to serve them, but rather a grace and blessing. As he said, "I am not sure I could serve anywhere else."

The young men present asked him a series of questions about how one truly knows he has a vocation (Answer --- "God speaks to us in many ways, not the least of which is our unconscious world") and about the fact that the poor and the needy seem to have a deeper faith ("That's true," he said, "but there are also many people in our neighborhood who are very resistant to religion, so our work is cut out for us").

Fr. John L. Franck, A.A.
Vocation Director
Emmanuel House
512 Salisbury Street
Worcester, MA 01609