National Vocation Awareness Week is celebrated from November 3 to 9.
Tag: vocations
Vocation first
Are you living out your vocation every minute of every day of every year to your fullest potential? I’m not.
The best vocations advice you’ll ever read*
*on this page […]
Promoting Church vocations was a priority for Bishop O’Donnell
When he became Bishop of Madison in 1967, Bishop Cletus F. O’Donnell emphasized the importance of encouraging and supporting Church vocations, especially the priesthood and Religious Life.
Fostering vocations to the priesthood
“At the end of the day, there is nothing you can do to give a vocation to anybody,” said Fr. John Del Priore, the parochial vicar at St. Augustine University Parish near the UW-Platteville campus. “It is the Holy Spirit who is working.”
National Vocation Awareness Week is November 3-9
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| Seminarians from the Diocese of Madison are pictured with Bishop Donald J. Hying of Madison and Fr. Gregory Ihm, vocations director for the diocese, right. For more on discerning and answering God’s call, see the special section on vocations in the October 31 issue of the Catholic Herald. (Contributed photo) |
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Catholic Church in the United States will celebrate National Vocation Awareness Week, November 3-9, 2019.
During this week, dioceses across the U.S. lead the effort in parishes and schools to uphold and encourage the fostering of vocations among the faithful, and to pray for those currently discerning a call to marriage, ordained ministry, or Consecrated Life.
In his message for the 2019 World Day of Prayer for Vocations, Pope Francis reminded the faithful that unlike a secular career, a vocation is a gift born from God’s own initiative: “The Lord’s call is not an intrusion of God into our freedom; it is not a ‘cage’ or burden to be borne. On the contrary, it is the loving initiative whereby God encounters us and invites us to be a part of a great undertaking.”
Helping people encounter God’s Glory
“Those who want to work for moral reform in the world must seek the glory of God before all else.” — St. John Leonardi, Feast Day October 9
As I prayed this passage from the Liturgy of the Hours, I recognized the importance of vocation work and what a privilege it is to help people seek the Glory of God but then respond to it in the way that He is inviting them to it.
National Vocation Awareness Week is November 4-10
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| Seminarians from the Diocese of Madison are pictured with Bishop Robert C. Morlino of Madison and Fr. Gregory Ihm, vocations director for the diocese, right. (Catholic Herald photo/Kevin Wondrash) |
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Catholic Church in the United States will celebrate National Vocation Awareness Week, November 4-10.
This annual event is a special time for parishes in the U.S. to foster a culture of vocations for the priesthood, diaconate, and Consecrated Life.
Pope Francis, in his message for the 2018 World Day of Vocations, emphasized that it is at the loving initiative of God, and by His personal encounter with each of us, that one is called.
National Vocation Awareness Week, sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations, is designed to help promote vocation awareness and to encourage young people to ask the question: “To what vocation in life is God calling me?”
Parish and school communities across the nation are encouraged to include, during the first week in November, special activities that focus on vocation awareness and provide opportunities for prayerful discernment.
Who will fill these shoes?
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| Fr. Greg Ihm |
“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
There is a story that comes out of the Archdiocese of Chicago that asks a profound question. It is a story of a monsignor.
At his last weekend before retirement, he placed his shoes at the foot of the altar and after a long pause looked out and asked: “Who is going to fill these shoes now?”
This is a question that has been placed before us as a diocese as we have lost both Msgr. Monte Robinson and Fr. Larry Bowens within a week of each other.
In the past three years, we have also lost Fr. John Auby, Fr. Michael Richel, and Msgr. Felix Oehrlein, who were pastors at the time of their death.
Quo Vadis Vocations Club will support diocesan vocation efforts
The Priests for Our Future: The Church Is Alive! campaign has been very successful in raising funds to support the education and formation of future priests.