WASHINGTON (OSV News) — For one week each November, national Catholic organizations, dioceses, schools and parishes host events and provide resources that raise an awareness of vocations and support those discerning God’s call, particularly to ordained ministry or consecrated life.
National Vocation Awareness Week — which this year began Nov. 1 and ends Nov. 7 — “reminds us of the beautiful witness of those who have responded to God’s call to serve in ordained ministry as priests and deacons, and men and women who serve in consecrated life,” Archbishop Ronald A. Hicks of New York said in a statement.
He is chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations.
Following God’s call
“We thank God for all vocations and pray for a deepened spirit of joy in marriages, in the priesthood and diaconate, and in all forms of consecrated life. Your witness to a joy-filled vocation inspires young people to follow God’s call with courage,” Archbishop Hicks said.
Resources for National Vocation Awareness Week are available on the USCCB’s website in both English and Spanish. Among the resources are Holy Hours and prayers for vocations; vocation discernment tips; and tools to help parents talk about vocations with their children, including the “ABCs of Fostering Vocations”; and suggestions for “Building a Domestic Church.”
Among the materials is a top-10 list of things to do to promote vocations. It encourages all Catholics to “pray for an increase in vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life” and “invite active young adults and teens to consider a vocation to the priesthood or consecrated life.”
Silence and prayer
“Teach young people how to pray,” it says. “Pope Benedict XVI said that unless we teach our youth how to pray, they will never hear God calling them into a deeper relationship with Him and into the discipleship of the Church.”
The top-10 list also has suggestions for those considering a vocation, such as: “Practice the faith,” “be a good disciple” and “enter into the silence.”
“Silence is key to sanity and wholeness,” the list says. “We can only ‘hear’ the voice of God if we are quiet. Take out the ear buds of your iPhone, iPod, and iTunes and listen to God, the great I AM.”
A USCCB release with Archbishop Hicks’ statement for National Vocation Awareness Week quoted from Pope Leo XIV’s message for the 63rd World Day of Prayer for Vocations on April 26.
“God dwells in our hearts. A vocation entails an intimate dialogue with the One who calls and invites us to respond, despite the deafening noise of the world, with true joy and generosity,” Pope Leo said.
“Through the intimacy of his friendship, you will discover how to give of yourselves, whether through marriage, the priesthood, the permanent diaconate, or consecrated life,” he added. “Every vocation is an immeasurable gift for the Church and for those who receive it with joy.”
History of Vocations’ Week
National Vocation Awareness Week began in 1976 when the U.S. bishops designated the 28th Sunday of the year to call attention to the importance of upholding vocations and praying for those discerning a religious vocation and celebrating those who were in ordained ministry and consecrated life.
In 1997, the celebration was moved to the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, and in 2014, the USCCB’s Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations moved the observance to November to influence youth and young adults by engaging Catholic schools and colleges.
