WASHINGTON – “Joy and enthusiasm were palpable as thousands of seminarians, religious, deacons, priests, bishops and cardinals processed witnessing to the world that Jesus is present in the Eucharist, affirming their vocations. There were people in tears who embraced each other as they experienced this historic moment in the life of our church in the United States,” said Bishop Earl A. Boyea of Lansing, Michigan. “We hope and pray the Eucharistic Revival and also this summer’s National Eucharistic Congress yield a generous harvest of vocations,” he added, reflecting on the Eucharistic procession held during the congress this July that saw over 55,000 people gather in Indianapolis. The Catholic Church in the United States will commemorate National Vocation Awareness Week, November 3-9. Each year, dioceses, parishes, and schools take the opportunity to raise awareness for vocations, particularly those who are discerning a vocation to the priesthood or consecrated life.

 

“We pray with gratitude for those who seek and respond in their daily lives to their vocation, whether that be as husbands, wives, parents, priests, and other ordained ministers, and consecrated persons,” said Bishop Boyea, who serves as chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations. “And during National Vocation Awareness Week, we celebrate in a special way, the men and women who offer their lives to God through a life of service to the Church, ‘sowing seeds of hope and revealing to all the beauty of God’s kingdom’” as the Pope Francis says in his message for World Day of Prayer for Vocations.

 

Beginning in 1976, the U.S. bishops designated the 28th Sunday of the liturgical year as an opportunity for the Catholic Church in the United States to renew its prayerful support for those discerning an ecclesial vocation. In 2014, the commemoration of National Vocation Awareness Week in the United States was moved the week to the first week of November to better engage Catholic educational institutions in the efforts to raise awareness for vocations.

 

Resources on Vocation Awareness Week are available on the USCCB’s website, and also available in Spanish.