For Parishes

Parishes are at the heart of vocation ministry – in the devotional life of the parish, religious education, youth ministry, and personal ministry, parishes have an excellent opportunity to help young people to realize their full potential and calling in Christ! This is a list of some effective tools for bringing awareness to families and young people so that they can discern their vocations well.
 

PRAYER

• Holy Hours for Vocations. Have a special Holy Hour to pray for priestly and religious vocations.
• Rosary for Vocations. During the rosary mention candidates by name. Vocations Rosary – Luminous Mysteries
• Vocation Prayer distribution. Vocation prayer card given to parishioners on World Day of Prayer for Vocations or during National Vocation Awareness Week.
• Eucharistic Procession for Vocations. On the Feast of Corpus Christi, consider dedicating your Eucharistic procession to pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

ACTIVITIES

• Workshops for Altar Servers. Teach altar servers about vocational discernment.
• Parish Discernment Groups. Small groups of boys or girls led by parish priest or sister, with help from parents, to help them understand vocations. Consider the Melchizedek Project
• Attend ordinations. Coordinate for confirmation students or youth groups to attend an ordination
• Vocation Chalice.  In this popular program, a chalice that is used at Mass it brought home by a different family each week. It is kept in a special place by the family, who prays each day for more vocations.

COMMUNICATION

• Vocations library. Keep a special corner of the vestibule stocked with vocation-related materials.
• Poster/coloring/ essay/video contests. Organize a contest with a vocations theme for students.
• Vocation stories. Invite priests to tell their vocation stories at parish events.
• Web page. Create a page on your parish website with vocation information.

OTHER IDEAS

• Celebrate ordination anniversaries. Honor parish priests and celebrate within the parish and school.
• Support our seminarians. Send greeting cards to each seminarian at the beginning of a new semester, holidays, exam times, birthdays, ordinations, etc.
• Director of Vocations. Invite the Director of Vocations to the parish for a weekend, for Mass and a meal with parish families.