DIRECTOR


“The Essential Foundation of priestly vocation is a deep and personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Everything hinges on this relationship!”
Pope Benedict XVI

It is only upon entering into a personal relationship with Christ that a person truly begins a journey of discernment. For this reason, the Office of Vocations would like to share with you its Vision Statement:

  1. When a person discovers Jesus, it is very natural and inevitable that he/she asks the question just like the young man in the gospel, “What must I do?”.

  2. A Culture of Vocations is a sacred dwelling-place which provides the context and language within which a quest of meaning, identity, community, and union with Jesus takes place. When this Culture provides us with an 'intense' opportunity to encounter Christ, a vocation to the ordained ministry and consecrated life is fired almost naturally into the heart of an individual, and that of a group of people.

  3. Then, the seekers of God need to be provided with an opportunity to tell and reflect on their stories. Only then will they be able to see and name the traces of God's ever-present guidance in their lives, His constant invitation to life and love, holiness and mission.

  4. Cultivation of a culture of vocation is NOT primarily the need for a new poster, video, public campaign, or program. If there is to be a fostering of a culture of vocations, if God truly continues to invite generous men and women to lives of service and mission of the Church, what is required is not just new techniques and strategies but a new mind and a new heart. What is needed is an inner transformation or conversion.

  5. In order for young people in our parishes to be able to hear, discern, and respond to a call to particular vocation of service within the Church, we must first provide them with time and space to help them to articulate a clear and coherent sense of what it means to be a Catholic:
      1. to be human, created in the image and likeness of God – thus called to life and love;
      2. to be baptized – thus part of an Eucharistic community called to holiness; and
      3. to be confirmed – thus called to share in the mission or the stewardship of the Church of evangelization, justice and peace.

The Office of Vocations provides space and time for reflection and discernment for men considering a vocation to the priesthood. Over the years, the Archdiocese has been blessed with many vocations which have flourished with the assistance of the Office of Vocations.

“In preparing for the priesthood we learn how to respond from the heart to Christ's basic question: “Do you love me?” (Jn. 21:15). For the future priest, the answer can only mean TOTAL SELF-GIVING!”

In order to help a man who is considering to surrender his life to Jesus Christ and his Church, the Office of Vocations provides the following programs: