Vocations shortage? Pray for vocations during National Vocations Awareness Week

Bishop Jacques Fabre-Jeune poses alongside many of the priests of the Diocese of Charleston at a recent ordination. The diocese has seen a recent surge in vocations. / Credit: The Catholic Miscellany/Doug Deas

ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 3, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The chairman of the Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Bishop Earl A. Boyea, has called on the faithful to pray for vocations as part of National Vocations Awareness Week (NVAW).

The event, which will take place Nov. 3–9, is dedicated to promoting vocations to the priesthood, diaconate, and consecrated life through prayer and education in dioceses, parishes, and schools.

“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 Pope Francis says in his message for World Day of Prayer for Vocations,” noted Boyea, the bishop of ​​Lansing, Michigan.

In his message, the prelate referenced the Eucharistic procession held this past summer during the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, which brought together more than 55,000 faithful.

“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 own 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,” he said.

The bishop also expressed his hope and prayer that the National Eucharistic Revival and Congress “yield a generous harvest of vocations.”

“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,” Boyea added.

According to the USCCB, 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 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.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.