VMParish
We are so happy you are here and looking for a way to promote vocations in your parish. Here are the first simple steps:
Steps to forming a parish vocation ministry:
Step 1 – Pray
Pray often for your pastor that he is willing to support a Vocation Ministry. Ask Him to show you exactly how this ministry should look and to send those willing volunteers to help put all of God’s plans into action.
Step 2 – Read Hundredfold: A Guide to Parish Vocation Ministry
We recommend reading at least the first 50 pages of the book and then perusing Part II with 67 activities as you need them to grasp the task entirely.
Step 3 – Meet with your priest
Meet with the priest or pastor to assess the current vocation culture and possibilities of promoting vocations more intentionally. Having the priest’s blessing must be achieved before initiating any activity at the parish or involving parishioners. See Chapter 3 in Hundredfold for more information on this.
Step 4 – Download resources from this website
Below, you will find the phases where the resources are for each activity. If you are new, start with Phase I and work your way through Phase IV over time. You can also find all of these resources in our Hundredfold Resource Book.
Step 5 – Gather members
Brainstorm with your priest who would be right to join this new ministry/committee. A few parishioners who love Jesus, our Blessed Mother, and care for the Church would be great. Add to this a Knight of Columbus and representatives from other groups in your parish, and you are ready to go. More on this in Chapter 2 of Hundredfold.
Step 6 – Set up a meeting time and start planning
To help your planning sessions, download these resources that include a Vocation Calendar and Parish Action Plan:
Ministry in Action
The last time Stockton was visited in 2019, there were no seminarians and no discerners. Now, the diocese has 7 seminarians with a few new ones entering for the next school year.
How does a parish become vocation-producing? Through expectant prayer and activities that promote vocations. In 2019, Lupe and her husband Angel from Sacred Heart parish in Stockton, California, attended a Hundredfold workshop. The parish had not had a vocation in many years. Lupe and Angel learned what to do at the workshop and from the book Hundredfold (Sembrando Semillas in Spanish).
After about a year of praying, their new priest, Fr. Hamilton, arrived at their parish, ready to prepare the soil for vocations. Their new ministry of 6 incredible couples worked on that soil for a year, engaging in various activities. In 2021, Josue from their parish, entered the seminary. Praise God!
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