National Vocation Awareness Week
First full week of November
National Vocation Awareness Week is an annual week-long celebration dedicated to promoting vocations to the priesthood, consecrated life, and marriage through prayer and education. We renew our prayers and support for those who are discerning their vocation.
Get other ministries involved by sending your parish ministry leaders a letter to participate in activities throughout the week.
Ideas
- Make an announcement before school about activities
- Give out Table Tents to spur discussion at home
- Invite married couples to speak to older youth
- Suggest to teachers to play games and show vocation videos to kids
- Be creative; introduce prayer for vocations this week.
- Ask a priest to give a homily about vocations at school Mass and to visit classes.
- Invite consecrated sisters to speak at a Vocations Assembly.
- Display a National Vocation Awareness Week banner or National Vocation Awareness Week poster
Sample Week of Activities
Look at Vocation Curricula for lessons for this week.
Sunday: Place a bulletin insert from Vianney Vocations into each bulletin. If there are leftovers, this is perfect for the church book rack or vocation table. Pass out a prayer card for vocations or download and print this “ABCs of Fostering Vocations” page.
Monday: Parish School Religion teachers and catechists introduce vocations to their students, using the Quick Reference Vocation Guide. Pass out a prayer card to each student – “Jesus Loves Me” Prayer for Vocations
Tuesday: Assembly for 5th-8th graders: guest speaker. It could be a priest, seminarian, and/or a sister or brother. Hopefully, there will be time for them to visit the classrooms of schoolchildren who will be eager to meet them.
Wednesday: At the all-school Mass, ask an alumnus who graduated from the parish and answered God’s call to become a priest, brother, or sister to visit and tell their vocation story.
Thursday: CCE classes are given new Vocation Worksheets to introduce vocations in a fun way to the students. Teachers could also use Stories of Service or grade-level lesson plans from the USCCB website.
Friday: Pass out this prayer card for students at junior high youth ministry from Prayer to Discover My Vocation.
Saturday: Give out this prayer card: Prayer to Know My Vocation at a High School/Young Adult Bible Study or Youth Ministry.
Social Media Marketing Package
Here are a variety of social media images to use to celebrate throughout the week! We include optional captions to use! Feel free to use the Canva link to add your logo to the image too (the captions are in the notes on Canva).
National Vocation Awareness Week is an annual week-long celebration dedicated to promoting vocations to the priesthood, consecrated life, and marriage through prayer and education. We renew our prayers and support for those who are discerning their vocation. Get others involved by sending your parish ministry leaders a letter to participate in activities throughout the week.
Ideas
- Make an announcement before school about activities
- Give out Table Tents to spur discussion at home
- Invite married couples to speak to older youth
- Suggest to teachers to play games and show vocation videos to kids
- Be creative; introduce prayer for vocations this week.
- Ask a priest to give a homily about vocations at school Mass and to visit classes.
- Invite consecrated sisters to speak at a Vocations Assembly.
- Display a National Vocation Awareness Week banner or a National Vocation Awareness Week poster
- Send your parish ministry leaders a letter to help them be involved in activities through the week.
Sample Week of Activities:
Look at Vocation Curricula for lessons for this week.
Monday: Parish School Religion teachers and catechists introduce vocations to their students, using the Quick Reference Vocation Guide. Pass out a prayer card to each student – “Jesus Loves Me” Prayer for Vocations. Send the “ABCs of Fostering Vocations” page home with each student or add to the newsletter.
Tuesday: Assembly for 5th-8th graders: guest speaker. Could be a priest, seminarians, and/or a sister or brother. Hopefully, there is time for them to visit classrooms of schoolchildren who will be eager to meet them.
Wednesday: At the all-school Mass, ask an alumnus who graduated from the parish and answered God’s call to become a priest, brother, or sister to visit and tell their vocation story.
Thursday: Pass out age-appropriate Vocation Worksheets to introduce vocations in a fun way to the students. Teachers could also use Stories of Service or grade-level lesson plans from the USCCB website
Friday: Pass out this prayer card for students in junior high from Prayer to Discover My Vocation
Social Media Marketing Package
Here are a variety of social media images to use to celebrate throughout the week! We include optional captions to use! Feel free to use the Canva link to add your logo to the image too (the captions are in the notes on Canva).
Resources
Kids Activities
Table Tents