National Vocation Awareness Week

Sunday, Nov. 5, 2017 - Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017

Location: Parishes - Nationwide

National Vocation Awareness Week is being celebrated Nov. 5-11. This annual observance of the Catholic Church in the United States is designed to focus on vocations to the priesthood, religious life and diaconate. It is a time to encourage young people to ask themselves: "To what vocation in life is God calling me?" It is also an opportunity to bring awareness to and pray for those already in discernment of one of these vocations. Parish and school communities are encouraged to include, during the first week in November, prayer and special activities that focus on vocation awareness. 

"As we go about our everyday life and most especially this week, we must keep vocations in our prayers, while, at the same time, being a mindful witness with our own vocation," said Cardinal Joseph Tobin, chair, U.S. bishops' Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations. "We may never know how our lives may have an impact on someone else's story. Simply living out our call as disciples of Jesus Christ fully and joyfully in the world bears witness to the love of Christ as He generously bestows on each of us our own personal call."

To learn more, see vocation statistics in the United States. For suggestions on prayer and other activities, visit the websites for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops or National Religious Vocation Conference. For information about this observance in the Diocese of Little Rock, contact Msgr. Scott Friend in the Vocations and Seminarians Office or Sister Mary Clare Bezner, OSB, minister for religious, at (501) 664-0340.

National Vocation Awareness Week is sponsored by the Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations. It began in 1976 when the U.S. bishops designated the 28th Sunday of the year for this observance. In 1997, the celebration was moved to coincide with the feast of the Baptism of the Lord in January. In 2014, it was moved to the first full week of November.