Our Pastoral Plan: Vocations
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Praise God.
And praise God for Vocations.
A vocation is a special call to live the joy filled life which God has planned and intended especially for us. A vocation may be best discerned or recognized from time spent in prayer with Our Lord at the center of our hearts and minds.
There is now a reported decline in new vocations to the priesthood, religious life, and sacramental marriage. This coincides with an apparent decrease in young men, women, and families participating in the sacraments and parish life.
Without priests, deacons, religious, consecrated men, and women, and those called to the vocation of Holy Matrimony, we would not have devout witnesses to share the catholic faith with us, and with the help of the Holy Spirit and the sacraments, lead us in a path towards heaven and Jesus’s promises.
Therefore, praise God, Vocations are a priority for the Christ by The Sea Catholic Collaborative.
We need more intentional prayer opportunities to go before Jesus and ask what God truly wants for us in life. We need educational experiences and creative initiatives to learn about and celebrate the beauty and holiness of those living in religious vocations. And we need a community that promotes vocations especially to our young church.
Through prayer and many hours of conversation, under the guidance of our parish priests, the pastoral council came together in both small and large groups to plan and set forward goals to create a culture of vocations in our two-parish family.
The 3-year goals are:
Offer 3-5 opportunities annually to pray for vocations.
Invite parishioners, especially children and young people, to 3-5 opportunities throughout the year to learn about vocations and to consider their own personal vocation within the Church.
Develop and implement 3-5 opportunities annually to raise parishioners' awareness about all Church vocations and their importance in the life of the Church.
We welcome you to join in serving with those whose hearts already lean into a passion for promoting vocations by becoming a part of our vocations team. However, please know you can easily become a vocations promoter in the collaborative community in other ways. For example, you can promote vocations through personal prayer, or you may invite family and friends to participate with you in parish events and initiatives, or you may make others who are outside of our two-parish family aware of the work we do to cultivate an increase in vocations in the life of the church.
Our parish community has the opportunity to pray the rosary for vocations before the 9 am Mass on Thursday mornings at St. Ann Church. This is also livestreamed on our Facebook page.
The Vocations Team, along with the staff and pastoral council, will keep you informed of additional opportunities through the parish bulletin, the Flocknote email communication system, and social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and this blog.
Praise God that the ultimate call to a vocation comes from God. And so, we “ask the master of the harvest to send laborers for his harvest.” Matthew 9:35-38
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