Our Mission Statement
Family Vocation Ministries is a non-profit organization founded for the purpose of promoting and praying for an increase of vocations to the priesthood and the consecrated life by sanctifying family life.
Family Vocation Ministries fulfills its mission by:
Living the Gospel of Christ in love and truth according to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church.- Sponsoring and praying for Family Vocation Days at the parish level.
- Praying daily for an increase of vocations to the priesthood and the consecrated life.
- Praying daily for the perseverance and fidelity of bishops, priests, seminarians and consecrated religious.
- Praying daily for the Bishop of the diocese and the local pastor.
- Fostering, promoting and praying for holiness in family life.
Why Pray for Vocations to the Priesthood and the Religious Life?
A simple set of questions and answers can sum up the importance of priestly vocations.
No Priest? No Eucharist. No Eucharist? No Church. No Church? No Jesus.
The Church, as the living Body of Christ, has both a mind and a heart. The mind of the Church, refers mostly to the hierarchy (bishops and priests), and has an enormous task to lead the people of God in the fullness of Truth revealed by Jesus Christ. Because of the demanding and prodigious role of the hierarchy (the mind), ample support by the “heart” of the Church is needed for the Body of Christ to function properly. A significant portion of the Church’s heart relies heavily on the special vocation set apart by Holy Mother Church, Consecrated Religious. Therefore, Family Vocation Ministries esteems both of these special vocations, and thus promotes and prays for both an increase of vocations to the priesthood and the consecrated life.
The Impetus of our Ministry is Family Life
Family Vocation Ministries thrives because of the constant sacrifices and prayers of its members. The primary members of Family Vocation Ministries are families consisting of parents and their children. It is from the family (often referred to as the “seedbed of vocations”) that our ministry hopes to evangelize and pray for an increase of vocations to the priesthood and the consecrated life.
The Church’s Greatest Gifts are Utilized
The families from Family Vocation Ministries work in conjunction with two of the Church’s greatest gifts: Priests and Consecrated Religious. Through the contemplative prayers and sacrifices of families and from the active works of priests and consecrated religious (particularly during the Family Vocation Days), both groups rely on, and complement each other, in fulfilling its mission to promote and pray for vocations.
Why Involve Priests and Consecrated Religious?
The laity, since the early Church, and even today, look to priests and religious as signs of hope for the life to come. By the constant example and witness of consecrated religious and their vows of obedience, poverty, and chastity as well as priests and their promises of obedience and celibacy and their role to speak in “persona Christi” (in the person of Christ), all three groups (the laity included) look to, and rely on, one another to spread the Gospel of Christ. For this reason, Family Vocation Ministries continues to offer prayers and sacrifices for the special vocations set apart for the service of Christ and Holy Mother Church.