Professional shortage? Pray for vocations during National Vocation Awareness Week

National Vocation Awareness Week is from November 3 to 9.

The chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Living and Vocations, Bishop Earl Boyea, has called on the faithful to pray for vocations as part of National Vocations Awareness Week (NVAW).

The event, taking place from November 3 to 9, is dedicated to promoting vocations to the priesthood, diaconate and consecrated life through prayer and education in dioceses, parishes and schools.

“During National Vocation Awareness Week, we celebrate in a special way the men and women who offer their lives to God through a life of service to the Church, ‘sowing seeds of hope and revealing all the beauty of God’s kingdom’, Pope Francis says in his message for the World Day of Prayer for Vocations”, noted Bishop Boyea, the Bishop of Lansing, Michigan.

In his message, the prelate referred to the Eucharistic procession held last summer during the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, which attracted more than 55,000 faithful.

“Joy and enthusiasm were palpable as thousands of seminarians, religious, deacons, priests, bishops and cardinals processed their testimonies to the world that Jesus is present in the Eucharist, affirming their own vocation. There were people in tears hugging each other as they witnessed this historic moment in the life of our Church in the United States,” he said.

The bishop also expressed his hope and prayer that the National Eucharistic Revival and Congress “will yield a generous harvest of vocations.”

“We pray with gratitude for those who seek and respond to their vocation in their daily lives, whether as husbands, wives, parents, priests and other ordained ministers and consecrated persons,” Bishop Boyea added.

According to the USCCB, in 1976 the U.S. bishops designated the 28th Sunday of the liturgical year as an opportunity for the Catholic Church in the United States to renew its prayerful support for those discerning an ecclesial vocation. In 2014, the commemoration of National Vocation Awareness Week in the United States was moved to the first week of November to better involve Catholic educational institutions in efforts to increase vocation awareness.

Resources about Vocation Awareness Week are available on the USCCBs website and also available in Spanish.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.