Your Call

Have you felt a certain stirring in your heart that you know you must investigate further? Has someone told you, “Have you ever thought about being a priest” or “Have you ever thought about being a nun”? You want to put God first in your life and find out what His plan is for you but you don’t know where to begin. This vocation portal has been developed to help you take the first step in discerning God’s will and give you some additional insight into your true vocation.


The true key to discerning your “CALL” is of course listening to Christ and telling Him that you trust Him totally and simply want to do whatever He asks of you. Insist on this in your prayer. Tell Him often that you love Him. Strive to bring Him to others more and more each day. Little by little things will begin to get clearer, and you will be preparing yourself in this way for whatever He has in mind for you.


A Culture of Vocations

Everyone is called to discern what God wants them to do with their lives — be it a young man considering the priesthood, young men and women entering the religious life, a man feeling called to the permanent diaconate, a couple deciding on marriage, or someone recognizing a dedicated single life. Today, however, there are many challenges to hearing God’s call, and the task of the Church is to assist men and women to discern the path that will lead them to true happiness and eternal life.

Get Connected

Your Parish Vocation Ministry exists to foster and maintain a culture of vocations at the parish level. The Office of Vocations encourages all to get involved and we are providing this Parish Vocation Ministry Portal as a valuable interactive resource to help improve communication from the Office of Vocations and to provide the best resources available locally, nationally, and internationally.


If you truly have a heart for vocations or feel you have a calling to the priesthood or religious life we encourage you to get involved. We all can offer the gifts given to us to help truly build a culture of vocations in our diocese starting first in our own homes.


Please take some time to see what this Vocation Portal has to offer and get involved today. There is no cost. Just the reward of building a strong culture of vocations for the future of your parish and the Diocese.

Common Questions

What is a Vocation?
In the simplest terms, “vocation” means a “call.” So, in general terms your vocation is what God calls you to do with your life. Everybody is called by God to know, love and serve him. The difference is how each one does this. Individual vocations vary between being single, married, consecrated, religious or a priest. However, we usually use “Vocation” to mean a call to the consecrated, religious or priestly life. That is what we do on this website, but the principles and much of the advice are also applicable to the married and the single life.
What is a priest?
A priest is a man who has received the Sacrament of Holy Orders, which confers on him certain powers of Christ, principally the power to consecrate bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, and the power to forgive sin in the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation. When he does these things he acts in the Person of Christ. What is a diocesan priest? A diocesan priest is one who is called to serve souls in a particular diocese. The Bishop has been placed by Christ as the head of that diocese, and the diocesan priest serves in obedience to and collaboration with him, serving mostly in parishes. On a practical level you can say that the Church “runs” on diocesan priests serving in their parishes. They administer the sacraments, they are responsible for the instruction of their people, they are close to them in their lives and trials, they counsel, forgive and serve constantly, heroically, patiently.
What is religious life?
The people who live religious lives are called “Religious”. Religious seek to follow Christ more closely by publicly professing the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience in a recognized religious order, giving public witness of their consecration by wearing a religious habit, and they live in community. There are religious orders or communities of men and of women. Women religious are nuns and male religious can be either priests or brothers. Religious communities often refer to themselves as “religious families”. Each has its own Founder and mission, and its own “family spirit” or spirituality. That is why if you are considering religious life it is necessary to get to know particular communities.
What is a religious priest?
A religious priest is a member of a religious community who has received the Sacrament of Orders. He is under the authority of his own superiors, and he serves the local diocese through the works of his order or congregation located there. However he is not limited to serving in one diocese but can be assigned elsewhere by his superiors. Everywhere he serves he does so with the permission of the local bishop. Some religious priests serve in parishes, but the majority have more specialized apostolates, such as education, retreats, communications, etc.
What is lay consecrated life?
Lay consecrated are people who consecrate themselves to God through promises of poverty, chastity and obedience, while still remaining lay people. They are usually associated with some group or Movement. As lay people they remain “in the world” and often exercise careers while giving a priority in their lives to prayer, witness and service.
What is a consecrated virgin?
From the beginnings of the Church there have been those who felt the call to consecrate themselves exclusively to Christ in a private manner. In recent times there has been a revival of this vocation, by which a woman makes her private consecration in the presence of her bishop.
What is contemplative or monastic life?
The contemplative dedicates much time to prayer each day, lives mostly in silence and also is dedicated to manual labor. There is a great tradition in the Church of both female and male monastic and contemplative life. Their hidden prayer and sacrifice is of major importance for the overall good of the Church.