The Second Vatican Council recommended all parish communities to further vocation awareness in their parishes. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, wrote the following in his Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis:

The pastoral care of vocations needs to involve the entire Christian community in every area of its life.

We cannot create a “vocation”; only God can do that. But we can, through prayer and promotion, make our parish community more “vocation conscious” and help each individual listen to what God is calling them to do with his/her life.

What you can do

• Pray daily for increased vocations to religious life
• Encourage fellow parishioners to pray for, learn about, support, and recruit vocations to the Priesthood and religious life.
• Attend a Holy Hour for Vocations at a parish in the Diocese. View the calendar at the Diocese of Raleigh Vocations website - NC Priest - for dates for Holy Hours. 
• Support our seminarians and men and women in formation for religious life. If you, your family, prayer group, school or faith formation class would like to “adopt” a seminarian, contact the Raleigh Diocese Office of Vocations.