Fr Stephen Langridge has sent details of this National Vocations Discernment weekend - the first ever. It runs from 2-4 July at Oscott College in Birmingham and is for young men and women discerning a vocation to the priesthood or the religious life or simply wanting to find out more. There will be a number of religious communities represented. Archbishops Longley, Smith, and Nichols will be celebrating the Masses. Here is the information:
Invocation 2010
Do you need space to consider what God wants you to do with your life? Are you intrigued by the possibility of priesthood or religious life? Would you like the chance to find out more?
If the answer is yes to any of these questions, Invocation 2010 could be just the thing for you! It is our first ever National Vocations Discernment weekend and it will take place at St Mary's College, Oscott - where the Pope will stay when he come to England.
The weekend will begin on the evening of Friday 2nd July and end with a special Mass celebrated by Archbishop Vincent Nichols on Sunday 4th July. Guest speakers will include Abbot Christopher Jamison and Sr Gabriel Davison.
Although it's not a recruitment weekend there will be lots of priests and religious present as well as inspiring talks and enlightening workshops. There will be Perpetual Adoration in the seminary Chapel throughout the weekend. There will also be a giant-screen TV to make sure you don't have to miss the football!
You can find out more, and book online, at the Invocation website.
There is a charge for the weekend - but many parishes are subsidising young people who would like to attend. Just have a word with your parish priest or Vocations Director.
It would be great to see you there!
2 comments:
Shame it is in such an inaccessible location. Also I think any conference discussing vocation should include lay vocations e.g. to marriage, teaching, healthcare, etc. We need to foster the sense of lay vocation as well as those to priestly and religious life. But it looks like a good start for something that has long been neglected. Fr Langridge is an excellent organiser, witness his parish, and would be a very good addition to the hierarchy, I feel. If anyone can do this well, he can.
I wonder if I might make a response to the comment from Cana simply by way of clarification?
First of all, Oscott is the venue because the excellent Vocations Office there has been the driving force behind Invocation 2010, including the setting up of an "online vocations learning resource" (modern jargon for good stuff available on the web!) for schools and the launch of a module for the RE curriculum. Oscott isn't that inaccessible: it's basically Birmingham. There's a coach going from London and minibuses from other parts of the country. It would be great to organise similar events elsewhere in future.
My second comment is a bit of a correction. Teaching and healthcare are not vocations in the theological sense of the term. They may be described as 'vocational' in that they require a great generosity, but they are professions rather than Christian vocations. A conference that looked at all vocational professions would be impossibly broad.
It may be useful to remember that the word 'vocation' has a very specific meaning in the Church. Strictly speaking the priesthood is a vocation because it involves a change in being: the ontological change that configures you to Christ in ordination. It is also legitimate to speak of three other supernatural vocations in the Church: Religious life, marriage and apostolic celibacy. I know there are some who argue that the word 'vocation' should only be used for priesthood, but the Church does use the word for these analogous vocations as well which is why I say it is legitimate.
An interesting statistic is that 70% of those who do not follow through a sense of being called to priesthood or religious life cite as the reason the fact they had no one to talk to about vocation. Invocation 2010 is trying to address this issue and this is the reason we are inviting those considering priesthood or religious life to come along rather than those looking for a spouse.
I hope these reflections do not sound as if I am rejecting Cana's comment. I would very much agree that we need to look at the context in which we do vocations promotion, beginning with the baptismal call to sanctity.
Fr Stephen
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