On the second day of the Spring General Meeting of the Irish Bishops’ Conference, you, or a representative, are invited to attend a photocall to mark the Year for Vocations to the Diocesan Priesthood. The theme for the year is ‘Take the Risk for Christ’. Details:
Time and date 1.00pm on Tuesday 7 March 2023.
Venue College Chapel at Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, Co Kildare.
In attendance Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan, Bishop of Waterford and Lismore and chair of the Council for Vocations of the Bishops’ Conference, along with bishops, priests and seminarians.
Ahead of tomorrow’s photocall, Bishop Cullinan said, “from speaking to newly ordained priests, there is a strong correlation between their calling and the influence and encouragement received from a priest who had previously spoken to them about their ministry, about taking the risk for Christ. One of the objectives of this Year of Vocations is to start conversations within families, with priests and in parish communities on the beauty of the vocation of priesthood. I am very much looking forward to our special conference next month, in Maynooth, when Archbishop Rino Fisichella will open the Year of Vocations as keynote speaker on the subject of ‘Diocesan Priesthood in a Synodal Church’.”
Notes to Editors
- The Council of Vocations of the Irish Bishops’ Conference is organising a year to promote vocations to the diocesan priesthood on the theme: ‘Take the Risk for Christ’. The year-long awareness campaign will open on 25 April, the Feast of Saint Mark the Evangelist. On this date a special conference, entitled ‘Evangelization and Vocation’, will be hosted at the national seminary of Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth. The keynote address will be delivered by Archbishop Rino Fisichella, Pro-Prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Evangelisation. The Year for Vocations to the Diocesan Priesthood will run from Vocations/Good Shepherd Sunday, 30 April 2023. It is planned to host events each month over the twelve- month period in parishes and at pilgrim sites around the country, and to provide resources for homes and schools. The National Vocations Office is responsible for managing the Year of Vocations.
- The 30 April also marks the 60th anniversary of the initiation of the annual World Day of Prayer for Vocations, instituted by Saint Pope Paul VI in 1963 during the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council.
