By Marycia Kruk, Associate Director of Catechetics & Faith Development for the Parkland & Westman Deaneries
Editor’s note: This article is meant to accompany the recently published article: Trusting in a Yield of a Hundredfold Harvest: Seventeen parishes participate in Vocation Workshop for Lay People. Marycia brings the perspective from the Parkland and Westman Deaneries.
There is hope for vocations to flourish through the efforts of small and big parishes, thanks to a new initiative by the Vocations office in the Archdiocese of Winnipeg. Our own Shepherd, Archbishop Richard Gagnon, has given us two directions:
That we are intentional in promoting vocations and,
That we put out into the deep to allow the Holy Spirit the opportunity to work in our community.
Any size parish can start up their own vocation support group to help with these efforts through prayer and activities based on their resources.
This new Vocations program, which is sweeping across the United States and into Canada, has proven to be successful in increasing vocations. The resources include a book titled Hundredfold: A Guide to Parish Vocation Ministry, a website (www.vocationministry.com), a list of activities organized by how easy they are to do and a calendar with important vocation dates to work around.
Photo from Fr. Chris Pugh’s ordination to the Transitional Diaconate in 2023 at St. Augustine’s in Brandon, MB
Many are concerned about the declining vocations; however, from amongst the Westman Deanery, there have been two ordinations in the past nine years thanks to the efforts of local and Archdiocesan support for vocations. May we again join together to plant the seeds for a fruitful harvest in the 2025 Jubilee year and beyond. 2033 will mark the two thousandth anniversary of the passion, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. If we begin today, we will see vocations flourish by that year!
