The Vatican has brought out a document called Christus Vivit (“Christ is Alive”) addressed to young people, the result of the Synod on Young People, Faith and Vocational Discernment last year. In this letter, the Pope encourages young people to grow in holiness by seeking friendship with Jesus, and he provides guidance on how they can discern their vocation.  The Pope also addresses the Church as a whole, reminding of the youthfulness the Church should embody, as well as the importance of listening to young people.  Please click here to read the document. The printed document is available to order from www.ctsbooks.org/christus-vivit.

The Westminster Vocations Promotion Team has recently started a group called Young Seekers. Led by Fr Mike Maguire, the Assistant Vocations Promoter, this group hopefully will attract men in their late teens and early twenties to meet regularly and share their hopes and maybe their uncertainties about the call of the Lord.  The meetings will take place at 6.45pm, usually on the last Thursday of the month.

Please get in touch with Fr Mike at vocations@rcdow.org.uk for more details. To be kept up-to-date with Westminster Vocations, please ‘like’ the Westminster Vocations Facebook page or follow on Twitter @WestminsterVoca

Sr. Silvana Dallanegra, a religious sister from the Society of the Sacred Heart, spoke on Sunday on BBC Three Counties Radio on the themes that run throughout Call the Midwife. The period drama follows a group of nuns and nurse midwives working in the East End of London in the late 1950’s/early 1960’s, and is now in its 8th series.

Sr. Silvana talks about the realism of the characters, and the correlation between the life issues that nuns were faced with then and the issues that nuns work with today in their ministries. To listen to Sr. Silvana’s interview, please click here (8:15 minutes into the Breakfast Show).

Vocations Sunday will be celebrated on 12th May 2019. This day flows from the broader culture of vocation, and is when the universal Church asks the Lord to send more labourers to the harvest.

You can now download resources for Vocations Sunday, which can be used in your parish, school or community. Please click here to view the resources.

World Youth Day is fast approaching, taking place from 22nd – 27th January in Panama. Please keep the event in your prayers, that it will be a rewarding and spiritually-nourishing experience for everyone attending. Please also pray that some vocations to the priesthood and religious life will be borne out of WYD.

Sr. Elaine from the National Office for Vocation is going, and will post on the NOV Facebook page and Twitter page. Please share the posts and help spread the energy of the event.

Tributes have been made to Sister Wendy Beckett, a Carmelite nun who found fame in the 1990s with her popular TV programmes critiquing art, who passed away on 26th December 2018.

Sister Wendy was brought into the limelight with her series Sister Wendy’s Odyssey (1992) and Sister Wendy’s Story of Painting (1996). She had devoted her life to solitude and contemplation (since 1970 in a caravan in the grounds of the enclosed Carmelite monastery at Quidenham in Norfolk). For more information about Sister Wendy, please visit www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/dec/26/sister-wendy-beckett-obituary, where you can also watch Sister Wendy’s Story of Painting.