The Office continues with its mainly two-fold work of [1] promoting a ‘culture of the vocation’ in the Catholic community, and many of the specific callings such as marriage, priesthood, consecrated life etc. [2] To support and co-ordinate the work of the Diocesan Vocations Service of England & Wales, in the promotion of vocations to the Diocesan priesthood.

Some of the initiatives and work that has been undertaken over the last year include:

* Production of the packs for parishes, schools and universities for World Day of Prayer for Vocations to priesthood and religious life on the 4th Sunday of Easter 2005.
* Publication of a small booklet “Praying with the Saints’. This booklet focuses on prayers for vocations reflecting on the lives of saints from the British Isles. It has been produced in partnership with CASE and the Vocations Services of Scotland and Ireland.
* Helping to establish Diocesan Vocations Teams in 12 dioceses to promote local ownership.
* Presentations at conferences and talks, including our own Vocations Forum.
* Organizing and running the annual conference for Diocesan Vocations Directors.
* Induction of the new director, (Father Paul Embery from Lancaster diocese)

Projects and priorities for this current year include:

* Completely revamping the priesthood website for England and Wales (www.ukpriest.org)
* Recruitment of a new Development Coordinator in succession to Anne-Marie Kershaw who will leave us at the end of May to have a baby.
* Effectively delivering a more nationally targeted message about Christian vocation in the spirit of ‘In Verbo Tuo’.
* Developing an imaginative strategy for a more explicit and stronger national promotion of diocesan priesthood, (but not at the expense of religious life or other specific vocations).
* Targeting groups of those who work with young people to increase their own awareness of the need to help young people in vocational discernment.
* The ongoing establishment of, and support for, Diocesan Vocations Teams.
* Fostering links with new movements.
* Working more closely with organisations that currently exist to support and promote marriage and family life.
* Offer individual training for new vocations personnel upon appointment.

A snapshot:

We keep a record of contacts with the Office. A breakdown of the 756 we received from September to December 2004 is shown beneath, along with a further breakdown of the 195 enquiries regarding a particular vocation. Note that most of these latter enquiries come via the Internet or email, and are from senders who wish to be fairly anonymous.

Enquirers 195 26%
Vocations Personnel 180 24%
CBCEW 68 9%
NOV Committee 45 6%
CASE 37 5%
Holy Hour Requests 37 5%
New Communities 37 5%
Foreign Vocations Service 30 4%
Seminaries 30 4%
Vocations Teams 30 4%
CYS 23 3%
NRVC 15 2%
Serra 15 2%
Catenians 7 1%
Ecumenical 7 1%

Total contacts Sep-Dec 2004

Priesthood 72 37%
General 66 34%
Religious 25 13%
Diaconate 31 16%

Enquiries regarding specific vocations
Sep-Dec 2004

© National Office for Vocation 2003  |   Credits  |   E-mail
National Office for Vocation   The Chase Centre 114 West Heath Road London NW3 7TX  United Kingdom
Tel: 020 8458 6017 Registered Charity No: 257239