Bishops announce new National Vocations Office

At the conclusion of their Autumn General Meeting in Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, Co Kildare, bishops announced their decision to establish a National Vocations Office and said that they had progressed their discussion on a national vocations initiative in 2017.

The bishops confirmed that the National Vocations Office will offer support, networking and training to vocation directors in Ireland, both on a regional and national level.  

As a shared central resource, the new office will act as a knowledge centre for best practice, as well as providing continuity of memory in relation to all vocations work.

The mission of the National Vocations Office will be three-fold:

• to build a culture of vocation
• to promote specific vocations
• to support those who work in the pastoral care of vocations

The bishops said the office will nurture all vocations but will place a particular emphasis on priesthood, diaconate and religious life.

To further inform the establishment of this office, Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan will lead a delegation from Ireland, with members of the Council for Vocations of the Bishops’ Conference, to the International Congress on Priestly Vocations which will take place in Rome from 19 to 21 October.