‘The Vocations Monstrance’ will visit twelve dioceses over a two-weeks period, from November 18 to 29.
St Pope John Paul blessed in total six monstrances for vocations prayer in 2004, one for each continent.
The monstrance visiting Ireland is the North America one, explained Deacon Eric Cooney, who works for the National Vocations Office and is deacon at Monkstown Parish, the first stop of the monstrance.
Deacon Cooney explained the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops contacted the Irish office “to see would we like the monstrance to come to Ireland.”
“The experience of the American bishops,” the deacon said, was that “whenever people pray for vocations, there is a growth and increasing in vocations…They did a survey about twelve years ago, and the survey was of seminarians who had entered the seminary. They discovered that out of the 20% of parishes that prayed for vocations, 80% of the seminarians came from that 20% of parishes.”
“It’s very clear that whenever vocations are actively prayed for, there is a growth in vocations. Whether with the monstrance or not,” Deacon Cooney said.