Dear Friends:

National Vocation Awareness Week (NVAW), celebrated November 3-9, 2024, is an annual week-long celebration of the Catholic Church in the United States dedicated to promoting vocations to the priesthood, diaconate, and consecrated life through prayer and education, and to renew our prayers and support for those who are considering one of these particular vocations. The chairman of the Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Bishop Earl A. Boyea, has called on the faithful to pray for vocations as part of National Vocations Awareness Week.

Here is a prayer that we can do during this week or every day. We need priests, deacons, nuns and religious men to continue the work of the Lord in the world. I am happy to report that we have three good men from our parish who are studying to be deacons in the diocese. Please pray for them too.

God our Father, we thank you for calling men and women to serve in your Son’s Kingdom as priests, deacons, and consecrated persons.

Send your Holy Spirit to help others to respond generously and courageously to your call. May our community of faith support vocations of sacrificial love in our youth and young adults.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen

Religious Liberty in our country and the world. The Bishops’ Committee for Religious Freedom, an office of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), is encouraging the faithful to participate in a novena in preparation for the feast of Christ the King, which will be celebrated on Nov. 24 this year.

The Christ the King novena will start on Friday, Nov. 15, and end on Saturday, Nov. 23. The bishops have asked the faithful to offer their prayers to Christ the King “for the freedom of the Church.” Pope Pius XI instituted the feast of Christ the King in 1925 with his encyclical Quas Primas (“In the First”) to respond to growing secularism and atheism. He recognized that trying to push God out of the public sphere would result in continuing discord among people and nations. In his encyclical, the pope says that Jesus “is [the] very truth, and it is from him that truth must be obediently received by all mankind.”

Some of the prayer intentions included in the novena are for people of faith to gather in houses of worship without fear, that God give hope and courage to people who live in fear of persecution, for God to protect migrants and refugees, and that business leaders be free to promote a culture of life in their workplaces, among others. The novena consists of a dedicated intention for each day, followed by an Our Father, Hail Mary, the Glory Be, and a prayer to Christ the King.

In 2012, the bishops issued a document titled “Our First, Most Cherished Liberty: A Statement on Religious Liberty” where they recommended that the solemnity of Christ the King “be a day specifically employed by bishops and priests to preach about religious liberty, both here and abroad,” as it is a feast “born out of resistance to totalitarian incursions against religious liberty.” We will be celebrating the Novena in both of our churches. Bishop Barber will be here on Sunday, November 24th Sunday at 4:00pm to celebrate the feast of Christ the King.

Now that elections are over! God is not Democrat, Republican, or American. He is God and not beholden to anyone. But he cares about us, regardless of who is in power. God is our King. Let us pray for our country. 1 Timothy 2:1-2 advocates, “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.”

We lift up all our duly elected leaders and public servants, those who will serve us as president, as legislators and judges, those in the military and law enforcement. Heal us from our differences and unite us, O Lord, with a common purpose, dedication, and commitment to achieve liberty and justice in the years ahead for all people, and especially those who are most vulnerable in our midst.