World Day of Prayer for Vocations (Good Shepherd Sunday)

World Day of Prayer for Vocations (also know as Good Shepherd Sunday) is this weekend, 21 April.

We pray for our parish priests who have answered the call to dedicating their lives to serving God and the people of his Church. We pray for the Religious Men and Women who serve God both at home and abroad.

Please also keep in your prayers seminarians from the Archdiocese:

A special collection for the Ecclesiastical Students' Fund will take place at Masses this weekend. You can donate online at bit.ly/studentscollection

Pope Francis' message for World Day of Prayer for Vocations can be read here.

He calls on everyone to: “Let Jesus draw you to himself; bring him your important questions; let him challenge you by his presence; More than anyone else, Jesus respects our freedom.”

The day is dedicated in a particular way to imploring from the Father the gift of holy vocations for the building up of his Kingdom: “Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.” (Lk 10:2)

If you want to find out more about the priesthood or religious life, speak to your parish priest or contact Fr Andrew Garden at vocations@staned.org.uk (0131 663 4286) or Sr Mirjam Hugens FSO at religiousvocations@staned.org.uk (0131 623 8902).

Explore: a retreat for young women

Thinking about a vocation to the religious life? Join other young Catholic women to chat and explore God's will in monthly get-togethers in Edinburgh.

Led by Sr Mirjam Hugens FSO, the first one takes place on Sunday 28 January, 4-7pm at St Columba’s, 9 Upper Gray Street.

It is a chance to pray, share and discuss in a relaxed environment, and refreshments will be served. The series continues each month at the same time/venue:

25 Feb
17 Mar
21 Apr
12 May
22 June

To register or find out more, please email religiousvocations@staned.org.uk

Explore: a retreat for young women

Thinking about a vocation to the religious life? Join other young Catholic women to chat and explore God's will in monthly get-togethers in Edinburgh.

Led by Sr Mirjam Hugens FSO, the first one takes place on Sunday 28 January, 4-7pm at St Columba’s, 9 Upper Gray Street.

It is a chance to pray, share and discuss in a relaxed environment, and refreshments will be served. The series continues each month at the same time/venue:

25 Feb
17 Mar
21 Apr
12 May
22 June

To register or find out more, please email religiousvocations@staned.org.uk

Explore: a retreat for young women

Thinking about a vocation to the religious life? Join other young Catholic women to chat and explore God's will in monthly get-togethers in Edinburgh.

Led by Sr Mirjam Hugens FSO, the first one takes place on Sunday 28 January, 4-7pm at St Columba’s, 9 Upper Gray Street.

It is a chance to pray, share and discuss in a relaxed environment, and refreshments will be served. The series continues each month at the same time/venue:

25 Feb
17 Mar
21 Apr
12 May
22 June

To register or find out more, please email religiousvocations@staned.org.uk

Explore: a retreat for young women

Thinking about a vocation to the religious life? Join other young Catholic women to chat and explore God's will in monthly get-togethers in Edinburgh.

Led by Sr Mirjam Hugens FSO, the first one takes place on Sunday 28 January, 4-7pm at St Columba’s, 9 Upper Gray Street.

It is a chance to pray, share and discuss in a relaxed environment, and refreshments will be served. The series continues each month at the same time/venue:

25 Feb
17 Mar
21 Apr
12 May
22 June

To register or find out more, please email religiousvocations@staned.org.uk

Explore: a retreat for young women

Thinking about a vocation to the religious life? Join other young Catholic women to chat and explore God's will in monthly get-togethers in Edinburgh.

Led by Sr Mirjam Hugens FSO, the first one takes place on Sunday 28 January, 4-7pm at St Columba’s, 9 Upper Gray Street.

It is a chance to pray, share and discuss in a relaxed environment, and refreshments will be served. The series continues each month at the same time/venue:

25 Feb
17 Mar
21 Apr
12 May
22 June

To register or find out more, please email religiousvocations@staned.org.uk

Explore: a retreat for young women

Thinking about a vocation to the religious life? Join other young Catholic women to chat and explore God's will in monthly get-togethers in Edinburgh.

Led by Sr Mirjam Hugens FSO, the first one takes place on Sunday 28 January, 4-7pm at St Columba’s, 9 Upper Gray Street.

It is a chance to pray, share and discuss in a relaxed environment, and refreshments will be served. The series continues each month at the same time/venue:

25 Feb
17 Mar
21 Apr
12 May
22 June

To register or find out more, please email religiousvocations@staned.org.uk

Vocations Week: Becoming a Deacon

Douglas Robertson is being ordained a permanent deacon at St Michael's Church in Linlithgow on Saturday. We spoke to him about his journey to the diaconate.

What parish do you attend?
St Michael’s in Linlithgow. I have been a parishioner here for over 30 years.

What is a deacon, and what do they do?
Deacons (the word comes from the Greek word diakonia, meaning 'service') are ordained clergy who are not priests, but assist the priest at Mass by proclaiming the Gospel, reading the Intercessions, distributing Communion and dismissing the Faithful. A deacon assists the priest outside of Mass by administering the Sacrament of Baptism, bringing Viaticum to the dying, presiding for prayer services, officiating at funerals and burial services and witnessing marriages. As ministers of service, deacons perform charitable works such as visiting the sick, sacramental preparation and outreach to the poor.

Wherever I have been I have appreciated the many people who have taken the time to quietly encourage me.

What was your day job?
I worked in IT for forty years, in a number of different jobs and for several companies, starting with Rolls-Royce in Glasgow and ending with Lloyds Bank in Edinburgh.

Why did you decide to apply for the diaconate?
Looking back I feel that my whole life was leading up to this point. My faith journey took me from being a child attending Church of Scotland Sunday school, and not wanting to be there, to a teenager who went to Scripture Union camps, and found a living faith but could not sustain it.

Despite this, my faith was always there and in my early thirties, I wanted to integrate it fully into my life and joined the Catholic Church. This was the start of a wonderful and exciting journey. My faith continued to develop and I found myself saying “God, whatever you want me to do, I will do”. During a conversation with my Parish Priest Canon Paul Kelly he challenged me to go much further than my own limited plans for the future and look at the Permanent Diaconate. The words in Malcolm Muggeridge’s book about Mother Teresa inspired me – “as the whole story of Christendom shows, if everything is asked for, everything – and more – will be accorded; if little, then nothing”. So I applied!

What support have you been given? 
I am so grateful to my wife Margaret, whose own faith and that of her family is so important to me. Her Uncle Monsignor McShane, latterly of St Margaret’s in Clydebank, was a bedrock of the Catholic faith in our lives. Margaret has read my essays, tolerated the hours of study and said the right things when I found the formation challenging. I have had huge support both from this parish with its live faith and committed parishioners and that of my parish placement at St Francis Xavier, Falkirk, where I was provided with an insight into the life of a Deacon in a large parish. Wherever I have been I have appreciated the many people who have taken the time to quietly encourage me.

What are you most looking forward to in your ministry?
Serving my parish!

What advice would you give to married men who are considering the diaconate?
Contact your vocation director, an exciting journey is in front of you.

Douglas Robertson will be ordained a permanent deacon at midday on Saturday 14 September at St Michael's in Linlithgow. Interested in the Permanent Diaconate? Contact Deacon Ronnie Macaulay at macaulay_ronnie@yahoo.co.uk 

Vocations Week: The wonder of the Call of God

Bishop John Keenan, of Paisley Diocese, has issued the following letter for Vocations Awareness Week. Bishop Keenan is the President of Priests for Scotland

Dear brothers and sisters,

This Sunday (10 Sep), we begin our celebration of Vocations Awareness Week in Scotland.

It is a time when we are encouraged to pray for an increase in vocations to the priesthood, the diaconate and the consecrated life.

Our Gospel this Sunday tackles the difficult issue of how a Christian community should deal with internal problems and disputes.  At first, the answer seems a bit obtuse and legalistic, at least to our modern ears.  A bit of reflection on the LORD’s advice to the community, however, opens up a horizon of love and compassion.

At the heart of the LORD’s instruction is a reminder that we need to be a caring community; a community that cares for any person in difficulty and that cares for the truth that alone can set them free.

A community that cares about the person and cares about the truth. 

Might I suggest that this simple maxim, drawn from our Gospel, is a concise yet powerful description of a life of service in the Church.

Our priests, your priests, are called and chosen to care for each and every person, to respond to every human need wherever and however they encountered it.

Following the example of Jesus Himself, our priests seek out the lost, offer guidance to the young, forgive sinners and offer comfort to the sick, the dying and the bereaved. From the beginning to the end of our lives they offer us direction, meaning and compassion.

Our Priests are also called and chosen to care for the truth.  In a time of uncertainty, confusion and anxiety, they are witnesses of GOD’s presence and His promise in our world.

Faithful to a life of prayer, their priestly ministry reminds the world that GOD’s Word lasts forever, is always faithful and is ever inspiring of new ways of hope.

Pray for Vocations

Our Vocations Awareness Week is a precious opportunity for recalling the wonder of GOD’s call to serve His People, and of gratitude for all of those who said Yes down the years.

This week I hope you and your parish communities will pray for vocations to the Priesthood, Diaconate and Religious life, and encourage all those engaged in ministry in your community, and finally that our young people may be given time and space to discern if they are called to these special vocations in the life of the Church.

May the prayer that Pope Saint Paul VI composed for the first World Day of Prayer for Vocations accompany us on our journey: “O Jesus, Divine Shepherd of souls, You called the Apostles and made them fishers of men. Continue to draw to Yourself ardent and generous souls from among the young, in order to make them Your followers and Your ministers. Give them a share in Your thirst for the redemption of all… Open before them the horizons of the entire world.  By responding to Your call, may they prolong Your mission here on earth, build up your Mystical Body, which is the Church, and be ‘the salt of the earth’ and ‘the light of the world”.

May the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church and the Lady of Paisley watch over you and protect you.

With the assurance of my prayers and blessings, Bishop John Keenan.

Find out more about Vocations in our Archdiocese here.

Vocations Mass

Join us to pray that more young people in our Archdiocese respond to God's call to the priesthood and religious life.