Jaro Religious takes vocation promotions to the streets

In today’s highly-modernized world, where religious life is becoming less of an option for young people, religious men and women in this archdiocese literally went to the highways and the byways to tell the youth that religious life is still very much alive and relevant as part of “Vocation Days 2015” from Nov. 23 to 30.

Dec 04, 2015

JARO: In today’s highly-modernized world, where religious life is becoming less of an option for young people, religious men and women in this archdiocese literally went to the highways and the byways to tell the youth that religious life is still very much alive and relevant as part of “Vocation Days 2015” from Nov. 23 to 30.

Believing always in the primacy of prayer, the vocation promoters prayed even while on the road, meditating on the Holy Rosary and singing Marian hymns together.

“The Vocation Caravan has indeed become an opportunity where various religious and lay promoters from different congregations united as one group with the aim to pray for one another, for the holy perseverance and sanctification of the clergy and religious, and to promote religious vocations,” observed Sr. Susan Matthew Cueco, Carm. O.L.

 Vocation caravan and pilgrimage

As a prelude to Vocation Month, representatives of the Archdiocesan Commission on Vocation Promoters for the Religious also held, for the first time in Panay, a three-day Vocation Caravan and Pilgrimage on Sept. 12 to 14.

During the Vocation Caravan and Pilgrimage, which kicked off at the Jaro Cathedral with a Mass celebrated by Jaro Archbishop Angel N. Lagdameo with Fr. Paul Reagan Talavera, OP, as concelebrant, the religious vocation promoters visited more than 40 parishes and various colleges and universities in Capiz, Aklan, Antique and in the city and province of Iloilo.

Aside from talking to the young people, the sisters also posted campaign materials in churches and led the prayer for vocations for every congregation.

On the occasion of Vocation Month, and in the context of the Year of Consecrated Life, the Jaro Archdiocesan Commission on Vocation Promoters for the Religious (ACVP-R) successfully staged the week-long event, starting on Nov. 23 with a vocation campaign in various educational institutions in Miag-ao, Iloilo.

Confessions, counseling

The religious men and women also spearheaded the celebration of Jaro’s Vocation Day on Nov. 28. During the sessions held in St. Vincent Ferrer Seminary the religious men heard confessions while the religious women facilitated counseling sessions and group sharing.

The religious again gave witness to the faithful’s role in saving the environment as they went to the streets on Nov. 29 to join thousands of marchers in the “Walk for Mother Earth” in the Archdiocese’s participation in the Global Climate March.

To cap Vocation Month, the religious women and men participated in Jaro’s Archdiocesan Youth Day in Guimbal, Iloilo on Nov. 30, as a way to reach out to young people encouraging them to be open to God’s call.

“The activity was very enriching as it has strengthened the bond of the vocation promoters. The priceless moments have nourished our friendship and have led us to be closer to one another to reach a common goal which is to find more holy vocations into the Church,” added Sr. Susan.--cbcpnews