MEMPHIS, Tenn. -When Father Joseph Hastings, 33, was growing up, he had dreams like most young boys. He wanted to be a basketball player. He thought about being an actor.
He came from a devout Catholic family that spent family time together in adoration and distributing food at the Missionaries of Charity shelter in North Memphis.

Lucy Straus was just a toddler when two of her older siblings left the family’s Waterloo County farm to dedicate their lives to the service of God in the religious life.

Canada’s OFM Franciscans aren’t facing a vocations emergency, but they do have a problem — the same problem many dioceses and religious orders of priests face across Canada.

There’s a long-held perception that the voice of women in the Church is one that is seldom heard. It’s why Colleen Carroll Campbell sees the importance of galvanizing that voice so that it doesn’t get drowned out.

Eight years ago, just weeks before I was ordained to the priesthood, I delivered a speech at the annual Ordinandi Dinner in Toronto that left me a marked man.

VANCOUVER -- Discovering one’s vocation, whether it happens in a surprising instant or over many years, always feels the same way, says Sr. Maria Serra Garcia. It’s always like falling in love.

I love being a Catholic. I am a “cradle Catholic” from Essex County, Ont. I have been a Catholic priest for 54 years. Every day, I discover fresh insights into the richness of our faith. My reasons are personal to me, but probably shared by many others as well. I want to cite them here so that others may be inspired to draw up their own list. It is a grace-filled exercise.

Poverty isn’t always misfortune or bad luck. Sometimes it’s a vocation.

VATICAN CITY -- Existing formation programs are not preparing priests and other pastoral workers to be leaders in a church with an Amazonian and indigenous face, according to bishops participating in the synod for the Amazon.

MONTREAL -- When newly ordained Fr. Robert Assaly refers to seeking help from “Mother,” the term is just as likely to refer to his wife Nancy as it is to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Sr. Mary Margaret Hope of the Morning Star spent years studying the heavens, but what she learned has taken her down a very different path in life than the one she was on.

Frater Marlon Bobier Vargas knew that his calling was to teach and to serve, but what he didn’t know was that his classroom went beyond the confines of four walls. 

It was one of those nights a well-travelled canoeist understands — you’ve set up camp after a long day’s journey, you are lying awake and the thoughts come to you as you try to drift off to sleep.

Fear is the number one obstacle for young people discerning religious vocations, says Sr. Helena Burns. 

WASHINGTON -- Spiritual advice was mixed with practical suggestions at the GIVEN Catholic Young Women's Leadership Forum held at The Catholic University of America in Washington.