EDINBURGH, Scotland – Twelve men are set to be ordained priests in Scotland this year, a 20-year high that Catholic leaders credited to prayers and other work to encourage vocations.

DUBLIN, Ireland – Besides a shortage of vocations, Irish priests are facing an even more harrowing kind of crisis.

If discerning a vocation was simply a more holy version of making career choices there would be no need to talk about love. But for Jesuits, the conversation about a vocation is always a conversation about love.

The National Association of Vocation and Formation Directors (NAVFD) is launching a national survey that has never been done before in Canada.

BRAMPTON, ONT. - Students who have an interest in a higher calling came together March 3 to explore their religious and priestly vocation curiosity. 

BALTIMORE - A man fishing at the Loch Raven Reservoir in north Baltimore County some two decades ago was convinced he had snagged a big fish after his line hooked something substantial.

TORONTO - On the journey toward one’s vocation, Fr. Christopher Lemieux hopes Catholics alter the question “what do I want to do with my life?” to “Lord, what is it you want me to do with my life?” 

VATICAN CITY - In an effort to respond to a "clear and pressing" need for priests, the Vatican released a set of guidelines to help bishops and church communities promote, recruit and educate a new generation of men for the priesthood.

The church needs "suitable" candidates and must avoid men who "show signs of being profoundly fragile personalities," while helping others heal from any possible "individual deviations" from their vocations, the document said.

TORONTO - A recent study out of the United States is showing that those entering religious orders and undertaking perpetual vows are  younger and more educated than their predecessors of recent years.

“We are encouraged by the report’s findings that men and women are considering a vocation at a younger age,” said Mercy Sister Mary Joanna Ruhland, associate director of the U.S. bishops’ secretariat of vocations and consecrated life, according to Catholic News Agency.

My Catholic life really began at age 13, shortly before high school, during an inspiring talk at a youth camp. I learned a new word: Vocation, a noun: the specific calling unique to every individual.

Seven months after my high school graduation, I was exploring the library when I saw an old friend from elementary school. Over the last few years, he volunteered in a few camps, started handing out hosts during Communion and survived high school, along with the journeys of self-discovery that come with it.