Parish Information

Vocations Commission

Come Follow Me What exactly does the Vocations Commission do? Our strategic initiative is “to foster vocations to the Religious Life and the Priesthood.” “Religious life” includes sisters, brothers and deacons. We accomplish this initiative by creating awareness through various activities or projects that we believe might increase one’s discernment of dedicating their lives to God and his family. We hope our activities will help dispel the myths and increase the knowledge of who and what the Church is looking for to lead us into the future.

We invite you to peruse this web page and take advantage of some of links that are provided. Should you have any questions or if you would like to consider joining the Vocations Commission at St. Maria Goretti Parish, do not hesitate to contact the parish office.

We desire to lead the St. Maria Goretti Parish family to discover vocations by:

Raising awareness of the priesthood, diaconate, and religious life
Creating visibility for vocations resources
Encouraging prayer for vocations
Providing learning opportunities about vocations

Vocations Commission Strategic Plan

Traveling Chalice

We have had great success with our Traveling Chalice Program. Click here to find out how you and your family can participate.

Help us with our biggest calling on the commission: Please pray for more vocations to the priesthood and religious life!

The fruit of silence is prayer.
The fruit of prayer is faith.
The fruit of faith is love.
The fruit of love is service.

Lord, open our eyes,
that we may see you in our brothers and sisters.
Lord, open our ears, that we may hear the cries
of the hungry, the cold, the frightened, the oppressed.
Lord, open our hearts, that we may
love each other as you love us.
Renew in us your Spirit. Lord, free us and make us one.

Prayer of Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)
Founder of the Missionaries of Charity

Prayer for Vocations
Lord, we believe that You are present in the Holy Eucharist. Please watch over your Mystical Body, the Church, and send it shepherds to guide it. Grant our Diocese of Madison an increase in vocations to priesthood, deaconate, religious life, and sacramental married life. Help us to be instruments of your will in guiding young people through our teaching of the Catholic faith and the example of our lives. Instill in parents a desire to offer a child to priesthood or religious life, and sanctify priests, brothers, and sisters to be models of virtue and love. We ask this through Christ our Lord, Amen.

Recently, the Midwest Theological Forum finished production on an excellent video, entitled "The Catholic Priest Today: A Man of Faith, A Man of Tradition, A Man of God. The video is designed to speak to anyone who may have an interest in the priesthood.

The video features one of our own priests, Fr. Eric Nielsen, pictured at left, who is pastor at St. Paul University Catholic Center in Madison. In his remarks, Fr. Nielsen reminds viewers that when discerning a vocation, there are more things to discern than the vocation itself. Saying yes to the priesthood reveals God's grace in many new ways, but it is also important to discern what sacrifices must be made in order to pursue a priestly vocation. In priesthood, sacrifice becomes blessing, and this theme is beautifully illustrated in this film.

Also included in the film is are commentaries by His Eminence, Francis Cardinal George, Cardinal-Archbishop of Chicago, Ill., and Dr. Scott Hahn, a well-noted scripture scholar and author.

There is a web site dedicated to the video, located at http://www.thecatholicpriesttoday.com You may also order a DVD from the web site as well. Click on the link below to view the video.

To preside at the Lord’s Supper is, therefore, an urgent invitation to offer oneself in gift, so that the attitude of the Suffering Servant and Lord may continue and grow in the Church. Dear young men, nurture your attraction to those values and radical choices which will transform your lives into service of others, in the footsteps of Jesus, the Lamb of God. …Do not be afraid to accept this call. You will surely encounter difficulties and sacrifices, but you will be happy to serve, you will be witnesses of that joy that the world cannot give. You will be living flames of an infinite and eternal love. You will know the spiritual riches of the priesthood, divine gift and mystery."

These are the words of our previous Holy Father, John Paul II, and they so eloquently express the joy and gift of serving God's holy people in priesthood. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishop's Vocations and Priestly Formation committee embarked on an effort to try and address the need of discerning a vocation amidst the world we live in today. What resulted was an award-winning video entitled "Fishers of Men."

Ever thought about how you can be a part of the New Evangelization, begun by our previous Holy Father, John Paul II, and continuing with Benedict XVI? Some of our seminarians for the Diocese of Madison reflected on this very question. What did their prayer and reflection yield? A new and exciting program sponsored by the Office of Vocations!

Being a good evangelizer means bringing the true faith of Christ to those who have questions, or who might be wondering about different aspects of the Catholic faith. That's just what some of our seminarians did this past summer! They set out for the streets of downtown Madison to solicit questions from people about the Catholic Church. From seminary studies and prayer to celibacy and the ordination of women, it's all covered!

These questions were brought to the air of Relevant Radio, and are discussed from a variety of perspectives. How will an issue affect the lives of Catholic Christians? What are the pastoral implications? What are some fundamental reasons for why the Church teaches what she does? Feel free to listen to some of the radio broadcasts on topics that were discussed by clicking on the link at the right.

Every time we help someone to grow in their faith, we not only bring them closer to Christ and His Church, but we ourselves grow in faith as we more deeply understand what it means to be an authentic disciple of the Lord Jesus.