Vocations
Welcome to our Vocations pages. We hope you will find all the information you need to help you discern your own specific call.
Anyone who has felt God’s call knows that the process is anything but simple and talking through your thoughts and feelings can be a real help during this time.
If you would like to speak to someone about a vocation to the priesthood, our Vocations Directors are on hand to listen and to support:
Fr Michael Deas
St Augustine’s Presbytery
Lower Chatham Street, All Saints, Manchester, M15 6BY
Tel: 0161 523 1816
michael.deas@dioceseofsalford.org.uk
Fr Mark Paver
St Winifred’s Presbytery
Mauldeth Road
Heaton Mersey,
Stockport,
SK4 3NB
Tel 0161 4324412
mark.paver@dioceseofsalford.org.uk
A commitment to love
Each vocation is a commitment to love in a certain way. The object of every vocation is God. Lots of things like self-fulfillment, making life better for people, and building the Church may be involved in a vocation but the main purpose of our vocation is to love Our Lord.
As St John Paul II wrote: “Love makes us seek what is good; love makes us better persons. It is love that prompts men and women to marry and form a family, to have children. It is love that prompts others to embrace the consecrated life or become priests.”
Each vocation challenges us to live our faith more deeply and to follow Christ more closely. Each vocation, if it is lived generously and faithfully, will involve times of lasting happiness and reward, but also occasions of sacrifice and suffering.
Finally, it is important not to compare the value of different vocations but to appreciate the value of each one and to work out which one is right for you.
The Call to Holiness
The universal call to holiness is rooted in our baptism. It is a call to know, love and serve the Lord. We come to understand that there is meaning in our lives and a purpose for our existence. God has called us all to do some “definite purpose” for him.
When we talk about vocation, we are bringing God into our plans. We no longer just ask ourselves “what do I want to do with my life?” but rather “What is God asking of me?”
A willingness to do God’s will is built on two pillars. We have to believe that God loves us more than we love ourselves and that God wants our happiness more than we want it.
In other words, we have to believe that God knows more than we do about what will make us truly happy. We are to trust that God’s will for us is our only chance to find true and lasting happiness.
