Nurturing Your Child's Vocation

The most important thing families can do to nurture vocations for their children is to help them develop a fruitful relationship with Jesus and His Church.  Young people who learn to love and serve Jesus as they mature are given the best possible preparation for vocational discernment.  The answer to the question "what can I do as a parent to promote vocations?" is actually quite simple: teach your children to love and serve Jesus and to love and serve their neighbor.

Marriage is a natural vocation.  As the Catechism says, "The vocation to marriage is written into the very nature of man and woman as they came from the hand of the Creator." (1603)  Most men and women enter into marriage and form a family.  In his life and teaching, Jesus Christ elevated marriage to the status of a sacrament.  The marriage between a baptized man and baptized woman is therefore a sacrament as it unites the natural and supernatural elements of marriage.

Some are called by God to freely choose to sacrifice this great good for another vocation.  Parents have the great privilege of teaching their children to pray and how to "listen" to God.  In doing this parents can help their children to discern God's call for them personally and encourage them to investigate the possibility that God may be calling them to the religious life or priesthood.

Visit our diocesan vocations office webpage to learn more: KCPriest.org