I am NRVC
I am NRVC
I'm the national vocation director for the Missionaries of La Salette. I'm also the co-coordinator of the NRVC Southeast Member Area.
I've been in this role nearly two years. Before that I was a parish director of religious education and had also taught first grade in a Catholic school.
I work with priests and brothers who serve part time as regional vocation directors. With me in the office full time, they can better use their time ministering in parishes and shrines, while still supporting vocation ministry.
NRVC’s "Orientation for New Vocation Directors" workshop is invaluable, providing ideas, support, and resources to new ministers. Ongoing, the staff is supportive and energetic, quick to answer questions and offer resources.
Integrating our La Salette Laity with our vocation programming has been exciting and effective. We held our summer Come and See Retreat (for men discerning consecrated life) at the same time and place as the La Salette Laity National Retreat. The discerners experienced the support of La Salette Laity through conversation and shared meetings. The interaction was wonderful and created a vibrant environment of prayer.
Working with men interested in religious life is only one part of my position. A valuable part of this ministry is creating a culture of vocations, where churches, laity, parishioners, schools, and students are involved in a conversation about vocations. The more we talk about vocations, display posters about vocations, distribute vocations “swag,” initiate vocation prayer opportunities, and construct vocation discussion events, the more evident a vocation culture is.
The greatest compliment I have heard recently is, “We haven’t talked this much about vocations in years!”
My husband and I are parents to three adult children, all married. Also, I volunteer as the resident historian of a Gilded Age mansion that was once a private home, then a La Salette Seminary, and now is a resort hotel close to my home on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Sister Rejane Cytacki, S.C.L. thinks big when it comes to vocation ministry. She converses with women from around the world who are interested in “a nun’s life,” which is also the name for the longstanding ministry that she heads up, A Nun’s Life Ministry. A member of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, Kansas, she is also part of a five-person vocation team for the Charity Federation. Read more...
Sister Jean Rhoads, D.C. says that more recently she has been trying to strengthen her relationship with campus ministers so that she can be invited to events they are already doing. Prospective discerners will participate more when an event is already a part of campus ministry. Learn more here. Read more...
Sister Kathleen Persson, O.S.B. of the Benedictine Sisters of Virginia became vocation and formation director just as COVID hit the nation. The good news is that she wasn’t already used to doing lots of in-person activities. Seeking a way to virtually connect with people, she turned to YouTube and became the producer of “Benedictine Bytes.” Read more...
Consecrated life runs in the family for Sister Jill Reuber, O.S.B. She's a triplet, with one of her sisters belonging to another Benedictine community. Find out what ideas for vocations are working for Sister Jill these days as she walks with women considering life as a Ferdinand, Indiana Benedictine. Read more...
"It is essential that vocation ministers have a good support system of friends and 'truth tellers' who will keep us honest, support us in those difficult times, and challenge us in times when we might become complacent," says Father Joe Nassal, C.PP.S., who has been involved in vocation work for decades. Read more...
As part of their successful "Vocation Culture Project" Augustinians annually hand out 30,000 mini-posters of their men in formation. They ask people connected to their ministries to display the poster as a reminder to pray for the men in the poster, for themselves, and for all discerners. Read more...
"NRVC has been a wonderful source of support and encouragement in my ministry," says Sister Anna Maria Lionetti. "I have received much in the way of formation by attending the convocations, and these moments have helped me network and be enriched by the experience of other vocation directors." Read more...
"Listen, listen, listen. Be available to young people. Go where they are and stay awake, literally as well as figuratively. Their schedule is not 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday! Don’t be afraid to ask lots of questions, especially of seasoned vocation directors. Don’t get stuck on numbers. Be faithful to your call as a vowed religious, and live with joy!". Read more...
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Renée Dee says the best compliment she's received lately was hearing: "We haven't talked this much about vocations in years!" As national vocation director for the La Salette Missionaries, she is focusing on developing a culture of vocations throughout the community's parishes, schools, and ministries. Read more...
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