Holy Hour For Vocations

Archdiocesan-Wide Holy Hours for Vocations

Three times a year we invite parishes across the Archdiocese to hold Holy Hours for vocations at the same time.

  • November: During National Vocations Awareness Week, on the feast of St. Charles Borromeo (patron saint of seminarians, bishops, and cardinals)
  • May: Friday before diaconate ordination
  • May: Friday before priestly ordination

PLANNING A HOLY HOUR

Talk to your parish priest about holding a Holy Hour for vocations. Work with him to choose an appropriate date. There’s no bad time to hold a Holy Hour, but some dates may work better than others, such as World Day of Prayer for Vocations.

Most often it is useful to have a small group plan the Holy Hour, such as a local Serra Club or your parish’s Vocation Ministry (if it has one). This helps to spread the work among more people, and also ensures better attendance. Sometimes a cluster of nearby parishes can work together to plan one single area-wide Holy Hour for Vocations.

PROMOTION IS KEY

Even when only two or three are gathered in Jesus’ name, a Holy Hour can be a powerful event—but it sure is nice to have more people! Promoting your Holy Hour, then, becomes critical. Here is one rule of thumb: you must do far more than place a notice in the bulletin!

Sometimes, to boost attendance, the Holy Hour can be planned in conjunction with another event, such as immediately before the Knights of Columbus Fish Fry, or as part of a youth group event. Similarly, you may want to include other groups in the Holy Hour planning process, so it is a “multi-ministry” event, in conjunction with Scouting America (formerly Boy Scouts), the Ladies’ Guild, a Bible Study, the RCIA group, etc.

With your pastor’s cooperation, try to make it a parish-wide event, promoted widely via pulpit announcements, displays outside of Mass, email, parish web site, and Facebook can help increase attendance. If Holy Hours are not common in your parish, make sure you explain what is involved and why they are so important.

HOLY HOUR FORMAT

There is a standard format for Holy Hours that can be adapted for different purposes. Most follow a basic outline: an opening hymn while the Blessed Sacrament is placed in the monstrance, scripture readings, time for silent prayer, devotions such as the rosary or litany of saints, then Benediction and a closing hymn. Remember that the format of your Holy Hour needs to be approved by the priest or deacon who leads it.

Here are some very useful resources for planning your Holy Hour:

IS IT WORTH THE EFFORT?

Yes! Sure, it takes some work—coordination, creativity, and leadership—to plan your Holy Hour for vocations. But what better way to ask God for vocations than directly before Him in the Eucharist? At a time when our Church so badly needs more priests, it’s worth the effort to do our part.

Even if your attempts hit a roadblock and you aren’t able to start a public Holy Hour for some reason, our Lord will know of your work and desire and will bring some fruit from it. In this case, make a personal Holy Hour for vocations and trust that God will take care of things.

As Blessed Mother Teresa said, “God doesn’t require us to succeed; he only requires that you try.”