Knock House Hotel – June 24 – 28
Challenges
Diocesan Vocation Directors face many challenges in nurturing vocations to the priesthood today. Quite apart from the demands on their time, the vocations landscape has changed. The growth in secularisation along with the portrayal of negative coverage in the media all contribute to a shortage in candidates coming forward to discern a vocation.
God still calls people and it remains the role of the Vocation Director to help those being called to quieten the noise in life, so that they may hear the whisper of God.
The National Vocations Office is bringing a team of priests who have enjoyed considerable success in North America to deliver a formation course for vocation directors. This is an exciting development as it is the first time that this course is being delivered outside of the US.
The course will commence at 6pm on Sunday 24 th June and finish with lunch on Thursday 28 th June.
Over the four days the course will provide an opportunity for Vocation Directors to discover what has worked well for others labouring in the field of vocations
and take encouragement and motivation for new strategies for helping men to discern God’s call.
Learning Outcomes
Vocation Directors who attend this course can expect to learn about a variety of ways to promote diocesan vocations, how to respond and screen applicants, how to leverage various social media tools and applications and most importantly how to
journey with those who are seeking to discern.
Location:
The course will be run in the Knock House Hotel, a newly refurbished 3 Star 68 bedroomed Hotel which is adjacent to the International Marian Shrine, in the tranquil Village of Knock, Co Mayo. The location provides a perfect combination of comfortable and professional environment for the course workshops, networking and relaxing, along with access to the beautiful chapels and prayer spaces of the Knock Shrine for our daily Eucharist and prayer spaces.
To Reserve a Place
The course is being arranged by National Vocations Office which was established by the Irish Catholic
Bishops’ Conference in July 2017.
For further information on the course or to reserve a place, please contact:
Deacon Eric Cooney
National Vocations Office
Email: Eric.Cooney@Vocations.ie
Phone: +353 1 505 3118
www.vocations.ie
