One of the most life-giving ministries that I have been involved with during the past year is serving as a member of a Religious Vocation Panel. Our team of four religious, Sr. Ruth Lubbers, SND, Fr. Steve Dos Santos, CPPS, Sr. Vickie Griner, OSC and I, have visited schools around the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and met with over 1,500 junior high age students to talk about discerning a call to religious life. I think we have designed a very positive program for the students that covers a lot of the solid information about religious life, from what is a call to how to discern, what are the differences between communities and what are the vows religious profess. Teachers have repeatedly said this type of program has been missing from their curriculum for a long time. At one school the students said they had never met a religious sister before.
I think that one of the best parts about the Religious Panel program is that we have time for Q&A with the students. You never know what they are going to ask but for the most part they have asked questions about religious life.
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| Lef to Right - Sr. Ruth Lubbers, SND, Fr. Steve Dos Santos, CPPS, Sr. Vickie Griner, OSC and Br. David Henley |
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