University and Young Adult Ministries

Best Practices for Vocations to the Priesthood and Religious Life for Campus Ministries

Eucharistic Adoration

• Make it available often, daily if possible
• Preach on the true Presence

Confession

• Creates an awareness of sin, and a need for mercy
• Leads students to strive for greater conversion

Spiritual Direction

• Teaches them the importance of daily prayer
• Holds them accountable for prayer
• Instills in them a fundamental call to holiness

Pilgrimage/Retreat/Conference

• ‘jump starts’ the spiritual life
• Takes them out of their normal surroundings to encounter God

Service Projects

Seminary Visits/Nun runs or bring Seminarians and young Sisters to visit the Campus

Discernment Groups

• Helps each student to realize they are called specifically by God
• Groups let them know they are not alone and that others can help them on their journey

Cultivating Christ-centered friendships

• Teaches them how to have fun in a holy and wholesome way

Daily presence of priests or sisters

• Students need to see priests or sisters at prayer on a daily basis
• They also need to interact with them on a daily basis

Catechetical Formation

• This could be number one but young Catholics generally do not know their faith
• Introducing them to the riches of the intellectual patrimony of the Church opens them to a deeper understanding of God and their role in God’s plan

Helpful Links

• The Melchizedek Project: Vocation Discernment Groups for College Men
• St. Paul’s Outreach
• Brotherhood of Hope
• Fellowship of Catholic University Students
• National Religious Vocation Conference