I could not do any of this on my own, however, and I owe so much to the Chaplaincy at UEA, the Community of Our Lady of Walsingham, the parishes of St John the Baptist and Waveney Valley, and the whole vocations team who have nourished my early vocation and buoyed me up in prayer.
Since I first felt the call, my vocation has matured and solidified. Time and formation have moulded it into something more tangible, more clear. It has also deepened; superficialities from early in the call have faded away and been replaced with an unbridled desire to dedicate my life to doing nothing but bringing souls to Christ. Great peace has descended upon me. Feeling as though I have found my purpose in life, I have immense joy.
East Anglia is many things. It is a wonderful diocese full of faithful Catholics, but mostly for me, it is home. Each of us has a duty to “proclaim the Gospel”. Early in my conversion I thought of that only as overseas missionary work. I now see this, my home, as my mission ground. We must promote vocations in our parishes and schools because there are so many more men whose calling is just like this and who have not yet found it.
And so, to anyone who is feeling that tug on their heart, I would tell them what a fantastic priest once told me in six profound words: why not give God a chance? Contact the vocations team, speak to your parish priest and give it into God’s hands.
To the parishes I would say: pray. Talking about vocations is great, catechesis programmes are great, and they should all be done, but when faced with this problem Jesus gave only one remedy: to “pray that the Lord of the Harvest sends labourers”.
I am filled with an immense hope for the future of vocations. In our time of uncertainty we can be certain that God will always call men to follow Him as priests. The rest is given to us to pray for and nurture. Through the example of Our Lady of Walsingham, Mother of vocations, I believe men will continue to say yes to God and parishes will say yes to supporting them. May our prayers be united with all our patron saints, and may an abundance of vocations be given to us by Christ the Good Shepherd.
