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Who Would You Invite?

Following are four easy steps on how to surface names of potential candidates for personal invitation.

1.   Pray about it

Prayer must always be our primary tool in vocation work. Before meeting to surface names, spend at least an hour before the Blessed Sacrament as a group and ask the Lord’s help and guidance in the important mission you are about to take on.

2.   Consult

Meet with the pastor and parish staff and ask them for names of people they believe would make good priests and religious. Use the “Invitation Checklist” included in your binder. Conduct the same discussion with all the major organizations and groups of the parish using the checklist.

3.   Meet

Meet as a committee to add more names to the list or refine the list you have compiled. It would be helpful to have the pastor attend this meeting since he probably knows the parishioners better than anyone else.

4.   Personally Invite

It is now time to personally invite candidates whose names you have surfaced. Have a member of your committee talk to the candidate and say something like this:  “I am contacting you on behalf of our Vocations Committee. Our committee feels you would make a good priest/sister.

You may want to ask the pastor to do the inviting on behalf of the Vocations Committee. An invitation from the pastor can be more effective.