Vocation ministry has lasting value and impact

AT THE NATIONAL RELIGIOUS VOCATION CONFERENCE, we specialize in vocation ministry with confidence that God continues to call women and men to holiness. Ours is a ministry of active listening, of helping people to hear and respond to God’s endless call. Over the past two decades, I have come to believe vocation ministry is both timeless and desperately needed in a world filled with brokenness and beauty. Just as people dedicate their lives to ending food insecurity, generational poverty, human trafficking, and illiteracy, vocation ministers are missioned to accompany women and men who seek a deeper relationship with God and humanity, who are searching for meaningful service, and look to us to provide direction on how to respond to God’s call. 

Walking with discerners

Vocation ministry beckons us to hear God’s voice throughout our lives, not just once in vocation discernment. God’s call is precious and sacred in a world filled with digital devices and automated voices like Alexa and Siri. Vocation ministry asks each of us to pay attention to our own story of call to be able to invite others to follow the Risen Christ. Hearing and responding to God’s call requires a lifelong attentiveness to the voice of God. Pope Francis elaborates in Christus Vivit (257), “Your vocation inspires you to bring out the best in yourself for the glory of God and the good of others. It is not simply a matter of doing things, but of doing them with meaning and direction.” In an age of constant app alerts and instant technology, we can forget the sound of God’s timeless voice. When we get too busy, we can gradually lose our desire to dream, to hope, and to invite others to be with us. Yet, our very vocation is a living reminder to each generation to work for justice, build community, and listen to God’s dream for us, for our community, for the church, and the world. 

In our North American culture, which stresses achievement and growth, vocation ministers must counter the narrative that equates numbers of applicants with success or failure. Yet numbers can ground us to face fierce realities about changing demographics for all vocations, institutions, and organizations. The NRVC-CARA Study on Recent Vocations to Religious Life asserts that religious life is a vivid story of emergence and transformation. The grace of perseverance is not a cliché. The study shows that our newest members often see the oldest members as role models. It further reveals that the diversity of women and men religious is one of the hallmarks of consecrated life. With varying spiritualities, missions, and charisms, the incentive to promote vocations is a belief that the charism of a religious institute is relevant in the 21st century and that new members want to enter religious life even as it continues to evolve.

Although the NRVC challenges the notion that the number of new members is the way a community should evaluate vocation ministry, the aggregate numbers for the United States are telling a positive story that we don’t want to miss. Since the start of the global pandemic in 2020, over 1,500 (1,554) women and men have entered religious life. The number of entrants increased from 279 in 2023 to 362 in 2024 (a 30 percent increase!). Newer entrants began initial formation in 123 religious institutes in 2024. 

In addition to the many people who have entered religious life, we can also take heart in those who have stayed with it all the way through final vows. The “Profession Class of 2024 Report” by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (the most recent available) indicates that in 2024, 194 women and men made perpetual profession, 50 more than the previous year! Since the pandemic shutdown and shelter in place in 2020, we can collectively celebrate that 860 women and men professed final vows. 

Of course, we can focus on how many religious institutes did not have someone enter, but vocation ministry reminds us to collaborate, not compete, for entrants. Most seasoned or former vocation directors can recall discerners who decided to enter a different community for a variety of reasons. Most will also recall discerners who moved forward to choose the beautiful vocation of being single or married. Accompanying discerners to make informed decisions is always a success and never a failure on the part of the vocation director and community. 

Animating the community beyond statistics

Although I’ve just presented important numerical facts, this constant counting of entrants and vowed members can easily reduce us to data points with anticipated expiration dates that miss the narrative of a lifetime commitment to vowed communal life. Religious life has been changing since it started, and transformation is never complete. We have built and closed missions; we have started ministries and let them go, and, yes, many of us have attended more funerals than professions. In workshops and publications over the past 50 years, religious are told repeatedly that religious life is diminishing, and now the narrative is that religious life is coming to completion. At the same time, these words are not used for the vocations to marriage and the priesthood, both of which are also experiencing declines. Sometimes we can get stuck using phrases that paralyze our minds and limit our invitations instead of cultivating what is possible. 

Let me compare two common phrases: The “diminishment of religious life” and the “shortage of priests.” With all due respect to our ordained priests, I have not heard the phrase, “the diminishment of the priesthood.” I hear about the “severe shortage of priests,” which implies a collective urgent request to involve everyone. In reality, the number of priests has not increased, but no one is talking about the completion of the priesthood. 

Who would ever consider telling an engaged couple to reconsider marrying because Catholic marriages are coming to completion? Catholic marriages have declined 63 percent in the past 30 years. Pope Francis wrote in Christus Vivit, (44) that “[Mary’s yes] was the “yes” of someone prepared to be committed, someone willing to take a risk, ready to stake everything she had, with no security than the certainty of knowing that she was a bearer of a promise.” Today’s applicants to religious life, like Mary, are willing to take a risk, ready to stake everything they have on a future that will be as uncertain as their friends who are walking down the aisle in a Catholic church to be married. When we see a broader picture of how words and phrases affect our mindset, isn’t a narrative of emergence and transformation more fitting for religious life? 

Member involvement—and fears that hold them back 

Vocation directors are steeped in skills of accompaniment, assessment, and application. Yet, one of the most difficult responsibilities is to animate members of the community to assist in vocation ministry. What members do matters! Members should never underestimate the power of their prayer with inquirers, the impact of their invitations, and the value of their encouragement. When a member invites a person to consider a vocation to religious life, that person is twice as likely to consider it as compared to someone who never receives such an invitation. And when three different people invite someone to consider religious life, a person is five times more likely to consider it.

Fears related to inviting and accepting new members seem to fall into the following categories.

Community age and size

In recent years, some religious have been sounding the alarm about whether it is ethical to accept new entrants based on the median age of the community, the size of the religious institute, and the ability to welcome new members. The 2024 CARA report on new entrants shows that 16 percent of major superiors say that their religious institute no longer accepts new entrants (115 out of 723).
Some say the young will not have anyone to relate to, and yet of those who entered religious life between 2003-2018, only 16 percent stated that the age of members influenced them “very much” (other factors like charism and community life were much more influential). Likewise, the majority of newer entrants are not influenced by the size of the religious institute. Only 11 percent said the size of the institute “very much” influenced their decision. (These last two points about age and size come from the 2020 NRVC-CARA Study on Recent Vocations to Religious Life.)

The CARA Profession Class of 2024 report backs up this data about the size of a community not being a major factor. It indicates that among the institutes with perpetual professions in 2024, three in 10 (31 percent) have fewer than 50 professed members, four in 10 (42 percent) have 51-150 professed members, and just three in 10 (27 percent) have more than 151 professed members. 

Quality of communal life

The more disconcerting reason to not accept new entrants is inadequate community life to welcome new entrants. Vowed communal life is the distinguishing factor of our vocation. If there are not enough households with quality community life for new entrants, perhaps the priority needs to be improving community life for those living it now, rather than using that issue as the reason to no longer accept new members.

A reality check is helpful, too. Think back to your own experiences of initial formation. Was it paradise, a genuine utopia of welcome from everyone? Ask anyone who entered religious life, and you are bound to hear real and exaggerated tales of formation. While most of us either thrived or survived initial formation, we are charitable enough to forgive the people who hurt us with their unconscious biases, inappropriate behavior, or poor hospitality. All of us can also remember members who genuinely cared, faithfully nurtured, and authentically formed us despite any oddities we endured. Our communal life flaws do not have to become our reason for not accepting new members, especially given the collaborative formation programs across congregations. 

New members enter alone

Entering alone or with a few others has been common for the past 50 years. It is not a new concern. Talk to current golden jubilarians, and you may well hear stories of coming alone or being among the few who stayed. Discerners are more likely to experience jubilees than professions as an entry point for meeting members of religious institutes. They can see us as we are—smaller and older—yet can still decide to come if our door is open. The majority of new entrants are already networking across congregations at vocation discernment events before they enter. Many attend intercommunity formation programs, and they network across congregations in ministries after profession. 

Downsizing properties

Some communities feel it’s wrong to accept new members while they focus on downsizing properties. However, newer members are less stressed than their older counterparts about right-sizing buildings because most had to dispose of significant belongings like cars, homes, and financial investments before entering. Older members had to purchase items to fill their trunks at entrance, accumulated belongings over the years, and witnessed the growth of community buildings. 

We do need to resize our properties and simplify our belongings, yet we can become so preoccupied with planning for an emerging future that we can forget to be attentive to young people who are searching for a meaningful way of life. Our charism may be what they seek.

Let’s take risks for the ministry

Vocation ministry is a ministry; it is not a sales job with a quota. No one can be forced or pressured to complete an application for entrance to religious life. Canon 219 in the Code of Canon Law states, “All the Christian faithful have the right to be free from any kind of coercion in choosing a state of life.” Vocation directors understand through canon law and the NRVC Code of Ethics, that theirs is a ministry of invitation, not manipulation. 

What if the easiest answer is to no longer accept new entrants? What if you have the audacity to accept new entrants? We all know valiant community members who stay active in ministries beyond the typical retirement age because they have a passion for it, the physical ability to engage in it, and a capacity to serve. As with any serious discernment about continuing a ministry, a community considering letting go of vocation ministry and ceasing to accept new members will want to ask itself important questions. Here are four significant questions for a community in these circumstances.

1. Do you believe God is still calling women and men to holiness? If not, stop accepting new members.

2. Does your congregation believe in religious life for the future and the relevance of your charism? If not, stop accepting new members.

3. Is there at least one member willing to be a vocation minister on a part-time basis? If not, can the congregation either partner with a community that has a similar charism or hire a vocation director? If not, stop accepting new members.

4. If there is at least one member willing to be a vocation minister, or if the community can hire one or partner with another community, why not be open to new entrants? 

When communities make the decision to end vocation ministry for their religious institute, one less person is available to be present with young people. One less person with ministry skills is able to assist those discerning God’s call. As mentioned earlier in this article, counting members and ages to determine whether to accept new members is not helpful because newer entrants are less influenced by size or age than by other qualities. They are attracted to the charism, community life, prayer life, Gospel values, form of living the vows, and the vitality of members. Seeing vocation ministry as a ministry reminds us it is never about our numbers. A response to the call to religious life is neither hollow nor ridiculous. Religious life is about our continuous response to God’s endless call.

Accompany young people into the future 

Vocation ministry is focused on accompanying the next generation of Catholics in discerning their response to God’s call, regardless of the path they choose. Vocation is a mystery and a gift, for it is God who calls and we who invite. This involves risking hope because our invitations can be ignored, dismissed, and minimized in a culture that finds it difficult to pause and ponder. Perhaps vocation ministers see with a different lens because they are immersed in relationships with young people who are searching for significance, representation, and purpose. Vocation ministry invites every member to be intentional about making invitations, to participate in the events and activities of vocation ministry without expecting to acquire a list of contact information from inquirers.

In the United States, the average age a person first considers a vocation to religious life is 18. The average age of entrance—and of marriage—is 28. This means today’s discerner was born in 2007 and only knows who we are today, not who we were in 1980 or 2000. The majority of discerners take at least one year to discern; 35 percent take more than two years. During this time, who is praying for them, inviting them, encouraging them? Most come without being steeped in Catholicism or religious life, so they ask questions out of curiosity. We know that the information they seek can be easily accessed on their many devices. Toddlers are using tablets before they can say complete sentences, and they learn to swipe before they can read. For young people, conversation by phone or in person may cause anxiety, so patience is necessary. The upside is that young adults are searching to belong and be connected beyond a screen, but some struggle with the lost art of small talk and introductions.

God is still calling women and men to holiness, so how are we encouraging them before and after they enter? Over the years, without steady entrances into our communities, we can become discouraged and weary, yet none of us answered a call to complacency. Vocation ministry is less about creating programs and events than about building relationships. Vocation directors cannot be lone rangers, rather they need the community. 

The NRVC’s research indicates that newer members rank “meeting with members” of the institute as the most helpful action in their discernment process—more than talking with their pastors or using websites or social media. Likewise, the “example of members” is more influential than the ministries of the religious institutes. Certainly, advertising, social media, discernment events, and talks with parish personnel help discerners connect initially with community members, but once connections are made, positive interactions with members are essential. During initial discernment, newer entrants received the most encouragement from members of their institute, their vocation director or team, and their spiritual director. 

At the 2024 NRVC convocation, members and guests gathered from various religious institutes to share the deep rewards and inevitable difficulties in vocation ministry. Among the many conversations, one caught my attention: a vocation director congratulated someone in a different community on their recent profession, asking to see their profession ring. I smiled at their shared delight. We really do celebrate each other’s new members. Here was vocation ministry at its finest. 

Take a closer look at your profession ring. This poignant symbol reminds us of our public profession of vows. Similar to a wedding ring, a profession ring is circular, symbolizing connection, community, and unity. It has no beginning or ending but encompasses both what is ending and what is emerging. While we may retire from ministry, this unending circle suggests that our vows are meant to be lived until our last breath. 

Thus, regardless of age or year in profession, we are meant to be a living advertisement for religious life, not with a fake joy but with vitality in how we live the charism, engage in community, pray, and minister. Vocation ministers remind the world that God’s call is endless. The impact of our ministry goes beyond our religious institutes and provinces to the entire church and the life of the world. 

Sister Deborah Borneman, SS.C.M. belongs to the Sister of Saints Cyril and Methodius. She has served in vocation ministry for more than 20 years and has been part of the National Religious Vocation Conference  team since 2011. She currently serves as NRVC’s  director of mission integration.