You’d almost think it wasn’t a big deal to Anne and Dane MacCarthy, the Vatican honouring the Toronto couple for their years of service to the Church.

For cloistered communities like the Sisters Adorers of the Precious Blood, interaction with the outside world can be very limited. Yet, vocations in Canada are growing for the order. 

PHEONIX, Ariz. – Toronto's Cardinal Thomas Collins has a provocative message for priests, bishops, and seminarians struggling to attain holiness: “You must become fire.”

VATICAN – That only men can be validly ordained to the priesthood is a truth that is part of the Catholic faith and will not and cannot change, said Cardinal-designate Luis Ladaria, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

“You are servants of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That’s who we are. That’s who the people expect their priests to be,” Cardinal Thomas Collins told his two new priests in his homily.

Canadian Jesuit Deacon Adam Hincks was one of the first people in the world to read Pope Francis’ latest apostolic exhortation, a distinction that isn’t lost on the 36-year-old astrophysicist.

OTTAWA – The Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Quebec have discussed the ordination of married men to the priesthood, but have reached no conclusions, said the Assembly’s president.

Of course Mario Biscardi was given prior notice that he was to receive the highest honour the Vatican bestows on any layperson. 

When it comes to discerning vocations, there are always going to be fears because no one knows what tomorrow brings. But whatever your vocation is, joy is the ultimate aim.

There was a sea of youth in a Brampton, Ont., convention centre on March 7 to meet four men about to be ordained priests, plus an array of habited sisters there to explain their lives under vows.

EDINBURGH, Scotland – Twelve men are set to be ordained priests in Scotland this year, a 20-year high that Catholic leaders credited to prayers and other work to encourage vocations.

DUBLIN, Ireland – Besides a shortage of vocations, Irish priests are facing an even more harrowing kind of crisis.

If discerning a vocation was simply a more holy version of making career choices there would be no need to talk about love. But for Jesuits, the conversation about a vocation is always a conversation about love.

The National Association of Vocation and Formation Directors (NAVFD) is launching a national survey that has never been done before in Canada.

BRAMPTON, ONT. - Students who have an interest in a higher calling came together March 3 to explore their religious and priestly vocation curiosity.