Prayer, community and connection featured prominently during the National Vocations Awareness Week (NVAW) celebrations held recently.
Led by the Perth Vocations Office, this year’s NVAW offered a diverse program encouraging Catholics to pray for vocations, reflect on God’s call in their own lives and discover the many ways that call can be lived through priesthood, religious life, marriage, dedicated single life, ministry and service.
Perth Vocations Director Fr Joseph Laundy said the week was ultimately about creating opportunities.
“Vocation begins with listening to God, but it is also nurtured through community, prayer and the witness of others,” he said.
“National Vocations Awareness Week gives us an opportunity to bring those things together and remind people that every one of us is called to offer our lives and gifts in service to God and to one another.”
The week of events opened on Sunday 2 August with Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral, celebrated by Auxiliary Bishop Nelson Po.
Prayer remained central through the 40-Hour Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration for Vocations where Catholics were invited to spend an hour before the Blessed Sacrament praying for vocations and listening to God’s call in their own lives.
The week also connected with young Catholics aged 18 – 35 through Catholic Youth Ministry’s Common Ground that brought them together for prayer, conversation, community, and the opportunity to venerate the visiting relics of Saint Carlo Acutis.
The opportunity to also connect informally over a BBQ dinner reinforced an important theme of the week that conversations about vocation can happen within ordinary experiences.
The Vocations Expo saw approximately 90 people gather at the Cathedral Parish Centre for an evening of conversation, connection and discovery. The event featured 14 exhibitors representing religious sisters, priests, brothers, seminarians and representatives from Archdiocese agencies and ministries who shared their experiences of religious life, priesthood, mission, volunteering and other ways of serving within the Church.
“One of the wonderful things about the Expo was seeing people simply talking to one another, asking questions they may not otherwise have the opportunity to ask and hearing firsthand from people who are living their vocation in very different ways,” Fr Joseph said.
The week concluded with the Vocations Sports Day, bringing together eight teams for an afternoon of futsal, volleyball and pickleball.
The teams represented St Charles Seminary, Redemptoris Mater Seminary, Perth clergy, St Mary’s Cathedral Youth Group, the Vietnamese Catholic Community and Catholic Youth Ministry.
After plenty of friendly – and at times enthusiastic – competition, Redemptoris Mater Seminary took third place, the Clergy Team finished second, and St Charles Seminary claimed the 2026 championship.
Fr Joseph said the success of the week reflected the generosity of the many people and communities who contributed.
“The enthusiasm we witnessed throughout the week was very encouraging, and we hope these events have helped people recognise that discernment doesn’t have to begin with having all the answers. Sometimes it simply begins with prayer, a conversation or being open to where God might be leading you,” he added. To learn more about vocations, visit https://vocations.perthcatholic.org.au/