Forming Vocations for the Life of the Church

Vocations Rally 2025

The Diocese of Calgary continues to support people as they discern and respond to God’s call to serve the Church. Through priesthood and permanent diaconate formation, consecrated life, the Ordo Virginum, and prayer for vocations, the Church accompanies those discerning how the Lord is calling them to serve.

In 2025, the second annual Vocations Rally gathered more than 400 people on Pentecost Sunday at St. Michael Catholic Community in Calgary. Through talks, panels, and conversations with priests, religious, seminarians, and Catholic organizations, the rally encouraged participants to consider God’s call in their lives.

Accompanying Future Priests

For the second year, Bishop William T. McGrattan expressed gratitude for parishes throughout the Diocese, both rural and in the City of Calgary, that welcomed seminarians into their communities on weekends.

The Summer Seminarian Placement Initiative has become a fruitful part of their formation, giving seminarians the opportunity to gain pastoral experience in parishes that are often new to them. The placements allow them to become better acquainted with priests throughout the presbyterate, while giving parishioners the opportunity to encounter their future priests.

Ordination of Fr. Peter An

The seminarians have described the placements as a welcome addition to a school year often marked by intense study, giving them a clearer glimpse of what it means to live out the priesthood before beginning their year of pastoral internship. The Diocese looks forward to continuing the placements in 2026 and beyond.

​In 2025, the Diocese also celebrated the ordination of Fr. Peter An during the Jubilee Year of Hope. His vocation journey began with a childhood encounter with Christ in the Eucharist and was nurtured through his family, parish community, and formation in the Diocese of Calgary. His ordination is a joyful witness that the priesthood remains alive and needed today.

Forming Permanent Deacons

Permanent deacons serve across parishes, diocesan ministries, hospitals, care homes, prisons, and outreach, bringing Christ’s love to those in need. They assist in the liturgy, proclaim the Gospel, and minister through baptisms, marriages, funerals, sacramental preparation, and pastoral care.

Formation prepares men for ordained service through discernment, study, and pastoral formation. Group 11 has seven candidates who may be eligible for ordination in 2026, while Group 12 has four candidates currently in formation. For Group 13, interviews and assessments are being completed to begin formation in September 2026.

Sacred Grace Wedding Mass for civilly married

Deacons also accompany couples through Sacred Grace, supporting civilly married couples as they prepare for a sacramental union. In 2025, deacons accompanied 91 civilly married couples through preparation, paperwork, interviews, formation, and marriage integration courses.

One couple shared, “Your care and dedication in helping our civil marriage become a sacramental union is truly a wonderful work of God, and we feel deeply blessed.”

Discerning Consecrated Life

The Office of Vocations continues to accompany women and men discerning a call to Religious Life and the Ordo Virginum. In 2025, outreach continued through Catholic school presentations, confirmation retreats, and young adult ministries.

Consecration of Lauretta Dearing as Consecrated Virgins Living in the World

The Office also supported the Assembly of Women Religious in hosting Fun Night with Sisters, Tea with the Sisters, and the FIAT retreat, giving young women opportunities to meet Sisters from diverse communities, learn about discerning the Will of God, and experience aspects of Religious Life.

Women discerning consecrated virginity continued formation grounded in Ecclesiae Sponsae Imago, joining classes at St. Mary’s University alongside the diaconate candidates. Four women were in formation during the year. In November, Lauretta Dearing was consecrated by Bishop William T. McGrattan at the Cathedral.

Praying for Vocations

Prayer remains at the heart of fostering vocations. In 2025, the Diocese marked the second year of the 40 Hours Devotion for Vocations, a tradition of 40 hours of continuous prayer before the Blessed Sacrament in solemn exposition.

Throughout the year, the devotion was held in 27 parishes and 13 Catholic high schools, for a total of 1,200 hours of devotion.  Bishop McGrattan established the devotion on Ash Wednesday 2024, asking that it be held in different parishes each week of the year so that it becomes “a perpetual tradition in our Diocese.”​

The devotion has been a source of blessing for participants. One adorer shared, “For me, Adoration is a time where I experience peace.” A pastor described the devotion as “a tremendous blessing for our parish,” adding that when Christ is adored day and night, “graces abound for the Church and for the world.”