April 13, 2016

By Father Garry Giroux
Chair, Vocations Summit Committee

The message and goal of the Vocations Summit, INSPIRE: Called to Love, is urgent. 

Our world needs the holiness of Christian married couples and parents to remind us of the beauty and possibility of generous love and commitment; our human society, broken by greed and violence, needs the holiness of women and men in the single state who model the challenging adventure of living the Gospel of Christ; our world family, spiritually parched and starved, needs the holiness of consecrated religious and ordained priests and deacons to lead families and individuals to Jesus who feeds our deepest hungers and quenches our greatest thirsts. 

The need is urgent.
Bishop LaValley and his consultative councils, deeply aware of the urgency of this need decided that the Vocations Summit would carry no cost for any of the participants. It was decided we need to put our money where our mouth is!  The cost of a registration fee and the cost of a midday meal will not be an obstacle to people participating in the Vocations Summit.  The cost of childcare or babysitting will not be a deterrent from parents taking part in INSPIRE: Called to Love.  Childcare will be provided in Lake Placid for the Summit; there is no cost to any participant for the Vocations Summit.

To be sure, the financial expense to the diocese for the Vocations Summit is high; the budget for INSPIRE: Called to Love is $230,790.  But, the Church in the North Country is putting its trust in God’s providence and hoping for generous people to help in funding this event.

Bishop LaValley is calling upon all the parishioners of the diocese to recognize the urgency of the need and help him in offering the Vocations Summit to all, without cost. 

While Bishop LaValley has committed some of the diocese’s financial resources to the Summit, there is an active effort at fundraising for INSPIRE: Called to Love. 

One aspect of this fundraising is a special second collection which will take place on the weekend of April 16 & 17 in all the churches of the diocese.  Special offertory envelopes have been provided to all the parishes; these envelopes were distributed to parishioners over the weekend of April 9 & 10.  Please be generous in your support of the Vocations Summit because its message and goal is urgent! 

Let’s put our money where our mouth is.