Skip to main content

Vocations

“Hello, I am Fr. Craig Cameron, and I would like to welcome you to the Diocesan Vocations Webpage. I am privileged to be the designate of the Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth in supporting young people in religious vocations, men and women who feel a call to serve our Lord in his Holy Church.

If you would like to discuss your consideration of a vocation to the priesthood, consecrated or religious life, please email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

I hope and pray that 2024 will be filled with grace for our Archdiocese and will increase awareness of the gift of the holy vocations to our local Church. Please know that I and many faithful people are already praying for you. I look forward to speaking with you and supporting your vocational discernment. I remain yours in the Lord.”

To be a permanent deacon is to be part of the permanent diaconate. In the “Policy Manual for the Ministry of Permanent Deacons in the Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth”, the permanent diaconate is meant to be “a driving force for the Church’s service or diakonia toward the local Christian communities and a sign or sacrament of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.” Because the deacon is a public and “living icon of Christ the Servant within the Church,”3 his ministry encourages all the baptized to commit themselves to service of the ecclesial community and the world.

Did you know we have four seminarians in formation discerning the priesthood? We do!  In September of 2023 these men headed off to seminary in to continue to discern a call to the priesthood and do the important formation and studies to answer that call. They are…


  • * Prayer to Know One's Vocation

    Lord, my God and my loving Father, you have made me to know you,
    to love you, to serve you, and thereby to find and to fulfill myself.
    I know that you are in all things, and that every path can lead me to you.
    But of them all, there is one especially by which you want me to come to you.
    Since I will do what you want of me, I pray you, send your Holy Spirit to me:
    into my mind, to show me what you want of me; into my heart,
    to give me the determination to do it, and to do it with all my love,
    with all my mind, and with all my strength right to the end.

    Amen

  • * Heavenly Father

     

    St. John Vianney 352x600

    Saint John Vianney


    Almighty and Eternal God, You have poured out on your priests the blessing of the Holy Spirit
    as they share in the priesthood of Christ your Son. We praise You for giving this gift to Your Church.

    Through Your priests, Your people are sanctified and invited into the mysteries of Christ. We thank You for their generous service. Grant to your priests the gift of joy in ministry and life.
    Renew them each day in their consecrationfor the salvation of the world.

    Lord, hear our prayers for those You are calling into Your service now.
    Bless them with an openness to Your will and a love for Your holy people.

    May all your priests be renewed in holiness through the example of your servant St. John Vianney.
    Filled with the fire of your love, may they do all for your greater glory.

    We ask this through Christ, our Lord.

    Amen.

  • * Discernment Community Application

    University Chaplains pic lightened

     
    "A place where people gather to freely discern their vocation to holiness and mission."

    Holy Cross Chaplaincy exists to live lifelong community, giving students an experience of relationship that lays deep roots for their whole life long. The Household Program is more than a place to live; it is a way of life meant to form young people into lifelong relationship and fulfilling vocation. It’s the heart of our community and the primary place we live out our “why.” Participants in the household program commit to three ideals:

    1. Deep relationship with God
    2. Healthy community life with each other and the outside community
    3. Vocational discernment

    These three things, lived well, hopefully help to form program participants into activated parish leaders, fulfilled in their vocations.

    Discernment Community Application (fillable PDF)
    email the Application back to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 
    www.hcchaplaincy.ca

     

  • * Vocation to the Priesthood

     Hands holding a Bible and sermon notes. man priest pastor minister 262972 PD 600x400

     “The priesthood is not a career, it is way of being.
    It is a life of sacrifice and service because it is the life of our Lord.“
    Vocations Centre Sydney

     

    • Every Catholic man, at one point in his life should consider a Vocation to the Priesthood, even if he is not intending to become a priest.
    • Many men today, do not have a clear understanding of what a Priest is, and what it means to be a Priest.
    • Being a Priest means devoting yourself to the people of God, to be their Shepherd at all points of their life.
    • Please see the link below to learn more: www.vocationcentre.org.au/home/what-is-a-vocation/priesthood