Vocations week is a week-long celebration of the Catholic Church, celebrated yearly. This week is dedicated to praying and promoting vocations, including the priesthood, consecrated life, sisterhood, and discerning men and women. We spend this week in prayer and support for those considering, acting, or discerning these vocations.
Gibbons celebrates this beloved week in our denomination by hosting multiple religious sisters, priests, nuns, and seminarians to speak to students and educators. They share their testimonies, offer advice, and explain how they knew they were called to the life of Catholic vocations. Students attended this panel during their theology class.
The panel this year was held in the main stage theater, featuring three priests and one consecrated woman. Here is a brief bio on each visitor:
Father Keiran Halloran
Fr. Keiran Halloran is a Jesuit priest from New York. He entered the Society of Jesus in 2014 and was ordained this past June in New York City. During his formation, he taught high school religion, worked at a migrant center on the Arizona–Mexico border, and ministered in hospitals, soup kitchens, and schools. He even studied abroad in Tanzania and volunteered at an orphanage in rural Kenya.
Fr. Patrick Haggerty
Fr. Patrick Haggerty grew up in Buffalo, New York, and now serves at St. Thomas More in Chapel Hill. Before becoming a priest, he spent 13 years as a monk in Illinois and was ordained in 2020. He has taught theology and Latin in high school and also served as a vocations director for his community.
Natalia Santos
Natalia Santos is a consecrated woman of Regnium Christi from El Salvador. She took her vows in 2007 and has served as a formation and youth minister in Atlanta, Washington, D.C, and at Overbrook Academy in Rhode Island. Fun fact: she served a mission year in Mexico at the age of 14. Natalia enjoys the things in life that help her slow down and appreciate life’s beauty.
Fr. Lourderaj Alapaty
Fr. Lourferaj Alapaty was born in India and ordained in 1989 for the Diocese of Bellary. He served as a pastor for more than 20 years before moving to the diocese of Raleigh, where he now serves as a parochial vicar at Saint Michael’s in Cary. Fr. Lourderaj has celebrated Mass at Cardinal Gibbons and considers it a blessing. He says his greatest joy is helping others walk towards the altar of the Lord.
These guests are here to inspire, lead, and educate youth about the amazing calling God has for us. Your calling might not necessarily be religious life, but God calls us each individually by name. And he has put these people in our lives to help us find our calling.
You can make a difference
Many men and women are currently discerning a religious vocation as religious sisters, priests, nuns, or brothers.
A prayer can go a long way.
Here is a short prayer from the USCCB praying for vocations and discerning religious life.
God our Father,
We thank you for calling men and women to serve in your Son’s Kingdom as priests, deacons, and consecrated persons.
Send your Holy Spirit to help others to respond generously and courageously to your call.
May our community of faith support vocations of sacrificial love in our youth and young adults.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen
