I came across a couple interesting vocation-related articles on the Internet this past weekend.

First, I stumbled upon this article in the Rhode Island Catholic entitled “Scouts: A vehicle of faith, vocations.” The context for the article was a scouting awards ceremony, where  Bishop Thomas J. Tobin of the Diocese of Providence encouraged hundreds of young scouts to be open to a call to the priesthood:

“You need the Church and the Church also needs you,” the bishop shared. “We need your joy, your conviction, we need you to help rebuild the Church. Pray seriously to give your lives to the Church. We need so many young people to come forth. Listen and respond with generous hearts.”

One of the diocese’s seminarians, Curtis Miller, explained that his experience in scouting, especially the values and leadership skills that he learned, played a significant role in the discovery of his vocation.

The other article is an interview from Catholic Online with Fr. David Carter, assistant vocation director for the Diocese of Knoxville, who tells the interesting story of his own journey to the priesthood. I don’t know about you, but I’m a sucker for personal testimonies and vocation stories!