Annual Celebration of World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life on February 2
January 26, 2022
WASHINGTON – The Catholic Church will hold its annual celebration of World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life on February 2, and parishes will commemorate the event over the weekend of February 5-6. This event is a special time for individual parishes to celebrate the gift of consecrated life and pray for men and women discerning a consecrated vocation with the global Catholic Church.
Instituted by Saint John Paul II in 1997, World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life is celebrated in conjunction with the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, also known as Candlemas Day, which commemorates through the blessing and lighting of candles that Christ is the light of the world. So too, those in consecrated life are called to reflect the light of Jesus Christ to all peoples.
Bishop James F. Checchio of Metuchen, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations spoke of how the example of consecrated men and women should spur all of the faithful on to greater holiness. “With lives of poverty, chastity, and obedience, consecrated men and women provide us with an example of complete dedication to Christ. They remind us that regardless of the vocation the Lord calls us to, we are all called to union with Christ and to do our part to build up the Kingdom of God.”
As it does every year, the USCCB’s Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations commissioned the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) to conduct a survey of the religious Profession Class of 2021. The survey polled women and men religious who professed perpetual vows in 2021 in a religious congregation, province, or monastery based in the United States. CARA received a response from 547 of 742 major superiors for an overall response rate of 74% among religious institutes. Of the 182 identified men and women religious who professed perpetual vows in 2021, 62 sisters and nuns and 60 brothers and priests responded to the survey for an overall response rate of 67%.
Some of the major findings and highlights of the report are:
Prayers of the Faithful, and a parish bulletin quote for World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life may be found on the USCCB website. Profiles of the Profession Class of 2021 and the entire CARA survey can be found here.
*please see attached graphic which may be used on social media along with #ConsecratedLife.
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