Events help with discerning a vocation

Subiaco Abbey will host the Monastic Plunge vocation retreat for single Catholic men ages 20 to 45 years old July 4-9, 2012. The retreat will allow the men to pray and work with the monks and learn the basics of monastic life. For more information, call Father Elijah Owens, OSB, at (479) 438-9115 or e-mail .

Consider your Call Summer Discernment Week will be held July 5-9, 2012, at St. Scholastica Monastery in Fort Smith. Single Catholic women are also invited to attend a Come and See Live-in Experience whenever it is convenient for them. Call Sister Kimberly Rose Prohaska, OSB, at (479) 783-4147.

The Benedictines at Holy Angels Convent in Jonesboro will host a discernment weekend for any Catholic single women who are interested in visiting. Call Sister Mary Clare Bezner, OSB, at (870) 273-6872 for more details.

The Taste of Faith seminarian fundraising dinners will be held June 15, 2012, at Immaculate Conception in Fort Smith and Aug. 11 at Embassy Suites in Little Rock. All proceeds support seminarian education. For more information, contact Maria Izquierdo at or (501) 664-0340, ext. 378.

The Sisters of Mercy have formed local area communities in the South Central Community to promote reflection and planning for the future. Sisters from Mercy Hospital Hot Springs and St. John School in Hot Springs, Mount St. Mary Academy and the Center for Women in Transition in Little Rock comprise the Central Arkansas local area community. Sisters identified priorities among the many issues claiming their attention for service during the 21st century and said vocation development is their first concern. The plans include family involvement, multicultural education and participation in the life and service of the sisters. For example, at Mount St. Mary the school hosts events like the Father-Daughter Mass where families pray together. The school also offers opportunity for multi-cultural education. The school is also developing a way to foster vocations with former students and finding ways for women who are discerning to participate in the life and service of the sisters.

The Dominican sisters will host a Women's Discernment Day from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Thursday, June 7, 2012, in Mountain Home. For more information, contact Sister Joachim Celinska, OP at (870)425-3790 or .

The Daughters of Charity in Arkansas are hosting a Nun Run beginning at 9:30 a.m., Thursday, June 21, 2012, and ending at noon, Friday, June 22. Participants will get to pray, eat, visit and stay overnight with the sisters and see their ministries in Little Rock and Gould. No running involved. It is open to Catholic single women 16 to 40 years old. For more information, contact Sister Kathleen Miles, DC, at (870) 918-7484 or or Sister Maria Liebeck, DC, at (501) 312-1656 or .

The Daughters of Charity will host an online discernment retreat Sept. 23-27, 2012. Participants can learn, pray and discern wherever they are. For more information, contact Sister Theresa Sullivan, DC, at (773) 474-0345 or .

The Vocations Office will host a Come and See Discernment Retreat for single Catholic men Dec. 29-30, 2012, at St. John Center in Little Rock. For more information, contact Maria Izquierdo at or (501) 664-0340, ext. 378.

The annual Women's Religious Vocation Discernment Retreat will be held Jan. 11-12, 2013, at St. John Center in Little Rock. Women from various religious orders in the state will be present to help participants discern their call. Women 16 to 40 years old also are invited to join a discernment group around the state. For more information, call Sister Joan Pytlik, DC, at (501) 664-0340 or e-mail .

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