The Official Newspaper of the Diocese of Little Rock
The Diocese of Little Rock has been blessed with a growing number of vocations. The stories below detail the work that is being done to attract and train people to priestly and religious life.
Emmanuel Torres discovered just how deeply misconceptions about a seminarian’s life run when on a recent trip his family nervously asked about any new restrictions.
“They thought all I listened to was Christian music and I was like, ‘No, I still listen to all kinds of music,’” Torres, a member of Immaculate Conception Church in North Little Rock, said. “We’re not praying all the time, we’re not kneeling all day long.”
Many people picture seminarians as overtly More... 
Minnesota businessman Cy Laurent remembers the moment the Holy Spirit lit a path for what would become his lay ministry, the Laboure Society. Talking to a young woman about a job, she told him she had discerned a vocation but had been stymied by her debts.
Laurent, a devout Catholic, rallied some of his business associates to help pay down the woman’s outstanding debt, allowing her to pursue her vocation.
“It’s been 12 years since she professed More...
FORT SMITH — Recognizing that discernment is a process requiring prayer, reflection, self-knowledge and support, St. Scholastica Monastery in Fort Smith created a house of discernment in the spring of 2012.
St. Scholastica House of Discernment occupies the second floor of a building east of the monastery, formerly used for the religious formation program. Its permanent residents — Sisters Barbara Bock, OSB, vocation director; Kimberly Prohaska, OSB, sub-prioress and assistant vocation director; and Macrina Wiederkehr, OSB More...
When Jessica Luttmer was about 18 years old, she had an hour to spare between working two jobs and said she felt that God was telling her to use that time to pray at adoration. It was this simple sacrifice to his will that changed her life.
“It was on a Friday about 2 p.m., and I was praying my rosary and it felt like someone was there with me. And I was alone,” the 21-year-old More...
ROGERS — Even at the young age of 12, Lisa Atkins heard the small whispers in her heart. The whispers grew into nudges and, eventually, into a gentle calling that she answered by entering the religious life with the Sisters of Mercy at the age of 22.
Now 44, Sister Lisa, a nurse practitioner by trade, is one of the youngest in her community of the Sisters of Mercy in the south central region of the More...
This past summer my nephews and I went to Rome for a pilgrimage. They were about to start seminary formation, and I was celebrating 25 years of priesthood.
We were able to take the “scavi” tour, which includes going to the tomb of St. Peter. The guide directed us to look at two different sarcophagi, coffins of a first-century Roman pagan and of a first-century Roman Christian. The sarcophagus of the pagan was elaborately carved with More...
2013 Vocations Calendar
May
May 17: Holy hour for Juan Guido, 7 p.m., St. Edward Church, Little Rock
May 18: Diaconate ordination for Juan Guido, 10 a.m., St. Edward Church, Little Rock
May 18: Sister Monks and the Movies They Like (Repeated Aug. 23), St. Scholastica Monastery, Fort Smith. Sister Barbara Bock, OSB, vocationdirector@stscho.org, (479) 783-4147
May 23-27: Come and See Monastic Vocation Retreat for single Catholic men 18-45 years old, Subiaco Abbey, Father Elijah Owens, OSB, (479) 438-9115, frelijah@subi.org
May More...
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