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Vocational discernment is the process by which men and women in the Catholic Church discern, or recognize, their vocation in the church and the world. The vocations are the life of a layperson in the world, either married or single, the ordained life of bishops, priests, and deacons, and consecrated religious life .
The idea of vocation is central to the Christian belief that God has created each person with gifts and talents oriented toward specific purposes and a way of life. In the broadest sense, as stated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, "Love is the fundamental and innate vocation of every human being". [12]
The ecclesial vocations serve the Church, while lay vocations are vocations by which the Church serves the world. Programs for the theological education and pastoral formation of laypersons, for the purpose in engaging in full-time and often lifelong ministry in the Church, have grown exponentially in the last four decades.
According to the Pope, all pastoral initiatives have to be set in relation to holiness, as this has to be the topmost priority of the Church. The universal call to holiness is explained as more fundamental than the vocational discernment to particular ways of life such as priesthood, marriage, or virginity. [citation needed]
This is a glossary of terms used within the Catholic Church.Some terms used in everyday English have a different meaning in the context of the Catholic faith, including brother, confession, confirmation, exemption, faithful, father, ordinary, religious, sister, venerable, and vow.
The Catholic Church identifies five ecclesial vocations, three of which are ordained. Theologians and lay ecclesial ministers are not necessarily ordained, while bishops, presbyters, and deacons are ordained. While only the latter are considered clergy by the Catholic Church, all are considered ministers in the professional and vocational sense.
Catholic laity are the ordinary members of the Catholic Church who are neither clergy nor recipients of Holy Orders or vowed to life in a religious order or congregation. Their mission, according to the Second Vatican Council, is to "sanctify the world". The laity forms the majority of the estimated over one billion Catholics in the world. [1]
Catholic religious orders began as early as the 500s, with the Order of Saint Benedict being formed in 529. The earliest orders include the Cistercians (1098), the Premonstratensians (1120), the Poor Clares founded by Francis of Assisi (1212), and the Benedictine reform movements of Cluny (1216).