The first ever ‘Vocations Expo’ in the history of the church which has given religious congregations a chance to showcase their charisms and apostolates to the young people attending World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney has been a success, organizers have revealed. Diverse congregations, institutes and movements are reaching out to the thousands of young people that have flooded the vocations fair located at the Sydney Exhibition Center at Darling Harbor. The vocations expo was opened on July 15 and will end on Sunday, July 20, at the close of WYD. According to Father Donai Pellonar, coordinator of the Vocations Expo, ?This initiative aims to show the young people of WYD all possible vocations, including the priesthood, the family and the vocation to religious and consecrated life.”

[Slideshow View]

Seventy five institutes, congregations, religious families, movements and associations have set up booths at the vocations expo. AN order of New York City nuns hopes to recruit young Catholic pilgrims to the priesthood and sisterhood during World Youth Day (WYD). The Sisters of Life order, which has convents in the Bronx and Manhattan, is expecting 20,000 WYD pilgrims to visit the “Life and Love” site near the University of Notre Dame campus in inner Sydney during the six-day event. The sisters will hold seminars and present an expo on life vocations with talks on love and parenting.

Pilgrims considering entering a seminary or convent, or those curious about marriage, can visit the site at Chippendale. “Many of the sisters discovered their vocations at World Youth Days when they were literally immersed in a microcosm of faith and support,” Sister Mary Gabriel said. She said WYD was an opportunity for pilgrims to hear the calling of a religious vocation. “I do anticipate that many, many young people will discover their vocation, whether that’s to marriage and family, to religious life, to enter the priesthood, across the board.