Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2009 / Students create holy cards encouraging vocations
Students create holy cards encouraging vocations
by Kristin Lukowski of The Michigan Catholic
Published January 9, 2009
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Emmalee Couturier, of St. Charles School in Newport, played on the popular "Can you hear me now" cellular phone commercials to encourage others to consider their vocation. |
Detroit — "What does God have planned for you?" states a poster drawn by Mitchell Cunha, a student at St. Isaac Jogues School, St. Clair Shores, asking people to consider if God is calling them to the priesthood or religious life.
Young people in the Archdiocese of Detroit's schools and religious education programs were asked to submit their artwork to the Vocations office for possible use on a prayer card. Along with Cunha, winners included Emmalee Couturier, of St. Charles School in Newport, and Alyssa Wysocki, of St. Joseph School in Lake Orion. The contest was open to grades five through eight.
The contest coincided with National Vocations Awareness Week, Jan. 11-17. Cardinal Adam Maida also encouraged people to be open to what the Holy Spirit calls them to do: "There is an ebb and flow to all life – times and seasons of abundance and then experiences of diminishment," he said. "Historically and all around the world, we can discern a certain pattern with regards to vocations to the ministerial priesthood and religious life: times of economic stress, loss and suffering and even military conflicts often stimulate men and women to be more open to the gift and call of the Holy Spirit.
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Mitchell Cunha, of St. Isaac Jogues School in St. Clair Shores, asks people to consider God's plans for them. |
"The Spirit of the Lord is always calling but we need to have the courage and desire to hear and respond," he continued. "Let us pray that many men and women of all ages will hear and respond!"
Sr. Ellen Licavoli, IHM, associate director of the vocations office, said she received hundreds of submissions from 19 schools and a home-schooled student. She said the department is ordering 6,300 holy cards to distribute to the schools and programs who participated and will visit schools of the winners.
Wysocki, an eighth-grader, said she was inspired by an advertisement for recycling to come up with her own design of a planet Earth and her slogan, "God as your teacher… the world as your classroom… priesthood is an adventure!" "It's your life," she said. "It's a big deal."
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Alyssa Wysocki, an eighth-grader at St. Joseph School in Lake Orion, said she was inspired by a recycling advertisement for her holy card design. |
The idea was for youths to illustrate how they would help others consider what God is calling them to do, while encouraging the young artists to think about their own life's vocation. A prayer for vocations will be printed on the back.
As part of the lesson plan that incorporated the contest, students learned that there are four main states or paths of life — single, married, priest or religious sister — and studied an example of each.
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