Vocations prayer initiative reaches Newry

 This Newry family admire the icon of Saint Dominic in Saint Catherine's this past weekend.

Our ongoing prayer initiative for vocations is now entering it's second year! Launched in January 2012, the initiative using the specially commissioned icon of Saint Dominic has now reached our Dominican church of Saint Catherine in Newry, County Down. The community attached to Saint Catherine's is the only community of Dominican friars in Northern Ireland.

The vocations director preached at all Masses in our Newry church this past weekend and introduced the prayer campaign/initiative to the people attending. As is now usual, the icon of Saint Dominic will remain in our community church in Saint Catherine's for the next number of weeks - and provide a focus for those who worship in the local area to take up the task for praying for Dominican vocations.

Since the launch of this latest prayer initiative last year, several hundred new people are now praying daily for vocations to the Dominican Order in Ireland. The original purpose for this campaign to broaden the base of the number of people praying for vocations has already been achieved, and we are more than fortunate to see the results of the initiative. Our enquiries about the Dominican vocation remain positive and continue to grow. The prayer campaign has only yet reached just over a third of the Dominican locations in Ireland and we look forward to it's continuation in the year ahead.