Discernment Resources
Free Vocation Resources
The Diocese of La Crosse Vocation Office is happy to provide posters, prayer cards, DVDs, books, and more at no charge.
Church Documents on the Priesthood, Consecrated Life, Vocations and Related Subjects
Arranged chronologically (most recent document first) within each category.
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
- Vocation to Service [Message for 40th World Day of Prayer for Vocations (5/11/03), 10/16/02]
- Address to the Clergy of Rome [Focusing on the Vocation Crisis][2/14/02]
- The Vocation to Holiness [Message for 39th World Day of Prayer for Vocations (4/21/02), 11/23/01]
- To the Plenary of the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life [Message, 9/27/01]
- To Priests for Holy Thursday 2001 [Letter, 3/25/01]
- Eucharist, Source of All Vocations [Message for 37th World Day of Prayer for Vocations (5/14/00), 9/30/99]
- For the I World Day for Consecrated Life [Message, 1/6/97]
- On the Formation of Priests [Pastores Dabo Vobis] [Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, 3/25/92]
- Pastor Bonus [The Good Shepherd] [Apostolic Constitution, 6/28/88]
OTHER POPES
- The Celibacy of the Priest [Sacerdotalis Caelibatus] [Encyclical of Pope Paul VI, 6/24/67]
- On the Holy Eucharist [Mysterium Fidei] [Encyclical of Pope Paul VI, 9/3/65]
Congregations
CONGREGATIONS
CB = Congregation for Bishops
CC = Congregation for Clergy
CCE = Congregation for Catholic Education
CDF = Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
CDWDS = Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
CEP = Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples
CICLSAL = Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (formerly SCR and SCRIS, see below)
COC = Congregation for the Oriental Churches
SCR = Sacred Congregation for Religious
SCRIS = Sacred Congregation for Religious and for Secular Institutes
- Consecrated Persons and Their Mission in Schools [Reflections and Guidelines] [CCE, 10/28/02]
- Starting Afresh from Christ: A Renewed Commitment to Consecrated Life in the Third Millennium [Instruction] [CICLSAL, 5/29/02]
- Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy [Principles and Guidelines] [CDWDS, 12/01]
- On the Sending Abroad and Sojourn of Diocesan Priests from Mission Territories [Instruction] [CEP, 4/25/01]
- Liturgiam authenticam [On the Use of the Vernacular Languages in the Publication of the Books of the Roman Liturgy] [Fifth Instruction “For the Right Implementation of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy of the Second Vatican Council (Sacrosanctum Concilium, art. 36)][CDWDS, 3/28/01]
- Responsa ad quaestiones circa obligationem persolvendi Liturgiam Horarum (Latin) [Concerning the obligation for reciting the Liturgy of the Hours] [Response to questions] [CC, 11/15/00]
- Dominus Jesus (Latin) or On the Unicity and Salvific Universality of Jesus Christ and the Church (English) [Declaration] [CDF, 8/6/00]
- Concerning the Integrity of the Sacrament of Penance [Circular Letter] [CDWDS, 3/20/00]
- Consecrated Life within the Church, a Testimony to Christ
- Yesterday, Today and Forever [Celebrative Booklet] [CICLSAL, Jubilee of the Consecrated Life, 2/2/00]
Pontifical Councils
PONTIFICAL COUNCILS
PCF = Pontifical Council for the Family
PCILT = Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts
PCL = Pontifical Council for the Laity
- Declaration re Canon 915 [PCILT, 6/24/00]
- Vademecum for Confessors Concerning Some Aspects of the
- Morality of Conjugal Life [PCF, 2/12/97]National Conference of Catholic Bishops
OTHER
- The Canonical Establishment of a Religious Institute, [by Rev. Elio Gambari, S.M.M., who worked in the Congregation for Religious from 1946 to 1983. Published by Dominican Sisters of Divine Providence, South Amboy, NJ.]
- Meeting with the Parish Priests of the Diocese of Rome
Lectio divina of Pope Benedict XVI (February 18, 2010) - Letter of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI Proclaiming a Year for Priests
On the 150th Anniversary of the “Dies Natalis” of the Cure of Ars - Address of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to Young People and Seminarians
Delivered at Saint Joseph Seminary, Yonkers, New York, Saturday, April 19, 2008 - I Will Give You Shepherds – PASTORES DABO VOBIS
By Pope John Paul II - The Priest and the Third Christian Millennium
By The Congregation for the Clergy, March 19, 1999
Recommended Books
Is Jesus Christ Calling You To Be A Catholic Priest?
By NCDVD (Contact Fr. Hirsch for a Copy)
To Save a Thousand Souls : A Guide for Discerning a Vocation to Diocesan Priesthood
By Fr. Brett A Brannen(Contact Fr. Hirsch for a Copy)
Priests for the Third Millennium
By Archbishop Timothy Dolan
Reclaiming Our Priestly Character
By Fr. David Toups
Holy Boldness: The Spirituality of a Diocesan Priestt
By Fr. Jack Spaulding
Radical Surrender Letters to Seminarians
By Fr. Michael Najim
The Cure of Ars
By Fr. Bartholomew O’Brien
The Priest Is Not His Own
By Fulton Sheen
Those Mysterious Priests
By Fulton Sheen
Men of Brave Heart: The Virtue of Courage in the Priestly Life
By Archbishop Jose H. Gomez
Priesthood in Action
The Grunt Padre:Vietnam 1966-1967 Fr. Vincent Robert Capodanno
By Daniel Mode
The Miracle of Hope: Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan; Political Prisoner, Prophet Of Peace
Five Loaves and Two Fish
by Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan
Testimony of Hope: Spiritual Exercises of John Paul II
by Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan, Julia Mary Darrenkamp and Anne Eileen Heffernan
With God in Russia by Walter J. Ciszek and Daniel L. Flaherty
He Leadeth Me
by Walter J. Ciszek and Daniel L. Flaherty
Discernment
What Does God Want?: A Practical Guide to Making Decisions
By Michael Scanlan with James Manney
The Examen Prayer: Ignatian Wisdom for Our Lives Today
By Timothy M. Gallagher OMV
Spiritual Consolation: An Ignatian Guide for Greater Discernment
By Timothy M. Gallagher OMV
Meditation and Contemplation: An Ignatian Guide to Prayer with Scripture
By Timothy M. Gallagher OMV
Discerning the Will of God: An Ignatian Guide to Christian Decision Making
By Timothy M. Gallagher OMV
Achieving Chastity in A Pornographic World
By Rev. T. G. Morrow
Boys To Men: The Transforming Power of Virtue
By Tim Gray and Curtis Martin
Spiritual Classics
Introduction to the Devout Life
By St. Francis de Sales
Soul of the Apostolate
By Dom Chautard, OCSO
Dark Night of the Soul
By St. John of the Cross
Spiritual Combat
By Lorenzo Scupoli
Spiritual Combat Revisited
By Fr. Jonathan Robinson
Interior Castle
By St. Teresa of Avila
Way of Perfection
By St. Teresa of Avila
Imitation of Christ
By Thomas a Kempis
City of God
By St. Augustine
The Confessions
By St. Augustine
The Dialogues of St. Catherine of Sienna
Mere Christianity
By C.S. Lewis
Screwtape Letters
By C.S. Lewis
The Cost of Discipleship
By Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Abandonment to Divine Providence
By Jean-Pierre de Caussade
Holiness in Action
Mother Teresa: Come By My Light
By Kolodiejchuk, MC
Mother Teresa’s Secret Fire
By Joseph Langford, MC
John Paul II Book of Saints
Further Recommendations
Gift and Mystery: On the Fiftieth Anniversary of My Priestly Ordination
By Blessed John Paul II
A Priest Forever
By Benedict J. Groeschel
The Shadow of His Wings: The True Story of Fr. Gereon Goldmann, OFM
by Fr. Gereon Goldmann, OFM
The Scarlet and the Black: The True Story of Monsignor Hugh O Flaherty, Hero of the Vatican Underground
by J.P. Gallagher