Every Easter, we focus on the sacred vocation we all share by our baptism.  Together we are God's priestly, prophetic and royal people, and we are each called to serve in some special way. From within the community of the Church, God calls some to serve in particular ways. 

The call to the priesthood is a vital calling, because a priest is ordained to be a sign and instrument of Christ the Good Shepherd for his people.  Through his priests, Jesus himself teaches and leads his disciples, and makes them holy.

We need more priests for the future of our diocese, priests ready to serve with pride, passion and faith. These must come above all from among you in each of our parishes.  I ask you to pray for vocations, to do all you can to encourage vocations, and some of you to consider whether God might be calling you to serve him in this way. 

I am delighted we now have students for the priesthood for our diocese.  We have two in the fourth year at Oscott College, one in the third year, and another in the first year. 

Please pray for each of our seminary students - Luke, Michael, Padraig and Henry - and pray for all those thinking about whether God might be calling them too to be his priests.

Is God calling you to be a priest or deacon, or to the religious life?

Every single one of us is called to some special service for our Lord. We each have a personal calling, a vocation from Jesus himself, who came not to be served but to serve.

There are many ways to serve, and many gifts spread among us. Keep listening to God's silent voice and ask: 'What is Christ calling me to be and to do for him?' We need many lay people ready to use their gifts for servant leadership in the Church. We need the special service of deacons, and the witness of women and men consecrated to the religious life. We need people to commit themselves to each other in holy marriage. Every one of us, whether single or married, is called to be a living sign of God's loving presence. This is our first and greatest vocation.

The presence of religious communities, however small, is a gift of God to our diocese and its parishes. They provide places of prayer and welcome, a 'warm hearth' at the heart of the church with an influence far beyond their numbers. Religious life is changing, but it remains a life-giving service for the Church as it moves forward into the 21st century. Could God be calling you to be a religious sister or brother? Contact your local religious community, or our Vicar for Religious and his assistant (Father Rafael Esteban, Catholic Rectory, Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 1JR; Sister Francis North, 30 Constitution Hill, Norwich, NR3 4BU).

Deacons are ordained as sacramental images of Christ the Servant, to assist the bishop and priests of the diocese in their ministry. Our Diocesan College of Deacons is an important body in the life of the diocese. There are many parishes which would be enriched by having the ministry of a deacon in their midst. Could the Lord be calling you to this special service of the Church? Talk to your parish priest, and contact the Diocesan Director of the Permanent Diaconate, Fr John Shannon (Catholic Presbytery, Townhouse Hill, Costessey, Norwich, Norfolk NR8 5AA).

Our Risen Lord is always with us as our Head and Shepherd, teaching us, feeding us, and uniting us with God and with each other. It is above all through his bishops and their priests that Jesus makes this continuing work of his visible among us. The priest is a living sign and instrument of Jesus the Good Shepherd. Through the priest, especially through his preaching, through the sacraments and through his pastoral care, Jesus himself touches the lives of people in their times of pain and trouble, but also in their times of joy and celebration.

In all of this, the priest works closely in partnership with others. 'Working together' is vital to the whole Church today. We all serve together in Christ's name. But however much we involve everyone at the heart of the Church's life, the ministry of the priest is irreplaceable. No Christian community can really be the Church without a priest. If there is no priest, we can make the most of things, but something vital is missing. As Archbishop Oscar Romero once said at the funeral of one of his priests in El Salvador, 'It is as if a community were beheaded when it has no priest to celebrate Mass….'

I ask a very personal question to our boys and young men, and to our not-so-young (perhaps in your 30s-50s) unmarried men. Could Jesus be calling you to be his priest? Would you be willing to allow the Risen Lord to take your life and work through you to bring his love to his people?

I am not surprised if you are thinking, 'No way!' So much would be asked of you. A long training. A whole life without the joys of marriage and with no children of your own. Perhaps you have already known the special joy of being in love. You are looking forward to being married one day, and being a father. Perhaps you have set your sights on a good job, with lots of money and a fast car!

You would probably make a great husband and a great father. That would be wonderful. But the same qualities are needed to be a great priest as well. A priest is called to love God's people in a very special way, and to bring God's fatherly care to them. To be a priest is to know the joy of sharing the Lord's work as our Shepherd. There is no more fulfilling way to spend your life.

You probably feel unworthy to be a priest. Perhaps you are thinking, 'Surely God wouldn't call me of all people?' No-one is worthy of such a vocation. But God calls us all the same! As St Paul put it, "We are only the earthenware jars that hold this treasure, to make it clear that such an overwhelming power comes from God and not from us."

As your bishop, I need more priests for the future service of the Church in East Anglia. I need priests with a love for the Lord and his Church, and a passion for proclaiming the Gospel. I need well-balanced and mature priests, committed to the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, and ready to work with me as we lead our diocese forward and outward together. Could the Lord be calling you to be a priest?

Talk about it with your parish priest, and contact our Diocesan Vocations Director, Fr David Bagstaff, Catholic Presbytery, 4 Norwich Rd, North Walsham, Norfolk NR28 9JP Tel: (01692) 403258, e-mail

Whatever your vocation, please keep listening to God. Kneel before him, and ask: 'What do you want me to do with my life? What is your will for me?' And my thanks for everything you already do for the Lord and his Church.

+Michael