Last Sunday 13 August, 23 Holy Spirit Seminarians, priests and parishioners from the Diocese of Parramatta banded together and entered the City2Surf, with the aim of raising awareness of Catholic vocations and funds to support our Holy Spirit Seminarians’ education and spiritual formation.

Holy Spirit Seminarian Jason Irawan has several motivations for entering this weekend’s City2Surf fun run. The 27-year-old sees it as an opportunity to bond with his fellow seminarians, priests, and parishioners over a shared challenge, exercise and fun, while also ‘normalising’ the call to a life of service. During this National Vocation Awareness Week from 6 to 13 August, Jason encourages those who are feeling the call from God to vocations in the Catholic Church to be open. "If It feels like a calling, then come and see!" he said.

Sunday morning will look a little different this weekend for Colleen Nicholas. Instead of attending her regular Sunday Mass at Sacred Heart Parish Luddenham-Warragamba, Colleen will pull on her walking shoes and head to the city for her first City2Surf, getting Active4Vocations to raise awareness for Catholic vocations and funds to support our Holy Spirt Seminarians.

The idea of becoming a priest came to Luke Thien Quoc Huynh very early in life, but it wasn’t until he attended an Open Day at the Diocese of Parramatta’s Holy Spirit Seminary that the path forward in his vocation began to fall into place.

Macky Amores’ journey to the Holy Spirit Seminary in the Diocese of Parramatta has been a somewhat winding road, but it is definitely where he feels God is calling him to be.

Seminarians in the Diocese of Parramatta’s Holy Spirit Seminary, Harris Park, are being formed for faithful priestly service to our parish communities, and, in turn, the people of our Diocese have an opportunity to support and accompany them on their journeys with a gift to the Bishop’s Good Shepherd Appeal.