Sister Virginia Herbers, A.S.C.J.

How long have you been involved in vocation ministry?
I served on our vocation committee for eight years, then served as vocation minister for a year before starting full-time in formation ministry. I've kept my hand and heart in vocation ministry throughout my five subsequent years of formation ministry, however! I'm also a member of the NRVC Editorial Board.

Has being a member of NRVC been helpful to you?
Yes, I have found membership in NRVC to be an invaluable source of information, community, support, and strength over the course of the past several years!

What has been your community's best outreach effort?
Our discernment retreats have been the most fruitful, allowing us to meet and get to know a wide variety of discerners. For me personally, however, my ministry on college campuses has been the most positive and fruitful in terms of forging good relationships that open the door to vocation discernment.

Any words of wisdom?
My greatest exhortation would be to remember that this is a ministry. It is so easy to become discouraged or disheartened when someone who has been a strong candidate and with whom we've spent lots of time and energy decides not to pursue a religious vocation in our community. Yet, if I truly believe what I say I believe about a vocation being a call to holiness and an invitation of the Spirit, I have to accept what the Spirit is doing in and through me--even if it doesn't exactly match what I would have liked!