When most people hear the word “vocation,” they think of a calling to the priesthood or religious life. But a new program at the University of Notre Dame promotes a broader interpretation of the term.

According to Steve Camilleri, director of the Notre Dame Vocation Initiative, everyone has a vocation to respond to God's call through our life's work and our state of life, whether it is religious life, single life or marriage.

The initiative was born just over a year ago with funding from the Lilly Endowment Inc. The goal of the program is to assist young people in determining what God is calling them to do and how they can make God's presence visible in the world through this call.

Camilleri told Today's Catholic, newspaper of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, that Notre Dame and several other universities were approached by the Lilly Endowment in 1999 and asked to submit a proposal for a program to explore all the theological ramifications of what vocation means.

“It's a hot topic, something parishes, youth ministers, bishops are talking about,” Camilleri said.

Notre Dame was one of 37 schools given a seed grant of $50,000 from Lilly to develop the proposal. The Notre Dame proposal was accepted, and on Dec. 1, 2000, Notre Dame received a five-year, $2 million grant from Lilly to put its program into operation.

Two more rounds of Lilly grants have provided various levels of funding for similar individualized vocations programs at more than 60 other colleges and universities.

After a year of planning, the three components of the Notre Dame program are getting underway this spring and summer and involving young people from high school age into their 30s.

The first component, TITLEd Vocare (the Latin word for “to call”), is geared to young graduates of Notre Dame across the country. It consists of a weekend retreat followed up with a day of study and reflection and ongoing small-group meetings and discussions.

The first Vocare retreat took place in Chicago in late March and drew 30 young alumni. Other retreats are to take place in Atlanta; Boston; Columbus, Ohio; Denver; Indianapolis; Los Angeles; New York; Portland, Ore.; Minneapolis-St. Paul; San Francisco; Washington; and South Bend. Plans are to expand Vocare to 10 more cities in the fall.

The Vocare retreats are facilitated by young alumni themselves — two in each city — who were trained at Notre Dame last December. A Holy Cross priest is chaplain for each retreat.

The format consists of a Vocare video, talks by the facilitators and the chaplain, and group discussion. A follow-up day of reflection will tie together the groups in the various cities through a satellite link-up.

The Vocare groups then are encouraged to meet occasionally in their respective cities to continue the discussion, to encourage one another and to invite other interested young people to join them.

“I hope this enables them to get in touch with what it is they are called to do with the gift of their life,” said Sheila Provencher, assistant director of the initiative.

The second component of the initiative is Calling and Ministry Programs for Undergraduate Student Leaders. Through this component, Camilleri said, “We hope the word ‘vocation’ becomes a cultural currency on campus.”

This component includes:

E Fellowships that support faculty in researching and developing new courses or course modules related to vocations. Currently, some of the professors in theology, business and fine arts are adding this dimension to their curricula.

E Summer vocation internships for undergraduates to do volunteer work in their potential fields while engaging in theological study and reflection.

E Grants for undergraduate and graduate students to work with a faculty mentor on research or field work on vocation-related topics.

E Residence hall programs in which faculty and young professionals discuss vocation and Christian discipleship.

The third component of the initiative is ND Vision, a summer program on the Notre Dame campus to help high school students discover God's call to them. In each of four one-week sessions, national speakers, bishops and Notre Dame faculty and students will talk with the students about Christian vocation, prayer, Scripture and social justice.