Eighth Grade Vocation Day: an opportunity for reflection, gratitude
Eighth graders serving as altar servers process out from the Eighth Grade Vocations Day Mass celebrated by Bishop Michael Olson on April 4, 2025 at St. Patrick Cathedral. (NTC/Juan Guajardo)
FORT WORTH — The tradition is time honored, but the experience is always fresh.
For all 330 students, the events of Eighth Grade Vocation Day on April 4 were novel, and most had never visited St. Patrick Cathedral before.
The day’s primary objective is to build awareness of religious life as a possible vocation, said Patrice Hall, Catholic schools mission director. The schedule also provides opportunities for students to fellowship and build camaraderie with students from other schools whom they may encounter next August in the halls of Nolan Catholic High School, Cassata Catholic High School, or Cristo Rey Fort Worth College Prep.
Highlights of the day included celebrating Mass with Bishop Michael Olson and hearing the vocation stories of diocesan priests, a seminarian, and a consecrated virgin.
With their shepherd
In his opening prayer, Bishop Olson emphasized that the students were home in “St. Patrick Cathedral, the cathedral of the Diocese of Fort Worth, in which you belong, and to which you belong.
“We are here together because Christ has called us by name. He’s asked us to be here today to worship God, to love Him, to thank Him, and to discern what He is asking us to do with our lives,” the bishop continued.
Discernment begins with listening for God’s voice and recognizing the gifts He gave each one of us, Bishop Olson explained in his homily.
He encouraged the students to be grateful for their gifts, enjoy them, and share them with others.
He said, “The point of what we're here today for is to discern ‘What do I do with my life? What is the best way that I can show that I am grateful for the gifts of my talents and abilities by sharing them with others and by being of service to my neighbor who is blessed in different ways?’
“A vocation is where the world's greatest need meets my greatest desire and happiness. It always ends in service to our neighbor,” he concluded.
The experience was “very special” for the students of Sacred Heart Catholic School to “spend a day with their shepherd, the bishop,” said Principal Andrew Folsom.
Folsom and 14 students left the Muenster campus at 7 a.m. to arrive on time in downtown Fort Worth.
The purpose of the day, the administrator emphasized, first and foremost was the spiritual implications.
“We want them to become saints. [A religious vocation] is a road closer to Christ,” he said.
Unlike the other students present, Sacred Heart students continue at the Muenster school through high school graduation, “but their role within the school and going to a new building — it’s going to change dramatically, and this is a special day for them to mark that occasion,” Folsom continued.
Firsthand answers
After Mass, photos with Bishop Olson, and lunch, students divided by gender to hear talks from those pursuing a religious vocation.
Father Brett Metzler, Father Samuel Maul, and seminarian Trent Barton shared stories with the boys of how God called them to the priesthood.
Downstairs, Mary Del Olmo, who became the diocese’s first consecrated virgin in 2023, spoke with the girls about her life of dedication to Christ.
The students were eager to ask questions.
St. Andrew student Diana Uytingco thinks she will pursue a career in the medical field, but she admitted most of her knowledge of religious life comes from movies, so she was “happy to ask questions and learn more about how it really is.”
The remaining days of eighth grade are a whirl of studies and celebrations to conclude this phase of their education. But Eighth Grade Vocation Day provided the occasion for the students to reflect on where they have been, where they are going, and to whom they owe gratitude for their gifts and their future.