Serra Club
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What is The Vocation Awareness Program (VAP)?
The Vocation Awareness Program is a once a year effort to increase the number of vocations supporting the Dallas and Fort Worth diocese. The program is held over a weekend at the University of Dallas in Irving. This year, the program will be held June 8 through June 10. It is for men and women between the ages of 18 and 40 where they will have the chance to determine if a religious vocation may be appropriate for them. They have the opportunity to find answers about life as a priest, sister, brother, or consecrated lay woman. It includes presentations, panel discussions, question-and-answer periods, and one-on-one conferences with diocesan and order priest, sisters, and brothers. There are no fees, private rooms and meals are furnished, and no one pressures anyone to make a commitment.
People are made aware of the program through parish bulletin, and other notices in their parishes, through advertisements in the Texas Catholic newspaper, and through conversation between parish priests with those who have already expressed a possible vocation interest. Applications are made by visiting the website http://vapinfo.org, or in Dallas by contacting Fr. John Szatkowski at the Dallas Diocese office: 214-379-2860.
Father John can also be contacted by his email address, jszatkowski@cathdal.org. We will have info cards with this information available at all masses. If you have any questions about the program, or the application process, please refer them to one of the Serra Club members who can help you with the answer.
What is The Cost, and How Is It Paid For?
The program costs approximately $20,000 for the entire weekend. This covers The rooms, meals, and the travel for speakers. The money is raised by raffle ticket sales conducted by the local Serra Clubs in the diocesan parishes. We are conducting our raffle sale on the weekend of May 3rd and 4th. Raffle tickets are five dollars each or six for $25. Prizes include round-trip domestic air travel tickets, Visa Gift cards, golf outings, baseball tickets, etc. Donations are also accepted. Checks should be made payable to the Serra Club.
We are asking that all the parish organizations assist in the raffie sales over that weekend. You can do so by asking parish members to buy raffle tickets at the masses that you attend on that weekend. You can also do so by making your own raffle ticket purchase. As always, donations are also accepted for this purpose. For those who want to mail in their donations, or raffle purchases they can do so by addressing them to Serra Club, c/o St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church, 709 James Dr., Richardson, Texas 75080.