Of course, it is difficult to figure out God’s will at times and there are many voices giving us conflicting messages and it takes great patience and discernment to truly know which is the voice of God. So, we must practice and, as in everything else, practice takes time. That is why we should start as early as possible. We need to be teaching our children that they too have a call. They, too, have a purpose and a role in this world that God has designed for them and that only they can fulfill it. In fact, if you read through some of the stories of our seminarians you will realize that the seeds of their vocational discernment were planted long before they entered High School. And so it is with great pleasure and excitement that we introduce the youngest members of our Run for the Call team! Lillie, Michael and (possibly) Henry, ages 3, 2 and 3, respectively, will be chasing after their vocation during the Flying Pig weekend! What a fantastic witness this will be! Your children are being called, too!

Since we are officially a partner charity of the Flying Pig Marathon, if you join our team, your early bird registration doesn’t end until April 18th! In addition, by joining our team you will also be donating 10% of your registration fee to Run for the Call! So spread the word and let’s get this team growing!

Additionally, I am excited to announce the formation of our first fundraiser! On March 31st from 5:30-11:00 pm at St. Anthony of Padua church in Cincinnati, one of our team members, Marie Howe, is organizing a Young Catholics Square Dance with all proceeds going to Run for the Call! There is room for 250 people. Let’s see if we can fill it up!

Have you checked out our team page recently? Do you have any prayer requests for us to remember as we begin our training?

This will be a great way for us to increase our community recognition as well as easily increase the success of our fundraising efforts. With this increased recognition comes even more ways for you to get involved in the Run for the Call cause! We will need volunteers throughout the weekend helping to cheer on runners, telling people all about Run for the Call and our purpose at the Charity Village and Squealers on the sidelines throughout the course wearing our team tshirts! We haven’t set up a way to sign up for these things just yet, but keep an eye on this site as we grow! These are very exciting times!

For the past few decades, running hasn’t seemed so cool. For most guys, the thought of running–not for another sport or because you’re being chased, but for its own sake–conjures up images of high school gym class. Or maybe a skinny guy in short shorts. But that’s all changing.

Go here to finish the read>>>

Are you like the millions of other Americans who made a new year’s resolution to “be more active?” Well, guess what, I’ve got the perfect solution for you. Make a commitment to join our team and run in the Flying Pig Half Marathon on May 6th! It’s almost exactly 4 months away from today and that means that if you start training now (even just a little bit), you can be in shape enough to finish the half marathon. I know it sounds insane, because you can barely even run a quarter-mile without wheezing, but I believe anybody can do it if they put in the time (certain medical conditions dependent, of course). Setting achievable, recordable goals is the key to maintaining any resolution (whether that be in prayer, business, social life or physical fitness) and this is a great opportunity! Now is the time!

If you join our team you will not only become active in the physical sense, but will also become active in the community by helping to raise awareness and money for a very worthwhile cause! Think about it, pray about it and act on it!

The deadline for early registration is January 31st, so act soon. If you find that you simply cannot do this, please consider joining us in prayer, as we will need the strength of the Lord to accomplish all we have set out to do!

On our Donations page you will find two great opportunities to take part in what has already begun in the Archdiocese. Over the past four years the number of college seminarians has nearly quadrupled from 4 to 15! The spirit and energy in these young men to serve the people of the Archdiocese is palpable and exciting to be around. With your help this spirit and energy can continue to grow and these fine young men will be able to discern more freely their call to become outstanding young priests who are on fire with the desire to shepherd and save souls. The first way you can contribute to this cause is by way of prayer. The power of prayer is very strong and its effect can be far greater than any monetary donation you can offer due to its lasting spiritual effect. Please consider offering a rosary once a week, or a decade every day, or offering a holy hour once a month, or fasting for one day; anything you choose. Just let us know about it on our Donations page and know of our gratitude for your extra efforts. Secondly, If you can, we would also very much appreciate a monetary donation. We can’t offer scholarships to seminarians with great financial need without it, after all. There are two ways of offering that donation: online contributions in the form of credit card or EFT, or personal check sent by mail (the tried and true, old-fashioned way).

No matter what way you choose to help, we can’t thank you enough for your support!

Press Release: Run for the Call is in a Marathon to Increase Priestly Vocations

Run for the Call, a new initiative created by Wayne Topp, the Associate Vocation Director for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, with the support of Fr. Kyle Schnippel, Vocation Director, will be taking a team of runners to the events of the Flying Pig Marathon, May 5-6, 2012, to raise awareness and money for seminarians.

Since 2008, the number of college seminarians within the Archdiocese has risen sharply from 4 to 15! It is the most college seminarians this Archdiocese has seen in nearly 20 years! With these additional seminarians, however, comes additional costs to the Archdiocese. One effect of these financial burdens is that the seminarians are not able to receive as much aid as they had in the past and for the first time this year, two young men needed to request additional assistance in order to enter seminary formation. It was quickly decided that these students would be given loans that would only need to be repaid if the student left formation.

After sitting in on the meeting in which these loans were generously granted, Topp believed there could be a better way to offer these men assistance that (1) wouldn’t put more burden on the Archdiocese and (2) wouldn’t place additional burden on the student if he was to leave the seminary. In thinking about different options to meet these goals, Topp remembered running the Flying Pig Marathon to help raise money for candidates entering a women’s religious order and Run for the Call was born.

Acts 20:24, reminds us to “finish [our] course and the ministry [we] have received from the Lord Jesus, to bear witness to the Gospel of God’s grace.” Inspired by these words, ten people have already joined the team including six seminarians for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. The team is looking for more men and women to join them. Run for the Call also promises to pray for any intention sent to them and are looking for prayer requests, team members, prayer pledges and donations at their website: http://runforthecall.wordpress.com.

Monetary donations are 100% tax deductible and checks can be made out to Archdiocese of Cincinnati. Prayer pledges, prayer requests and donations can be sent to: Vocation Office, c/o Run for the Call, 100 E. Eighth St., Cincinnati,OH 45202.

Distance running is one of many sports that makes this form of suffering all too abundant as it often challenges us and takes us beyond what we physically thought possible. And so, as we train for these events and as we take part in these races, we want to take the opportunity to offer up all your prayers, intentions and struggles. We’ve got a lot of opportunities to offer up some pain and suffering on your behalf over the next 5 months. Who could use it?

Let us know at our Prayer Request page.

As we lead up to the date of our individual races, it is my hope that you will get to know each one of these team members on a personal level and hear what this run means to each of them.

In the mean time, go check out the page and let us know if you are feeling called to join us!