Photo of King’s College Vocation Awareness event provided by Fr. Brogan (far left)
The presence of Holy Cross in Northeastern Pennsylvania, where King’s College is located, has always been tied to our local diocese and Church. When Holy Cross came to Wilkes-Barre to start a college, it was at the request of the local Bishop. Since then, the priests and brothers of the King’s Holy Cross community have been ministers in numerous apostolates throughout the Diocese and have assisted the sacramental and apostolic work of the Diocese, in addition to their ministry at King’s College. We’ve also been blessed to educate many of the local clergy (including two of the younger priests in the Diocese) in addition to sending some of our alumni to the Holy Cross formation program. The Holy Cross community at King’s College has been very tied to the local Church in ways that have been mutually beneficial.
We’ve also been blessed at King’s to have a strong presence of religious women and men both serving on faculty and staff at the College, and attending King’s as students. Currently, we have two Holy Cross brothers on staff and a Sister of Christian Charity serving on our nursing faculty. For a relatively small college, we have been blessed by the presence of a diversity of religious.
When we hosted a vocations awareness event recently, it made sense for us to invite representatives to join from the Diocese and from the religious congregations of women in the area who are present at King’s. Not only did it allow us to talk about the call to the Congregation of Holy Cross in a wider context, but it also reinforced a broad culture of vocations and discernment at King’s College and in the area. We hope all of our students will consider their lives vocationally, even those not called to a religious vocation. After meeting one of the religious last week, a student who previously did not know very much about vocations to the priesthood or religious life in the Catholic Church and who did not feel called to that life commented on how great it is that God can call us all to such different and good lives. This was an important realization for that student.
It has also been fruitful for me. Collaborating with people from the Diocese and other religious communities has provided a sense of fulfillment that resonates with my experience of family members, friends, and colleagues who have also responded generously to God’s invitation through different vocations. Hearing one of the sisters speak of the joys and challenges of her ministry sounded very similar to a friend or sibling reflecting on their marriage or parenthood. How good it is to be together in our unique responses to God’s call!
Celebrating others’ vocations has also reaffirmed my particular vocation: “to give over of my life in an explicit way” as a religious priest in the Congregation of Holy Cross (Constitution 1.3). It has also afforded me the opportunity to invite others into a deeper and broader consideration of the way that Christ is inviting them to come and follow Him.
Let us pray that we will continue to respond generously to the unique and beautiful ways that God calls each of us! And that we will all be edified when we recognize the uniqueness and beauty of those calls.
Fr. Brogan Ryan, C.S.C.
Provided by the Vocations Office November 5, 2025
