First Mass for new Manchester diocesan vocations program draws 1,100

Published: 2006-01-12

MANCHESTER, N.H. (CNS) -- A standing-room-only crowd of 1,100 people packed St. Joseph Cathedral in Manchester Jan. 8 for the inaugural Seventh Trumpet Mass, part of the diocese's new effort to enlist hundreds of lay supporters in "creating a culture of vocations." Under the new program, adults and children who choose to become Seventh Trumpet Heralds commit to pray for vocations to the priesthood, diaconate, consecrated life and marriage, and to support and encourage men and women who enter a seminary or religious community. The heralds will gather at a monthly Mass, followed by a half-hour of silent adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. The size of the crowd exceeded what the Diocese of Manchester had called on its Web site its "first ambitious goal" of 1,000 heralds.

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