Who is organizing the event?
The Congress is being held at the invitation of the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II. It is the third such congress, following those for Latin America (Sao Paulo, Brazil: 1994) and Europe (Rome: 1997). The Canadian and American bishops’ conferences have the principal responsibility for the event: they are working in close collaboration with the Pontifical Work for Ecclesiastical Vocations (Rome), and with the religious leadership and both diocesan and religious vocation directors’ associations of Canada and the U.S. As well, the Congress has an executive team of 20 members led by three bishops (Archbishop Roger Schwietz, Anchorage; Bishop Richard Grecco, London; Bishop Andre Rivest, Montreal), and whose membership includes religious sisters and brothers, religious and diocesan priests, deacons, secular institutes, lay men and women. The team is served by two co-chairs, Fr. Edward Burns of Washington D.C. and Fr. Raymond Lafontaine of Montreal, and by seven committee chairs who are coordi
