A file photo shows Sister Mary Ann Baichan, center, professing first vows during a Mass in 2016 during the centennial year of the founding of the Franciscan Handmaids of the Most Pure Heart of Mary at St. Charles Borromeo Church in the Harlem section of New York City. An online gathering for the National Day of Prayer for Black Vocations April 23, 2023, featured reflections from current members of religious communities and prayers for more vocations. (OSV News photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)

By Gina Christian | OSV News

WASHINGTON (OSV News) — Black Catholic religious vocations emerge from a long tradition of faith, nurtured by silence and prayer within the life of the church, said a religious sister at an event dedicated to those vocations.

“I stand on the shoulders of giants. …Vocations grow; they don’t just happen,” said Sister Mary Francis Bard, a member of the Sisters of the Holy Family, in an April 23 reflection for the National Day of Prayer for Black Vocations.