Despite all the talk about a vocation shortage, there is in fact no such thing in the Catholic Church. The real shortage is that of vocational discernment, and that is a very different problem.

I was the only one whose state of life lacked free assent and enduring permanency—the essential marks of a vocation. I was glad to be included on the panel but also a bit perplexed.

Lee Chambers-Schiller, The Single Woman Reformer: Conflicts between Family and Vocation, 1830-1860, Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, Vol. 3, No. 3 (Autumn, 1978), pp. 41-48 Free online reading ...