Vocational Support
FROM OUR SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR, FR. MARK NOLETTE
The staff of Autism Consecrated is pleased to offer support and encouragement to autistic people who have been called to certain vocations on behalf of the Church: the diocesan priesthood, religious orders, consecrated virgins, and hermits. The specific calling you have from the Lord gives you something in common with everyone else who shares that calling. In accepting the calling, you are taking on a way of life that is already established and which comes with a number of expectations. In all of this, you are on the same page as everyone else who shares your calling.
Still, it is equally important to acknowledge that autism is a way of being that can present difficulties when we try to conform to institutions which were not founded with autistic needs in mind. As our world becomes more aware of what autism is and how to support autistic people, our vocational call becomes a question of how autism is revealed in the Body of Christ - particularly within the institutions toward which we are being led. At times, this can be a conduit of God's love; at others, it appears to be an obstacle, both interiorly and exteriorly, to the fulfillment of our vocations.
The staff of Autism Consecrated consists of myself, a retired autistic diocesan priest, and my co-founder, Aimée O'Connell, an autistic Third Order Carmelite with a master's degree in school psychology. Between the two of us, we may be able to offer perspective and insights on how to recognize and work with the gifts and the needs that being autistic brings to following our vocational call. And, above all else, we would be most happy to pray for you on your journey. Please contact us if we can be of assistance!