How do you take advantage of such promotion? After the show, we threw the net wide to capture the rising number of persons interested in this religious congregation after watching the one-hour interview. The show aired Wednesday, and the next day visits to the website of VisitationSpirit.org jumped tenfold. Here’s what we did to make the best of this:

• Put up the video TV interview on our client’s website the next morning.
• Encouraged website visitors on the home page to sign up for the newsletter.
• Made a full-page width cover photo of the interview on their Facebook page.
• Made Facebook page posts about the interview.
• Ran Facebook pay-per-click ads announcing the show in advance, and afterwards telling others to watch the show. We targeted to it to women within a certain age range, and those with interests in the Sacred Heart and EWTN. We’ve had 51 clicks, and 7,400 persons saw the ad.
• Wrote thank-you messages to those who “liked” their page.
• Put up a page on the website to order the free book mentioned on the show.
• Uploaded the video to the Catholic Gloria.TV, where we’ve had nearly 700 views in less than 24 hours.

There’s a lot of new interest in this religious congregation now, and it has engaged existing users and friends. New people are signing up for the Sunday night “LivingJesus Chat Room.” We hope it gives the community the boost that they need in their promotion efforts.

Postulant's blog

Audra Turnbull is 23 and plans to enter religious life in a community in Monroe, MI. She finds the Catholic faith awkward — which really means awesome — in her vocabulary.

“I’m writing this blog to look into the awkwardness, meaning awesomeness, that is the Roman Catholic Church,” Audra writes on her website The Awkward Catholic. She is one of the persons quoted in the recent ABC News article, “Nuns Go High Tech to Recruit.”

This article is a good overview of the various ways to use the internet to promote vocations, including YouTube videos. Several religious internet projects are discussed.

Pope Benedict XVI and Fr. Joe Tobin, of Detroit, named in 2010 as second in command of the Congregation for Religious

The Chicago Tribune is following the journalistic herd in slamming the Vatican for its investigation into the LCWR and its members who dissent from Church doctrine. See Mary Schmich’s  ”Nuns Stunned by Vatican Scolding.”

Here is our response to the Tribune:

“The problem here is not that men in the Vatican fail to understand women religious in America. It is that many of the large, traditional religious congregations have turned away from their original charisms. Anyone who works in Church vocations knows that women’s communities that are thriving with young applicants are those that wear habits, live a common life and practice common prayer. This is what is attractive to today’s Catholic single woman who has a vocation to religious life.

“The modernized religious groups, on the other hand, who may have good intentions, are following the wrong piper and are shrinking by the day.”

A good and lengthy review of the whole matter is on the website Renew America: “Sisters in Rebellion — Non Serviam“

CDs of talks on religious life are now available

Dr. Scott Hahn, Rev. Cassian Folsom, O.S.B., and other great speakers on religious life addressed the annual meeting of the Institute on Religious Life in Mundelein, IL last week. The theme was “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts: The Sacred Liturgy as a Foretaste of Heaven.”

I went to the meeting; it was very upbeat, and refreshing to see religious with various habits. I was impressed by the talks that I heard.

Get the meeting talks now on CDs. Order online at the Institute on Religious Life.

IRL talks on CDs:

• The Transformative Power of Signs and Symbols - Very Rev. Stephen McKinley, OFM Conv.
• The Eucharist as the Source and Summit of the Consecrated Life - Mother Ann Marie Karlovic, O.P.
• The Liturgical Theology of Pope Benedict XVI - keynote address by His Eminence Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I.
• The Lamb’s Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth - Dr. Scott Hahn
• Living the Eucharist: Uniting Our Lives with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass - Rev. James Kubicki, S.J.
• How to Get the Most Out of the Mass - Dr. Scott Hahn
• Sacred Signs and Active Participation at Mass - Very Rev. Cassian Folsom, O.S.B.
• Reclaiming the Culture through the Sacred Liturgy, Music and Art - Msgr. R. Michael Schmitz
• To Sing Is to Pray Twice: Sacred Music as an Expression of Worship - Sr. Maria Stella Whittier, C.J.D.
• Heavenly City: The Role of Architecture in Catholic Worship - Dr. Denis McNamara
• Living the Liturgical Year - Rt. Rev. Marcel Rooney, O.S.B.
• The Inseparable Link Between Holiness and Worship - Banquet address by Very Rev. Cassian Folsom, O.S.B.
• Glorify God by Your Life: Liturgy and Catholic Evangelization - Rev. Douglas Martis
• Mass Homilies - Very Rev. Cassian Folsom, O.S.B., Rev. Thomas Nelson, O.Praem., and Rev. James Kubicki, S.J.

The Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist

In case you missed it, here’s an insightful story in the National Catholic Register, “Sisters Go Online to Promote Vocations.” There are some good success stories here, and also one community’s story about difficulty in attracting vocations that stay, despite an ongoing effort.

Ann Carey has done a great job in explaining conflicting approaches to religious life and other issues, and the players behind them. She also lists faithful religious communities, among whom are those that posted statements of fidelity on their websites with the help of us here at Vocation Promotion.

See also our article, “Communities that support the Bishops on the HHS mandate.”

Our new Facebook page, Holy Vocations. From left are the Servants of Mary Ministers to the Sick, the Mercedarian Friars, the Visitation Sisters, and the Dominican Sisters of the Immaculate Conception.

Take advantage of the growing number of many single Catholics on Facebook. Now your religious community can be featured on the new Facebook page, Holy Vocations. Simply go to the page and post your photo, video, or link to your community’s page.

The page, Holy Vocations, is a project of Vocation Promotion, and it seeks to educate and inspire single persons to consider the consecrated life, and get an inside view of the many good religious communities throughout the United States. To make a post, simply “like” us, and then post.

This page was started just a few months ago and already has a healthy following. When a person “likes” our page, they will get posts about religious communities on their Facebook wall. Having a presence on Facebook means that you join the conversation with vocation candidates and their hopes and desires. We know there are many great communities out there, so get posted and get talked about!

(Vocation Promotion reserves the right to remove any post that does not meet its editorial standards.)

The meeting will be held at St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein, IL. Contact me ahead of time with any questions, or just look around for me at the meeting on Saturday, April 14. I’ll have a booth for Vocation Promotion in Room 105 of the Conference Center.

For more information, contact me at 708-393-4098, or contact me via the Contact Us page.

The Dominican Sisters recalled persecutions in Poland.

Religious communities around the country are standing up to the HHS mandate requiring the insurance coverage of contraception and abortion-causing drugs.

CMSWR has led the way, issuing a statement that asks other citizens, Catholic and otherwise, to rescind the ruling.

Below are communities that publicly support the Bishops. (Please return to this page as we are updating it. To add your community, Contact Us.)

See also:

• Latest efforts of the U.S. Bishops on Conscience Protection.
• “Our First Most Cherished Liberty,” Jan. 2012, by the U.S. Bishops
• “March 14, 2012 Statement on Religious Freedom and HHS Mandate” of the U.S. Bishops

Daughters of St. Francis of Assisi, Lacon, IL stand firmly with the Bishops and the CMSWR on this issue of religious freedom.

Discalced Carmelite Nuns of Philadelphia stand against the HHS mandate and in support of the Bishops.

Dominican Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, in the Chicago area, have issued such a statement, asking for religious freedom and recalling persecutions from various governments where the congregation was founded in Poland.

The Mercedarian Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament are in "full support" of the USCCB stand.

Mercedarian Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament are in “FULL SUPPORT” of the USCCB stand against the HHS mandate. They say, “The Mercedarian Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament are no strangers to persecution.  We went through persecution of our own in Mexico.”

Oblate Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Hubbard, OH support the Bishops’ stand on the issue of the HHS mandate. We join the CMSWR and other communities in joining this cause.

Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary, Second Federation, support the U.S. Bishops in opposing the HHS mandate.

School Sisters of St. Francis, also called the Panhandle (Texas) Franciscans, say that they “wholeheartedly support the U.S. Bishops in the attacks against our Religious Freedom.”

Servants of Mary, Ministers to the Sick, of Kansas City, MO, have issued a statement, quoting Pope Benedict XVI who said that “the entire Catholic community in the United States” should recognize and counter such threats.

Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Eucharist, in Independence, MO carry a supporting statement on their website. They say that the rulings “stand in grave violation of our most precious first amendment guarantees of religious liberty and freedom of conscience.”

Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration in Mishawaka, IN, say that they “cannot and will not comply with this mandate.”

Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother of Oshkosh, WI support the Bishop’s opposition to the Obama command that abortion, sterilization and the use of contraceptives be part of all healthcare insurance plans.

Rulings "stand in grave violation of our most precious first amendment guarantees."

Religious communities around the country are joining the U.S. Bishops in opposing the HHS mandate of the Obama administration that demands that sterilization, abortifacients and contraception be included in virtually all health plans.

The CMSWR has led the way among religious communities, issuing a statement that asks other citizens, Catholic and otherwise, to rescind the ruling.

“We believe that our first and most fundamental freedom, the right to religious liberty and freedom of conscience, is gravely violated by the ruling announced on January 20th by the Department of Health and Human Services.  The accommodation announced by President Obama on February 10th does not respect nor safeguard our rights or the rights of others.”

Religious communities throw their support

Several communities for whom we at Vocation Promotion provide web and promotion services have issued similar statements in support of the bishops. The Dominican Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, with its motherhouse in the Chicago area, have issued such a statement, asking for religious freedom and recalling persecutions from various governments where the congregation was founded in Poland.

The Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Eucharist, in Independence, MO now carry a supporting statement on their website. They say that the rulings “stand in grave violation of our most precious first amendment guarantees of religious liberty and freedom of conscience.”

The Servants of Mary, Ministers to the Sick, of Kansas City, MO, have issued a statement quoting Pope Benedict XVI, who said that “the entire Catholic community in the United States” should recognize and counter these threats.

NC Register publishes list

Ann Carey, an expert observer of religious communities, is the author of an article to be published in April in the National Catholic Register a list of communities who have supported the U.S. Bishops in this cause. She has told us yesterday that the list is not exhaustive. She will see if the Register will update the list as new communities support the bishops.

To update your website with a supporting statement, or publicize your action on the internet, call Kevin J. Banet at 708-393-4098, or email us from our Contact Us page. Let us know by March 31, and we will ask Ms. Carey to add your community to the list if the Register updates it. In any case, we will list your community and give you a link from this website.

Resource
U.S. Bishops, “Bishops Continue Fight Against Coercive HHS Mandate.”