Recently I spoke with a priest who is helping a contemplative community attract vocations.
“Why don’t they put up a website?” I asked.
“They want to print a 32-page color booklet on their community,” he said.
“But that will cost thousands of dollars – and women who are searching for religious communities are looking on the web,” I said. “A website can be changed easily, and there are no postage fees.”
I explained to him that websites, blogs, and enewsletters are where it’s at in opening your doors to vocations. Single persons are using search engines to look for religious communities, and also looking at blogs, and enewsletters.
Here’s a “how to” to use the internet to attract vocation seekers:
Website: Change content frequently, since changes are noticed by search engines, which give you a higher ranking. Get incoming links from other religious communities and related organizations. Links help search rankings, too. Or write a blog that links back to your website (see below).
Blog: Start a blog, which is a kind of journal about which you can post articles and photos. Talk about the charism of your community. Your friends will keep coming back for more news. There are many free blogs sites, such as Blogger.com, WordPress.com, and Livejournal.com. Blogs can also be installed on your website.
Check out this Google list of Catholic vocation blogs. Some are a bit goofy (with a picture of a movie star), but many inspire one to a true spirituality and community life.
Enewsletter: Keep in touch with your contacts about your Come and See days, or about the latest events in your community. Send them from your own email program, such as Outlook, or, if the list gets too big — or if you just want to make your newsletter look better with nice graphics — use an easy-to-use commercial service, such as Constant Contact (used for this newsletter), for as low as $15/mo., and which also has a free 60-day trial. Or Enewsletters Online, which offers 100 sends per month for free.
Best wishes in “using the modern means of communications” (Vatican II).
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Quote for today: “Young people, if they know how to pray, can be trusted to know what to do with God’s call.” Pope Benedict XVI
