Pope Francis recently called the internet “a gift from God.”
In his June 1 talk on World Communications Day, the Pontiff said that the digital highway is a reflection of the world at large. The internet is like “a street teeming with people who are often hurting, men and women looking for salvation or hope.”
He continued, “By means of the internet, the Christian message can reach ‘to the ends of the earth’ (Acts 1:8).”
What he didn’t say is important, too.
He didn’t spell out all that the internet can do to help usher in a whole movement of Gospel values. For example, if used by Christians and people of good will, the internet can supplant the established big media, which often has a bias against true human values and even Christianity itself. Ordinary people can be led to turn off the big networks and newspapers and find news and content that are founded on truly human values, if on much smaller media outlets.
What is the role of religious in all this?
In his letter to consecrated persons, Vita Consecrata, Pope John Paul II said that “Living ‘in obedience, with nothing of one’s own and in chastity,’ consecrated persons profess that Jesus is the model in whom every virtue comes to perfection.”
It is these virtues that need to be talked about on your websites, blogs, and with your social media, such as Facebook.
3,300 fans
We play a small but important part by recruiting new religious candidates. It’s called our Social Media Campaign. For one religious community of Sisters, for example, we helped increase their Facebook “likes,” or fans, from 78 in March 2013, to more than 3,300 today.
The way we do this is to run ads directed to single women on Facebook who are likely to be devout Catholics. We ask them to “like” the Sisters’ page. Then these candidates became part of the Sisters’ fan base. We also help the Sisters make posts.
Last month, we gained 734 likes for this group from our ad campaign. We also obtained 25 new persons that month for their newsletter by offering a free item. We also write and send several newsletters each month for the Sisters.
The results? They have four or five new candidates, and several of these came to their recent Come and See retreat.
July 1, budget begins
Many non-profits begin their fiscal year on July 1. Does yours? Why not budget a modest sum of under $1,000 per month for our Social Media Campaign that will be sure to work for you in gaining vocations.
If you’d like to talk to Vocation Promotion director Kevin Banet about how to use our Social Media Campaign to gain vocations, please contact us.
