Friday, March 20, 2009

Vocations: Time for the Good News!

People considering religious life used to peruse the back pages of Catholic Digest (the vocation ads section) and then write a carefully phrased letter of inquiry to communities with an appealing charism. Now, of course, they peruse those same communities' web sites (or members' blogs!). For many, the next step is the Vision network site, which offers a "matchmaker" service of sorts, helping discerners more quickly sift through the communities to find those with a compatible spirituality and mission. And that creates a lot of interesting data.
For example:
Sixty-two percent jump in inquiries into Catholic religious life
Thirty percent increase in number of people in first stages of formation
A higher percentage of men compared to women (68 to 61) ranked wearing a religious habit as important or essential to what attracts them to a religious community. This preference has flipped from a year ago when women outranked men in their interest in wearing religious garb.
Learn more (or fill out the "Vocation match" survey yourself) at http://www.vocation-network.org
Are you a discerning lurker? Which blogs do you regularly read as part of your discernment?

2 comments:

Akalei said...

Um, besides yours:
http://fsppostulants.blogspot.com/
http://holyvocations.blogspot.com/
http://www.vocation.com/
and a few others...I can't remember :-P :-)

Unknown said...

I often consider my vocation the first fruits of the Claretian website. I was sent there some 9 years ago when I was having trouble finding a congregation or diocese willing to take a chance on a man over fifty. What I read about the Claretians that night captured my soul...Claret described his followers as "men on fire with the love of God." With Saint Paul he asserted that the Love of God compelled him to do what he does....that is preach the gospel of the Lord.
Thank you for making the links...we have to find our new vocations where they are, not where they used to be...
Father Fred, CMF