Posts tagged priesthood

Vocations

As we start the new year it places us right in the middle of the year of the priest. This series of articles are ideas and suggestions, but the real power in generating vocations to the priesthood comes from prayer.  Without prayer this series is useless.  Prayer is essential because in the search for candidates for the priesthood you are looking for holy young leaders who will answer the call.

Part 4 of Vocations Series

Support, Encourage, and Enable Youth Groups

As a diocese, increase youth groups and the vocation departments’ involvement with them.  The vocation department could regularly visit youth groups, host parties, help with retreats, and support youth groups in every way possible

Youth groups are fertile ground for cultivating vocations.

Brochures, Direct Mailing, and Email Campaigns

Before a successful 1-1 marketing campaign can begin the vocations office needs to create a database of potential candidates for the priesthood.  The vocations office should devise a plan and coordinate the plan with priest and lay throughout the diocese to find potential candidates to the seminary.  The first segment of that list would be any male between 9-12 grade.

Once this list is established, refined, and evaluated it will allow marketing pieces to be created that are geared specifically for the target market.

For example if you were sending mailings to a young man in a certain town and knew his contact with the priesthood was with a certain priest or seminarian, and the young man like soccer, you could print an on-demand brochure with a picture on the inside of the priest welcoming the young man to the seminary and have pictures geared towards soccer.

This project could even be extend for high schools.  The vocation office could print brochures with messages from the president of the school welcoming the students to the idea of the priesthood and if the school was filled with football players the brochure could contain pictures of seminarians playing football at the seminary.

The vocations’ office could even send our personal emails driven by a database.

Vocation Posters

Mary, the Mother of God

Hire a graphic designer, create multiple styles of posters, and put them in every school, parish, college, and anywhere young people are located.  There should be multiple copies hanging in every school.

It would beneficial on school visits to personally hang the posters to insure they get put up.

Posters will only work if they are visually appealing and students see them repeatedly.

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