religious sightings JUMP IN VOCATION INQUIRIES
N FORMER MILWAUKEE ARCHBISHOP Timothy Dolan, who was installed as archbishop of New York City in April of 2008, said that increasing vocations was his “first mandate.” Asked his strategy, Dolan replied, “Happiness attracts.”
EARLY 70 PERCENT of Catholic religious communities saw a jump in vocation inquiries in 2008, according to a survey conducted by VocationMatch.com. Sixty-nine percent of the communities responding to the website’s third annual “Survey on Trends in Religious Vocations” reported increased inquiries into religious life. Discerners—those interested in religious life—were primarily under 40 years old and said they were looking at religious life because of a desire for deeper spirituality. Most were quite serious about exploring religious life, and nearly 20 percent planned to enter religious formation within the year. In addition to their desire for a deeper spirituality and a life of faithfulness to the church, discerners said they were most drawn to a particular religious community by its prayer life and community living. A significant 35 percent ranked justice and peace outreach as essential. Celibacy, a life of service, and living simply were all perceived as more challenging to the 2009 discerners than the previous year’s. Prayer and spiritual direction continued to rank as the most essential element in making a decision about religious life, and the discipline of prayer remained the greatest perceived challenge in living as a religious priest, sister, or brother. Ninety percent of discerners said their inquiries into religious life were made easier because of access to information about
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religious life on the Internet. Not surprisingly, those discerning a call to religious life still considered personal contact with someone in religious life as the most essential resource for gathering information about vocations (53 percent). However, “Come and See” weekends and working with a counselor or spiritual director ranked high as well. A religious community’s website ranked next, and 58 percent rated vocationrelated websites as either very important or essential to their information-gathering The complete survey results are posted online at www.vocation-network.org/ articles/show/186.
Connect online with other discerners
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BECCA GAY
NSURE if religious life is for you? Now you can meet others who are praying, laughing, and talking about the ins and outs of joining a religious community. Log on to anunslife.org/vocation-forum. The forum is easy to join, participants are not obligated to use their real names, and the discussions are friendly and honest. Sister Julie Vieira, I.H.M. has been writing the acclaimed blog, A nun’s life, for several years. The blog has evolved into a website, and in 2008 the site launched its discussion forum. It’s billed as “a place to explore how God is calling you and to connect with others who are discerning God’s call.” It has treated topics ranging from “are your parents supportive?” to “living into your vocation.”
SISTER JULIE Vieira, I.H.M.
VISION 2010
For more features go to VocationGuide.org
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