Per Christum Catholic Blog

I recently had a chance to look at the newest publication of Vision, which includes (is?) the 2009 Catholic Religious Vocation discernment guide. I enjoyed the articles, but was most interested in the advertising. The design, emphasis, quality, and message differed significantly and I want to share a few of my thoughts.

On the positive side, I saw a lot of clearly vibrant religious communities, many emphasizing not only their proclamation of the Gospel, but also service to the poor and marginalized. The ones with the youngest members (in the ads anyway) were frequently oriented around the Eucharist (even if active religious) and wore the habit. I think these are both good things, although I recognize that mission, charisms, and dress differ and that is fine.

On the negative side, many orders tried really hard to appear trendy in their advertising. This came across to me as rather slick and didn’t give much insight into the order itself. In some cases, it just screamed “trying too hard” which could turn off more than it would impress. I suspect most people who are considering the religious life are looking for something much deeper. And more traditional. Data seems to bear this out too. Yet, a lot of ads simply showed why many orders were not getting new members: lack of this traditional focus. For example, one group, mentions doing something about the problem of “plastic bags” (along with other more legit ones to be fair) to get women motivated to join their order. A lot of orders for women mentioned their environmentalism, which I think is a good cause, but you can join the Sierra Club or Greenpeace and still marry and accrue private wealth. Basically, I can see why many of these orders are declining: they have simply become social work agencies or havens for activists rather than groups devoted to proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus which must involve social justice, but is much, much more.

It’s easy to complain, but we really need to work for vocations. We must 1) support the effort to get our young people to consider the religious life and priesthood 2) Encourage those who wish to pursue the religious life, even if it goes against what we “want” for someone and 3) Pray and trust in God that it will happen. God will provide for the needs of the Church and those orders who have a place in the Church of the 21st century will survive and thrive.