Brother Paul Bednarczyk, executive director of the NRVC, says the web has become “an essential tool. Given fewer religious, the chances of meeting a priest, brother or sister is not as common as it used to be 30 years ago. If we are to meet the Millennial generation [and Gen X] we have to be there where they are. And that is on the Internet.”

The Stella Maris Province of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is committed to reaching out to these young adults in its vocational efforts, and here’s how we’ve begun:

Newly Appointed Vocation Promotion Team (VPT). In May, the Provincial Council appointed four MSCs and four lay collaborators* to take part in a new initiative: Vocation Promotion. Since then, the “VPT” team has continued to conduct research and inform themselves about vocation work in the 21st Century. In conference call meetings, they have imagined possibilities for promoting vocational exploration in general and vocations to MSC religious life specifically. Four spirited meetings later, the team is on its way! Below are just a few of the efforts taking place with our new VPT:

Educating Ourselves
The VPT has spent some time reading and discussing articles on the millennial generation and vocation promotions efforts being employed by other religious congregations, in order to get a better sense of what is and is not working in today’s vocational outreach. The team has also spent time interviewing the young women who have joined Cabrini Mission Corps – who are attracted to the Cabrini charism and seeking vocational exploration – to learn what types of programs they have found helpful in their own discernment and what stands out for them about the Cabrini charism as young seekers.

Getting the Word Out! Revitalizing and Expanding the MSC Presence in Vocation Circles and on the Web.
Building Relationships with Vocation Promotion Networks Nationally and Regionally. The Missionary Sisters and members of the Vocation Promotion Team are actively participating in the regional programs offered by the National Religious Vocation Conference. This provides opportunities to network, and collaborate in vocation programs offered by other religious congregations.

Promoting Vocation through Mothercabrini.org. The Missionary Sisters of the Stella Maris Province have established an attractive and dynamic internet presence with our website which includes a comprehensive section on discernment and vowed life as a Missionary Sister . Site visitors are able to read about individual MSCs, their own calls to religious life and their lives in ministry. A page of Frequently Asked Questions about religious life and discernment is available as well as an on-line inquiry form which, once submitted, goes directly to the Vocation Promotion Team for follow-up. In-depth information about Mother Cabrini, the Cabrinian charism, and the ministries of the Missionary Sisters is also available with a click of the mouse for those who are discerning God’s call.

Online Vocation Matching with the VISION Vocation Network. With VISION, the MSCs are an integral part of their Vision Vocation network match program http://www.vocation-network.org through which a woman discerning a religious vocation can fill out an on-line form indicating the characteristics and type of religious congregation she is seeking. These traits are matched against the profile of the Missionary Sisters and if there is convergence, an email message of inquiry along with a profile of the discerner is emailed to the Missionary Sisters via the Vocation Promotion Team. Once received, an email acknowledgement will be sent by the Vocation Promotion Team and if appropriate, a dialogue will commence. If there seems to be genuine, on-going interest, a Missionary Sister will continue to journey with the woman in discernment.

Print Promotion. Hot off the press is a page 3 ad in VISION vocation guide, the premier resource for those discerning a religious vocation, which reaches ?? readers across the country (below). In addition, the ad was used to create a bookmark with a Cabrini prayer for discernment included on the back (right). Vocation bookmarks have been distributed to Cabrinian institutions including our campus ministry offices, shrines, retreat center and Immigrant Services and are available to the members of the Cabrinian Community upon request.

Outreach to Cabrinian Institutions. In addition to our web-based initiatives, right here in the Stella Maris Province, the Vocation Promotion Team is in discussion with our high schools and Cabrini College to explore avenues through which a greater awareness of the discernment process, life vocations - particularly, that as a vowed MSC - can develop among our students. Vocation Days and discernment groups are events through which the Vocation Promotion Team hopes to stimulate greater interest in vocational exploration and religious life. In the Denver Archdiocese, the Missionary Sisters are an integral part of the Focus 11 vocation programs for students.

An Invitation from the VPT: “Missionary Sisters, we need you!”
Research has consistently shown that despite the benefits of a savvy internet presence, nothing can replace the impact of really getting to know a sister, priest or brother. Hearing about religious life first hand, and having the opportunity to observe community life, speaks to someone discerning religious life in ways that internet connections simply cannot do.

Sr. Maria Sally Willitzer, SND, who is in formation with the Sisters of Notre Dame and who conducts a discernment group at the University of Notre Dame has observed that in order to reach students, “sisters must radiate the joy they find in their relationship with Christ if they hope to attract young women” to their congregations. She says sisters of all congregations should “invite, invite, invite” others to consider life as a vowed religious.

It is with this joy and enthusiasm for Christ, and their vocations as religious and lay women in the Church that the MSC Vocation Promotion Team approaches its work in the vineyards of the Lord. The Team asks all Missionary Sisters to join with them in actively engaging young women in conversation about vowed religious life and asks all members of the Cabrinian Community to join with them in on-going prayer for an increase of vocations in the Church, and in particular to the Institute of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We’re all in this together!

Important Dates for Vocations

January 10 – 15, 2010 – National Vocation Awareness Week

Sunday, February 7, 2010 – World Day for Consecrated Life

Sunday, April 25, 2010 – World Day of Prayers for Vocations

* The Vocations Promotion Team (VPT) consists of: Sisters Antonina Avitabile, Bernadette Casciano, Antonia Plata and Candida Encarnacion Soto; Nancy Costello, Website Director; Robin Larkins, Cabrini Lay Missionary and Director of Cabrini Immigrant Services, Dobbs Ferry; Jayne Pickett, Cabrini Lay Missionary and Gina Scarpello, Director of Cabrini Mission Corps. The team’s efforts are augmented with input from Sisters Bernadette Anello in the Philippines and Sharon Casey in Australia.

For further information, please contact the Vocation Promotion Team at: MSCVocations@mothercabrini.org or call: 610-902-1039.

Visit the Vocation section of the Mother Cabrini website and encourage others to do so as well.

To learn more about the CARA study on vocations please visit the
website of the National Religious Vocations Conference