Matching Catholic Sisters and Inquirers

By Susan Flansburg

Anyone who has worked in communications for Catholic Sisters has wrestled with their declining membership. It’s heartbreaking to watch beloved Sisters die, replaced by no one.

For marketing experts, it’s also perplexing.

Why are so few women joining? Many organizations have tackled questions like this, from the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), to Pew Research on religious belief and practices.

Good to know, but how can we reach the few who still want to respond to the call to join? How can we help them know what kinds of communities are available to them?

It was in answer to these questions that my own Midwest Vocation Match came about.

(Actually, I was sitting at a Communicators for Women Religious conference when it suddenly occurred to me that what inquirers really need is a comparison sheet - of sorts - on different Catholic Sister communities near their home. Vision Vocation Match does a great job nationally, but this is local.)

I was fortunate to have gotten to know many communities near my own Benedictine group - monastic, apostolic, missionary, habited and cloistered - through my association with the Catholic Sisters of the Upper Mississippi River Valley.

So, I created a short quiz that would sort women into one of the above local community types. If a woman answered that she was drawn to wearing a habit, for instance, she would be put in touch with the Trappistines or Carmelites. If she was more drawn to ministry than to communal prayer, she would receive a list of local apostolic communities.

Chris and his team of web experts implemented the match, and it’s been one of the Benedictines’ most popular pages ever since!

Contact me at seflans1@gmail.com to learn how this tool can help your own community.

Because inquirers are still out there, still needing information. This "quiz" continues to attract their interest and attention. So happy to have been able to serve in this way!