Vocation promotion goes high-tech

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
Jan. 10, 2008

There's no doubt about it, this is a high-tech society and the World Wide Web allows surfers to find information in their homes at the click of a mouse.

Father Brad Pelzel, diocesan director of vocations, said in this day and age it was important to have a strong presence on the Internet as he works to promote vocations. The Web presence must be backed by even stronger content.

"The advice I received was that young people today, when they are surfing the Internet, only spend an average of seven to 10 seconds on a Web site," noted Father Pelzel. "If they don't find what they are looking for in that amount of time, they move on. When they go to the site, the information they want has to be there."

He has worked closely with the diocesan IT department to beef up the vocations link on the diocesan site - www.scdiocese.org.

The vocations director didn't want to stop there. In the near future, the Office of Vocations will launch thinkingofpriesthood.org. The vocations director has been assisted in this effort from a seminarian.

While Father Pelzel acknowledged that vocations mean more than becoming a priest or religious sister, he said his primary responsibility is to recruit young men to consider priesthood. With that in mind, the new Web site - thinkingofpriesthood.org - is designed to offer information to young men who want to know more about the priesthood.

The new stand-alone Web site will contain frequently asked questions, a survey to help individuals determine if they have a vocation, tips to help young men discern a call to the priesthood and more.

For the Web site, he gathered ideas from other diocesan sites and sought input from seminarians and former seminarians.

"I tried to gather information from as many sources as possible so that it's as effective as possible," said Father Pelzel.

The information was approved by Bishop R. Walker Nickless and the vicar general, Msgr. R. Mark Duchaine.

A strong benefit of having information readily available on the Web is the privacy factor. He said men oftentimes do not want others to know they are looking into a priestly vocation.

"My goal is to have stickers made up that would be placed on every computer monitor in every Catholic school in the diocese," said Father Pelzel. The proposed sticker will read: Thinking of being a priest? www.thinkingofpriesthood.org. Thinking of being a sister? www.scdiocese.org.

Even after thinkingofpriesthood.org is up and running, he explained that the Office of Vocations will continue to have a link on the diocesan Web site. The diocesan Web site will include frequently asked questions for women considering a vocation to religious life, frequently asked questions for men considering a vocation to the permanent diaconate and profiles of diocesan seminarians along with their addresses so parishioners can write them letters of encouragement. The diocesan Web site will also include suggestions on how to promote vocations and will offer a link to thinkingofpriesthood.org.

Until the stand-alone site is up and running, much of that info will appear on the diocesan site.