SISTERS OF MERCY CONTINUE COLLEGE MEDIA BLITZ FOR RELIGIOUS VOCATIONS
MANHATTAN, ST. FRANCIS STUDENTS TARGETED

The Sisters of Mercy continue to bring their recruitment campaign to college campuses this Winter in an effort to reach young women with a message about religious life. The month-long effort includes posting messages on bus shelters near two Catholic colleges in the New York metropolitan area: Manhattan College and St. Francis College.

According to Sr. Patti Donlin, RSM, the print campaign asks Generation X’ers to think about a religious vocation by posing the question, “Do you have a call waiting?” The image features the creation scene from Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel with a modern adaptation: the finger of God reaching out to a hand holding a cell phone. “Young people today are searching for ways to express their spirituality,” said Sr. Patti. “We’re saying that religious life as a Sister of Mercy could be the path to personal and spiritual fulfillment.”

Sr. Patti is the media and vocation contact for the Mercy New Membership Circle, which represents the regional communities of New Jersey, New York and Brooklyn. She has served as a Sister of Mercy for 14 years, having entered the convent after college.

The current recruitment campaign broke in January with postering at Mercy institutions in the New Jersey, New York, and Brooklyn regions, and a series of Web sites. International media coverage followed with a segment on ABC's Nightline, front-page coverage in The New York Times, and media outlets throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe.

“Religious life might not be a young woman’s first thought about career and lifestyle,” said Sr. Patti, “but it’s an option that speaks to her need for service, prayer, and community life. Religious life provides all of those things and the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of the poor, the sick, and the uneducated,” she said. “Our campaign is asking college women to think and pray about the possibilities.”