Thousands of inquirers visit vocations advice web site

Chicago, Ill., Oct 8, 2008 / 23:07 pm

Vision Vocation Guide and the VocationMatch.com web site have reported that over the past year more than 6,900 people interested in Catholic religious vocations completed online profiles and requested information from religious communities through the web site.

The web site gathers information from inquirers and matches their profiles against the profiles of religious communities to produce recommendations, similar to the way matches are made at dating sites.

Vision Vocation Guide says in a press release that VocationMatch.com users become “more qualified discerners” who have considered practical questions about a religious vocation, such as whether he or she wants to live in a monastery or a house, live in a large community or a small one, minister locally or overseas, wear a habit or religious symbol, and pray with others once a day or several times a day.

The site reports that the number of reader profiles has jumped from 1,503 to 5,591 in the past year.

"Vision Vocation Match has become an indispensable tool for Catholic religious vocation discernment," said Patrice Tuohy, executive editor of VISION Vocation Guide, which produces the site.

“With fewer Catholics being taught by religious sisters, brothers, and priests, exposure to those living in religious communities has declined but interest in religious life has actually increased in recent years," remarked Tuohy. "The internet has played a significant role in getting the word out about religious life. Now Vocation Match has taken things one step further by assisting discerners in sorting through large amounts of information in a more efficient and accessible way.”

VocationMatch.com has been mentioned in Time magazine and on the CBS Evening News.

Vision Vocation Guide also hosts a Spanish-language version of the site at EncuentroVocacional.com. The company also produces DigitalVocationGuide.org and VocationGuide.org, providing vocation opportunity postings, searchable community listings, lively blogs, quizzes, and statistics on trends, and a new question-and-answer column by author Alice Camille.