Osv And Vision Vocation Guide

[Sister Rose Therese]

Hi everyone,
I can't remember whether I have asked this before.
Have you seen and looked through the Vision vocation Guide, the magazine? How about the Our Sunday Visitor Vocation Issue?
Do you use magazines anymore? Or do you just look online?
Do you look at the ads, the articles...?
Have you ever contacted a community from seeing their ad in a magazine, or at least visited their website to check them out?
I'm going to try to set up a poll here to get some of the basics, but your replies to the topic would be most helpful.
Thanks and God bless.

[Hilde]

I have looked at the vision guide online, and I do look at the ads. The first time I found out about the nashville dominicans was because of an ad. I haven't contacted any communities. I live far away from the communities in question though.

[laetitia crucis]

[quote name='Sister Rose Therese' date='23 February 2010 - 11:15 AM' timestamp='1266938104' post='2061823']
Hi everyone,
I can't remember whether I have asked this before.
Have you seen and looked through the Vision vocation Guide, the magazine? How about the Our Sunday Visitor Vocation Issue?
Do you use magazines anymore? Or do you just look online?
Do you look at the ads, the articles...?
Have you ever contacted a community from seeing their ad in a magazine, or at least visited their website to check them out?
I'm going to try to set up a poll here to get some of the basics, but your replies to the topic would be most helpful.
Thanks and God bless.
[/quote]


Hi Sister Rose Therese!

I actually just picked up the 2010 Vision Vocation Guide about twenty minutes ago after Adoration, though I have yet to look through it. I've picked it up last year, too, and read through all of it, but in general I've found it "helpful" in the sense of sorting through Orders I know I will [i]never [/i]contact. I've been praying to see other Orders/communities featured in it, like the ones that are members of the [url="http://www.cmswr.org"]CMSWR[/url]. (I would be THRILLED to see some of those Orders in the Visions Guide.... I think this morning I saw the Daughters of St. Paul on the back inside cover...that was a nice surprise! Oh, and I think I've seen some contemplative Orders' ads in there and was very pleasantly surprised by that as well. If I were discerning a contemplative vocation, I think I would definitely use those ads to make contact. They seem along the same mind-set as CMSWR...) I don't mean to sound negative or judgmental when I say this, but in all honesty I feel I can really trust the Orders with CMSWR and will search there before anywhere else.

However, before I found PhatMass (2006), I had never heard about the CMSWR and had only seen the Vision Magazine and the "Religious Ministries" blue book on vocations. I think I sent in almost all of the postcards from the blue book, and well... to say the least, I was left wanting. I don't really consult that one anymore either. Though, in my initial stages of discernment, I totally used those means to contact orders.

Anyhoo -- mostly I look online now, but I tend to like having a tangible material [i]in my hands[/i] -- like a book or magazine or a pamphlet. (That way, I can share it with others in person rather than having to e-mail them with the chance that it might not be seen.) Unfortunately, I find it difficult to find said materials for these Orders unless I've actually physically gone to visit them and pick up pamphlets they may have in their convents.

Sooo... I hope my answers were somewhat helpful.

[Sister Rose Therese]

Admittedly the Vision Magazine has mostly LCWR communities in it, but it does have a number of CMSWR communities. But perhaps mostly as advertisers not so much in the articles.
You may be pleasantly surprised. This year's edition does have an article by Sister Anne Elizabeth form the Visitation Sisters in Georgetown. They are not CMSWR members, but it doesn't appear that any of the Visitation monasteries are. Perhaps because they are either cloistered or semi-cloistered.

[loveletslive]

i've looked through a few vision vocation guides and i always get frustrated because most of the religious orders aren't habited and seem more liberal than i am interested in.

[TeresaBenedicta]

I've looked through the Vision Vocation Guide before, but didn't really find it all too helpful for me personally. I do find it interesting learning about all the different communities and what they do, however.

[Hilde]

One of the problems I find is that the majority is for active and non-habited communities, so they're not really for me.

[brandelynmarie]

What Orders are you drawn to?

[Sister Rose Therese]

Thanks to everyone who replied and or answered the poll. OSV said that they send out their vocation issue to every school and parish, but people mustn't be putting it out if most of you haven't seen it.
I think that I had been given a copy of the Vision Guide when I was discerning my vocation. At the time the resources on the internet weren't as developed as they are now, so having the color pictures ads was nice just to get a visual. But, with the internet now, I guess that is not quite as necessary. It does look like several of you do still like to have those resources on paper. I know I do. It's nice not to have to be glued to the computer.
Thanks again. This will help me a lot.

[Hilde]

[quote name='brandelynmarie' date='27 February 2010 - 07:39 AM' timestamp='1267249147' post='2063590']
What Orders are you drawn to?
[/quote]
Mostly dominicans, but I have also visited cistercians and liked that. I have never visited the Carmelites, but I think it's radical and special and I want to investigate it further. Mostly I have felt drawn to more active orders, but I don't know for sure. I like orders with solid roots like that.

[Yaatee]

In addition to the OSV issue and the VISIONS magazine, there is the yearly issue of "A Guide to Religious Ministries for Catholic Men and Women", which is the closest think to an encyclopedic guide to religious communities, volunteer ministries, associates and secular institutes in the United States. It is available for $10.00, which includes shipping, from the Catholic News Publishing Company

The Catholic News Publishing Company,
210 North Avenue - New Rochelle, New York 10801 - PH: 914-632-1220 - 800-433-7771 - FAX: 914-632-3412 - [email="info@religiousministries.com" ]info@religiousministries.com[/email]

The same info is available at their website, www.religiousministries.com, but the book can be a little easier to navigate.

Good recent used, or barely used, copies are also available through www.bookfinder.com. Just type in [b]The Guide to Religious Ministries[/b] in the title line, and links to many copies will come up, some for as little as $3.00, including shipping. This includes issues from 2010.

Another advantage of ordering this from another bookseller is that the contents won't be visible on the cover if it's ordered from a secular bookseller. Of course, if you do order it from Catholic News, that will be on the envelope, as will the envelope that VISIONS magazine comes in. It depends if you are trying to be discreet or not.

Both The Guide and VISIONS are widely distributed for free. It seems to be that an inquiry at the local diocesan or parish office could produce a number of free copies!

Edited May 28, 2011 by Yaatee

[FutureSister2009]

I have Vision. I like to look through it but it doesn't have everything I want. I love to read other people's stories though. I'd like to read Osv now.

[MargaretTeresa]

I just put in an order for the new one!