Casting a net for priests

New Ulm Diocese

creates web site to

offer information on

the priesthood

BY SARA SYVERSON

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- The times they are a changin.'

And when they change it's time to change with them.

The Catholic Diocese of New Ulm broke new ground during the past few years by employing a new marketing campaign for recruiting young men to the priesthood. Part of the campaign included establishing a website two years ago called "Our Men In Black."

"It's a parody off the movie 'Men In Black,'" said the Diocese of New Ulm Vocations Director Rev. Brian Oestreich, "The site promotes the diocesan priesthood for the Diocese of New Ulm. It's a recruiting and information tool. God has blessed our church by being so diverse. By using the Web and the net, this is a wonderful use of the medium to reach them."

The site, which is aimed at 13- to 24-year-olds, features the biographies and spiritual beliefs of priests of several generations, a question-and-answer section about the priesthood as well as other information.

"The questions are very basic to very in-depth," said Oestreich, "They ask what they need to ask about and what they are really interested in and their concerns."

Since the site kicked off two years ago, it has averaged about 5,000 hits per month. Users usually staying at the site for three to five minutes.

The idea for the site came from Paula Marti, direct of the Office of Communications for the Diocese of New Ulm.

The campaign to attract young men to the priesthood brought together volunteer efforts from people in New Ulm, Minneapolis, Moscow and South Africa. It involved a team of art directors, designers, writers, musicians, video editors, and Web developers who worked with each other on the world wide web.

The people participating in the campaign designed T-shirts, posters, postcards, pens, phone cards, mouse pads, caps, jackets, pencils, 15-second commercials and press releases, which were all used as part of the promotion.

In November the Diocese of New Ulm received the "Proclaim Award," a national honor, for its "Our Men In Black" poster. The award was presented by United States Catholic Conference (USCC), Washington, D.C., at ceremony during the convention of the National Association of Catholic Communications in Orlando, Fla.

"Hard work and dedication pays off," said Oestreich, "We thank the USCC for recognizing the effort we are making to use a different kind of net to serve the church in modern society. This Proclaim Award will help us prepare for a national release of this project in January 2001. The Diocese of New Ulm is syndicating this website, encouraging other dioceses to fish from the same net."

Oestreich said this campaign has proved to be a good experience for him.

"It's been an adventure, and it has put New Ulm on the map again," said Oestreich, "It's a real positive step for the Catholic Church. We've gotten positive feedback from it."

The "Our Men in Black" site can be found at www.OurMIB.org.