Fiscal year 2018 was dedicated to be a Year of Vocations in the Diocese of Brooklyn.

His primary goal, and therefore DeSales’ primary goal in aiding the Diocese to carry out this work, was to increase vocations, especially vocations to the priesthood. The secondary goal was one of culture change: we wanted to spread a spirit of discernment, and increase the use of the term “vocation” among the diocese.

To support this work, we first needed to create a strong digital presence. We created a new website, Brooklyn Priests, for the Vocations Office.

We created a new website for the Cathedral Seminary House of Formation, our minor seminary here in the Diocese of Brooklyn:

And, we created a third new website entitled What’s My Calling?:

The purpose of What’s My Calling? is to answer questions that people–especially young people–may have about four of the various vocations God may be calling us to: the priesthood, the diaconate, religious life, and married life. It helps the visitor to understand what discernment is, and how the Church advises going about it. 

The microsite became our landing page for all other activities throughout the campaign, which included a social media activation, email marketing campaign, and a video that showed priests and religious as every day, athletic, relatable men. (Scroll down to watch it!)

Vocations to the priesthood skyrocketed in the Diocese of Brooklyn that year, and our Vocations Director had never had so many young men involved in his events throughout the year. This was a very successful campaign.