ADRIAN, Mich. -- Eager to recruit new members to its aging congregation, the Adrian Dominican Sisters have taken their message to the Internet and TV. The advertising campaign, which includes a "Life is short. Eternity isn't" message, is aimed at 20- to 35-year-old women, according to the Associated Press.
The nation's number of nuns has dropped 57 percent from 180,000 in 1965 to 78,000 in 2001, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University.
Nuns' median age is on the rise, from 63 in 1985 to 69 in 1999, the center reported.
The marketing campaign, which uses TV, Internet, billboards and mail, isn't about numbers, Sister Corinne Sanders said. Sanders is the congregation's formation director.
"If there is a woman who may be called to religious life, does she know we're there? And can she contact us? That, for me, is the reason to become more visible," Sanders told the AP.
Since the $200,000 campaign - paid for through private donations - was launched in early 2002, the sisters have received more than 450 phone calls. Most of the calls came from commercials viewed during Oprah Winfrey's talk show, according to the AP. The congregation's Web site hits have jumped from 150 a week in March to more than 4,000 a week in May. The sisters haven't seen membership increase yet, Sanders said.
