The Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago soon will appeal directly to the public in its search for priests, launching a two-year multimedia recruiting campaign that asks men to consider the calling.
The $1 million campaign will include TV and newspaper advertising, posters in local universities and parishes and an Internet site.
One of a dozen planned billboards has been posted at Ohio and Franklin Streets, bearing the slogan, “If you’re waiting for a sign from God, this is it.”
Auxiliary Bishop Gerald Kicanas said the campaign is intended to raise the question of the priesthood with men who may never have considered it, as well as encouraging Catholic priests, parents and others to seek out potential candidates.
Kicanas said the campaign would not be possible without about $700,000 in donated services from Chicago advertising and media companies. The archdiocese has raised $80,000 of a planned $200,000 in donations for the campaign and will also seek grant money.
The campaign is one of several efforts in recent years to use the secular media along with more traditional means of reaching Catholics. The archdiocese hopes to boost the number of priests it ordains each year from a low of seven in recent years to two dozen or more.
