By Siobhan O’Neill Meluso
Communications Coordinator
Benedictine Sisters of Chicago

I spoke at the National Religious Vocation Conference’s Communication Skills to Promote Vocations Workshop held at Catholic Theological Union on July 23. My friend, Sr. Debbie Borneman, SS.C.M., the director of member relations and services for NRVC,  had previously asked me to present for NRVC members at the Vocation Ambassador Programs in2016 and 2017 and thought I would be a great fit for this year’s Communications Skills workshop. I specifically honed in on Instagram Stories and offered a hands-on opportunity for the vocation directors to get to know and create Instagram Stories for their followers (i.e., future discerners). As a former Catholic high school teacher and campus minister, it was fun to get behind the podium again and share my skills with such eager learners. By attending the workshop, the vocation directors showed they are very much aware that vocation promotion relies on professional communication skills and tools. I’m grateful for this opportunity to collaborate and offer my skills and experiences with another national catholic organization. This was also an excellent and humbling reminder that we are all communicators and vocation promoters in one way or another. Although I may be the only one managing the website, or posting on social media, and publishing the biannual magazine, I do know that as a community the Sisters and I are all communicators and vocation promoters. We all play an important role.