• The New York Times, Tuesday, April 15, 2008 10:16 AM

When Pope Benedict XVI visits St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y., on Saturday for a prayer service and youth rally, priests, nuns and seminarians will mingle with 20,000 young people hoping to plant a seed for vocations. There will be flashy videos, with stirring sound tracks starring fearless priests. Goody bags will include glossy post cards of the pontiff emblazoned with the word "Willkommen!"--and the Web address nypriest.com, the seminary's recruiting site.

Officials of the archdiocese do not apologize for embracing Madison Avenue marketing to counter a sharp decline in vocations. An increasingly materialistic culture, reluctance among the young to accept celibacy, and anger over the church's handling of sexual abuse scandals have all contributed to the drop, the officials say.

The archdiocese is sending its schools posters that say, "The World Needs Heroes," including one of black-clad priests crossing an intersection--looking like "Going My Way" meets "Reservoir Dogs." "If we don't sell the priesthood, we can't legitimately ask a young man to consider the priesthood as a vocation," says Rev. Luke Sweeney, director of vocations for the archdiocese.

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