Contemplative nuns in Britain have launched a campaign to arrest their falling numbers and to prevent the "hidden life" becoming the "lost life".

Since the launch last month of an ecumenical campaign by the Association of British Contemplatives, more than 5000 posters have been distributed to universities and colleges, and through churches. The association includes Anglican and Roman Catholic convents.

The poster declares: "Contemplative Life for Women: Alive and Well".

Women who inquire about the contemplative life are given a leaflet which includes a list of 60 Roman Catholic and eight Anglican convents in Britain. Nuns in the "contemplative life" devote themselves to prayer and study, while those in the "active life" engage more directly with the world through work like teaching and nursing.

According to those in the campaign contacted by ENI, the first problem the campaign faces is widespread ignorance in Britain about nuns, especially Anglicans. "I didn't know people like you still existed. I thought you were wiped out at the Reformation," is a not uncommon reaction.

Numbers, however, are tiny. In 1994 (the latest figures available) there were 1174 Roman Catholic and Anglican contemplative nuns in England, Scotland and Wales, out of a total population of more than 55 million. In the same year there were an estimated 10, 000 nuns in the active life. The contemplatives had 20 recruits in 1995, but only 13 in 1996.

But Sister Mary Bernadette, superior of the Roman Catholic Redemptoristine Convent, Liverpool, who is heading the campaign, remains optimistic. "The sisterhood is a gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church, and He won't take it away," she told ENI. "It may change its form, however."

Both Sister Bernadette and her Anglican counterpart in the campaign, Sister Margaret Mary, in charge of the Society of the Precious Blood's community at Burnham, Buckinghamshire, agree that in a world saturated with sex it is harder than it was to sell the idea of lifelong chastity and virginity.

"People now are less open to the calling to give everything up," Sister Margaret told ENI. Sister Bernadette said that some recruits to the sisterhood "tell you quite openly they've had sex".

She added: "Eventually the pendulum will swing back. People will get tired of all this sex thing. Meantime, recruiting older women may be a way of keeping up numbers." She said she was encouraged by the 10 inquiries, mostly from older women, to her convent alone since the launch of the poster campaign.

Both she and Sister Margaret told ENI that it was not more difficult - in a world committed to frantic activity - to sell the contemplative life than the active life. "It's a paradox," said Sister Margaret. "Contemplatives are getting more vocations in relation to our numbers than the activists. And certainly the church needs people who pray."

According to Sister Bernadette, the qualities most needed in a nun are an ability to mix and a sense of faith: "You don't see much result. People ask you to pray for them or their loved ones, but they rarely ring up to tell you the results."

Potential recruits are invited to spend a weekend at a convent. "They often express surprise at how normal it is," Sister Bernadette said. "One was even surprised that we have tables and chairs! And dormitories have long gone. Nuns have individual bedrooms now."

Both Roman Catholic and Anglican nuns insist that there are good relations between nuns in the two churches, and the joint campaign is proof of their co-operation. None of those interviewed by ENI identified great differences in the lives of the two communities. Referring to Roman Catholic nuns, Sister Margaret said: "We are absolutely at one with them. It is as though we have found the unity in Christ which our Churches are seeking."