(If you don’t have time to read this now, please take note of the buttons on the right. They are free for the taking, for you to use on your Web site. Click on a button to pick up the html code.)

With the hectic Christmas season behind, you, like many working to make their sites more compelling for Catholics in the community, are making plans for 2009.

We at AmericanCatholic.org want to be a part of those plans to reach out to faith-filled Catholics in new and innovative ways. Among our plans are a much more dynamic home page later this year and the release on Ash Wednesday (February 25) of a new daily Minute Meditations e-newsletter.

And even this week, with the historic inauguration of a new president and the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, AmericanCatholic.org is there to provide you with tools for your site each day throughout the year. Web buttons to our new Respect Life and Top Catholic News areas bring the latest news and features to your users with a click of a button.

We’re in the midst of the special jubilee year dedicated to St. Paul, which runs until June 29, 2009, marking the 2,000th anniversary of the saint's birth. Our link to the Year of St. Paul feature offers coverage of activities in honor of the Pauline year and makes connections with the saint’s message for Catholics today.

The "Portrait of Paul" segment, focusing on the saint and the jubilee year, is one of the weekly features on American Catholic Radio. Post a link on your site to FranciscanRadio.org, home of other Catholic audio features, including Saint of the Day and Sunday Soundbites.

Link to our news feature, The Church, Evolution and Creation, to provide your site's visitors with information about Church teaching on evolution, creation and intelligent design in time for the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of his On the Origin of Species.

For St. Valentine’s Day, you can help Catholics in your community connect and celebrate faith and love through our special Catholic Greetings e-cards.

As we are begin an exciting new year, we have a few questions to ask that will help us give you better tools for your Web-site users. Please give us a hand by clicking on the link here to take a quick survey.

Peace and all good,

John Feister and Mark Lombard
AmericanCatholic.org

St. Mary of the Assumption Church in Philadelphia, Pa. (Archdiocese of Philadelphia)
This easy-to-navigate site provides useful information about the parish and its ministries while taking advantage of multimedia possibilities. The home page is highlighted by the Mass schedule, a scrolling list of upcoming events and a video of the pastor’s previous weekend’s homily with links to podcasts and video archived homilies. The site’s upbeat Parishioner of the Month, which has featured a couple celebrating their golden anniversary, a lifelong parishioner and new and newly married members of the parish, is an interesting way to focus on the people who make up the community. The site also provides users with a PDF of the parish bulletin, a link to upcoming events, videos and photo albums of parish celebrations, a listing of staff with e-mail hotlinks, sign-up to receive text messages and e-mail updates from the parish, meditative videos from the chapel and directions to the historic church. That history notes the church, built almost 160 years ago to meet the needs of the German-speaking families in the area, was constructed to resemble a hillside church in Germany. There is also a parish group-discussion guide tied to the liturgical year.

 

VISION: Catholic Religious Vocation Network
For those looking to explore the religious life, this site provides many resources and help in discerning a vocation. The site is sponsored by the Chicago-based National Religious Vocation Conference, which relates to the Conference of Major Superiors of Men, the Leadership Conference Women Religious, the Conference of Major Superiors of Women Religious and the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The VISION Vocation Network features a religious community directory, a list of dioceses for those interested in the diocesan priesthood, a collection of resources and a "vocation match" tool that pairs the user with among the 250 communities that best connects to one’s own background and interests. The site provides three blogs for users: "SpiritCitings," for discussion about how the spirit works in the world; "VocationCitings," for discussion about how Christians respond to the vocational call; and, "CultureCitings," for all things Catholic. There are also listings of retreats and other discernment opportunities, a guide for articles, resources and interactive features, an “Ask Alice” soul-searching q&a and a “Take Five for Faith” reflection for busy Catholics. If your parish or organization is looking to guide young people or those with a possible deferred vocation, this site may be the next right step.

 

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