(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.)

By the time you read this issue of Web Catholic, you’re no doubt full tilt into last-minute details for Christmas celebrations. For Christians, the season is really just getting started. After weeks of joyful preparation, now we’re ready to celebrate! We’ll have Christmas, of course, and all of the holy days within the Christmas Octave (the eight days that begin on Christmas). No doubt you’ve helped your visitors understand the way the Church celebrates the entire season of Christmas. Our Christmas feature has a collection of articles, audios and Youtube clips to help you.

Our Christmas feature continues with daily reflections and activities through season’s end, the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord, after Epiphany. Christmas, of course, is a card-sending season, so I can recommend that you place a link to Catholic Greetings for your visitors. The card for Epiphany was especially popular last year. The Marian cards are also sought after.

New Year’s Day carries the weight of three celebrations: the Octave of Christmas (a day to celebrate the Blessed Virgin Mary); the World Day of Peace and Prayer (timely when one considers the state of things in the world today); and, of course, New Year’s Day, which is always a time of new beginnings. We have Web material that includes not only features about Mary, but also the 1,000 Years of Peace pledge page, where your visitors can make a peace pledge online.

A few more things to consider as you set up for 2009: January 18 begins the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity; January 19 is the national celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Those are days for us to consider stepping outside of our own world a little and learning from the experience of others. On January 22, the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade marks a day of penance for the U.S. Church, as we pray and work to end abortion.

We ourselves will be praying, on January 24, with St. Francis de Sales, patron of Catholic journalists.

As we begin the new year, we have a few questions that will help us give you better tools to help you serve your Web-site users. Please click on the link here to take a quick survey.

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year,

John Feister and Mark Lombard
AmericanCatholic.org

St. Francis of Assisi Cathedral Basilica in Santa Fe, N.M. (Archdiocese of Santa Fe)
This simple, fairly easy-to-navigate site does a good job of providing a lot of useful and specific information on the almost four-century-old parish. The top navigation bar provides basic information on parish news, Mass times, scheduling space within the parish physical plant and cathedral contacts, complete with staff photos and phone numbers. Its calendar listing appears sparse and would be strengthened by adding information found in the bulletin. The site’s left nav bar offers  viewers directions to the cathedral, photo albums of parish celebrations, inspirational readings, a place to submit prayer requests, parish ministries, sacraments, the La Conquistador Gift Shop and tour schedules of the historic structure. That history, as noted on the site, goes back to the founding of the city and the first worship space built there in 1610 by Franciscan friars. There is also extensive information on parish organizations, including the “Donut Committee” and how to get involved.

 

National Religious Partnership for the Environment (NRPE)
Here’s a site that literally is “global” in its scope while remaining “local” in its focus. The NRPE is an interfaith association of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Council of Churches U.S.A., the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life and the Evangelical Environmental Network that seeks to provide resources and vision toward the effort to “protect humankind’s common home and well-being on Earth.” The home page conveys a sense of a site well organized, does not overwhelm the user and allows easy navigation. While providing links to each denomination’s environmental concerns sites, this Web site answers users’ questions from why should faith communities be interested in ecology to how faith-filled people can get involved in the effort to protect the environment, with specific information directed to families, students, congregations and educators, among other groups. The site offers information on 10 environmental issues focused on humankind living “on the earth,” “from the earth” and “with the earth,” and statements and activities of each faith and through interfaith cooperation. There also is a section devoted to Profiles of Engagement of organizations in each religious tradition, including for the Catholic community, where “people of faith have established diverse initiatives to care for God’s creation.” If your parish or organization is looking to get involved in efforts to go “green,” this site might be a good first stop.

 

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