Commission on Evangelization

Members of the Glenmary's Commmission on Evangelization design a home page
template for mission Web sites using Glenmary's five categories of ministry.
Lots of newsprint and markers!

ReachingOut.com—We've Only Just Begun

It seemed like an imposible dream: that each Glenmary parish would have its own evangelizing parish Web site. But that is what Glenmary's Commission on Evangelization (CoE) dreamed as they listened to Sister Susan Pontz's presentation "E-vangelization: Proclaiming the Good News in Cyberspace" in January 2003. With cooperation and vision from a planning committee, Glenmary's Communications Office and CatholicWeb, the project has continually evolved over the past two years. A Web site template was built around Glenmary's five categories of ministry: Nurturing Catholics for Evangelization and Outreach; Evangelization; Ecumenism; Social Outreach; and Being Connected to the Universal Church. Members of the Commission were the first group trained by instructors from CatholicWeb, who is providing freeWeb hosting for all the parish sites. The training day had two sections:

• how to use the parish Web site as an evangelization tool
• how to use the EZWeb tool provided by CatholicWeb .com to update the sites.

The same training was then offered to representatives from each Glenmary parish in their local area. Twenty-nine Glenmary parishes in five states have taken advantage of the initial series of training workshops. Parishioners and church workers from these parishes were enthusiastic about and energized by the possibilities of pursuing this ministry in their parishes.

Parishioners from four Glenmary missions in Georgia
begin working on their Parish Web sites under the guidance
of Nick Bedard, a trainer from CatholicWeb.

Here are some comments from parishioners who attended the training workshops:

• "I came (to the workshop) skeptical, left convinced!"
• "That so much is already done in constructing the Web sites through Glenmary's work. I'm surprised that so many people in rural areas actually use the Web."
• "I was surprised at the interest of all of our local (Mississippi) churches showing up! This is great! I thought I wouldn't bother with a Web site but now I will!"
• "Working on the Web site seems easier than I expected. It has wonderful possibilities. This must be a group endeavor. One person cannot do it all."
• "I'm happy to be able to present to others our mission."
• "I'm on Parish Council for evangelization, and now I have something to really get us going."

For more information about Glenmary's Reachingout.com project, contact Lorraine Vancamp, Glenmary's evangelization consultant.

For more Evangelization Updates

To return to COE home page

Pastoral Department
Home Page

For more information, contact:
Pastoral Ministers &
Pastoral Services
1312 Fifth Ave., North
Nashville, TN  37208
615-256-1900
dps@glenmary.org