Lent 2007
by John Feister

(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.)

Q U I C K S C A N

Parish Site of the Month
Worth a Click

Welcome to Lent! For many of us in the colder climates, it’s hard to think that this word for “spring” really means that. But Lent is a time of preparation for the warmth and newness that spring will bring. As Christians, of course, it is our time to get in touch with the newness of life offered to us in the risen Christ.

How do we do it? The ancient tradition of the Church considers “three pillars” of Lent: prayer, fasting and almsgiving. We open our hearts to God and neighbor, both through examining our own life within, as well as reaching out to be in solidarity with God and other people. That’s what Christians always do, by the way. Lent is our time to renew those practices.

Your ministry on the Internet, at its best, will help people to discover the meaning of Lent and the opportunities that Lent holds for renewal. More and more, people will turn to the Internet to find out just what Lent is, and to see how people in their community observe it.

AmericanCatholic.org stands ready to help you in your important work of evangelization (outreach) and catechesis (faith formation). This year we have renewed our Lent feature (“Lent: Call to Conversion”) with daily meditations from the Catholic Update by Jesuit Father Mark Thibodeaux. Each day we also offer a practical Lenten idea, garnered from a variety of sources here at St. Anthony Messenger Press.

Multimedia is, more and more, the word for Web features. For the second time, we are featuring, from Franciscan Radio and the U.S. Bishops’ Catholic Communication Campaign, Lenten Radio Retreat, a half-hour audio show, prepared with various bishops (six in English, six in Spanish) from around the country. The first program is online now and includes next Sunday’s Gospel readings. The Sunday Soundbites series by Franciscan Father Greg Friedman is back again this year, too.

Our Lenten FAQs and other articles about Lenten themes round out our rich offering. My hope and prayer is that you and your Web visitors will use these resources both to evangelize and to enrich your own experience of Lent!

God Bless,

John Feister
Editor, AmericanCatholic.org

Parish Site of the Month

St. Philip Catholic Church (Diocese of Nashville)
Visitors to this attractive Web site can make a quick stop to read Mass times, event schedules and bulletin notes, all from the homepage's clear links. If you want to stay and browse awhile, this site has a lot to offer. There's a useful page on the basics of the Catholic faith, with the text of the Nicene Creed, a list of core beliefs and information on the sacraments, Church hierarchy, Mass and liturgical year. Also, check out the parish's most recent publications, contact forms, event photos and collection of links.

Worth a Click

Word on Fire
Father Robert Barron, author and university professor, presents Word on Fire, a "program of Catholic evangelical preaching." Check out a sermon every Sunday, and browse through the archive of past radio shows, each with a link to corresponding Scripture. You can listen online, download a podcast or burn the sermons to a CD (Take a look at the detailed instructions on how to burn a CD using iTunes.)

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