Mother Teresa, Remembering 9/11 and Pet Blessings
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 back to the parish and your Web site! That may be the best way to put it for many of us after the various ways that parishes slow down over the summer and rev up again come September. Whether you’re just digging in or not, here are some upcoming events that will be of interest to a Catholic audience. As always, feel free to visit our parish link area and pick up the code for graphics for your site.

First on the list is the upcoming September 5 anniversary of the death of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Interest in her life and work remains strong among today’s Catholics. In spite of everything that’s changing, she showed us that the basic message of love remains the same. She did, heroically, what we all want to do as Christians. Our feature has biographical information and an e-card for people to share her spirit with each other.

Happening at the same time, as it does each year, is the return of our youth to the classroom. Our back-to-school feature has ways to encourage our young learners and the adults who devote themselves to their education and formation.

During the next few weeks the airwaves will fill with stories about 9/11 and how it changed our history. This year, St. Anthony Messenger has a special section to mark the tragedy’s fifth anniversary.  It features assistant editor Mary Jo Dangel’s report from western Pennsylvania (truly one of the underreported stories of 9/11); Peter Feuerherd’s interviews with New York survivors and Precious Blood Father Robert Schreiter’s challenge that all of us consider the faith questions the attack raises.

Finally, here’s a reminder to any parish that has a pet blessing for next month’s (Oct. 4) feast of St. Francis. Sharon Cross is pulling together our 2006 national Web listing and wants to hear from you!

Peace and all good,

John Feister
Editor, AmericanCatholic.org

Parish Site of the Month

Cathedral of St. Paul (Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis)
Get some great ideas for building a better parish Web site from this stunning example. Its attractive and simple layout highlights rich content: calendars, homilies, photographs and downloadable music. A section of the site just for guests and visitors has a collection of helpful links where you can get directions and Mass times, learn about the church’s history and take a virtual tour.

Worth a Click

Meditations From Carmel
The Carmelite Community at the Carmel of St. Joseph in St. Louis invites you to explore Carmelite spirituality. Brief inspirational meditations are available as podcasts and feature the writings of St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Thérèse of Lisieux and other Carmelite saints. Subscribe to the podcast to learn more, and be sure to check out the Carmel of St. Joseph photo gallery and slide show.

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