Parish's website wins award

By PAT PASTERNAK- | Comments: 0 | Leave a comment

It used to be that a religious education program could be judged by the number of students who came to classes once a week. Now, with internet access increasing at a phenomenal rate, the way to count how often and how many students participate could be changing.

At St. Paul the Apostle Church in Schenectady, for example, the youth ministry program has won an award for their web page (http://stpaullifeteen.catholicweb.com), designed by Mary Alice Hunt.

Within two weeks after St. Paul's LifeTeen website went "live" last Nov. 15, more than 1,100 hits were registered on the page. During December, the page had more than 2,370 hits. Such expertise earned the parish recognition from catholicweb.com for "Best Content of a Web Page."

Expert hands

According to Bob Lesnefsky, director of youth ministry at the parish, Ms. Hunt spent a lot of time and effort building the web page.

"She has a lot of expertise in that field," he said, adding that she did a thorough job of highlighting the activities that the parish's LifeTeen program generates on a weekly basis. "We are so excited to have been awarded this acknowledgement."

The website includes links to related sites, such as the Albany Diocese (www.rcda.org), the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (www.nccbuscc.org), Vatican City (www.vatican.va) and the New American Bible (www.nccbuscc.org/nab/bible/index).

Contents

The site also provides information on what the LifeTeen program is all about at St. Paul's parish, a monthly calendar of activities and services, and highlights of recent events that LifeTeen members participated in, such as:

* volunteering to spend a day at Bethesda House Soup Kitchen in Schenectady, serving breakfast and lunch, and helping to sort and organize donations,

* attending a weekend retreat at Silver Bay in the Adirondack Mountains, and

* taking part in the weekly LifeTeen Mass and social program.

Place for teens

In developing the website, both Mr. Lesnefsky and Ms. Hunt wanted a place where teens could become familiar with the LifeTeen program. They also wanted teens to know there is a safe place they can go to find others who share their interests.

"Teens are so involved with the internet today," said Ms. Hunt. "Our website gives them a Catholic-based reference to plug into and a place where they can visit, find answers to their questions and feel comfortable browsing around. It is also designed for parents who are concerned that their children are browsing in the right places."

Ms. Hunt hopes to add chat room capabilities so teens can communicate with each other, a way for teens to register for events right on the site and a newsletter for teens.

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