WWW.SJBC-BUFFALO.com is born ! St John's New Web Site Has Arrived

The New Website for St John’s Has Arrived & We Hope You Like It and Use It!
After many months of research to see what other churches were doing, using, and putting on their websites we finally came up with our Master List of Wants and What Nots. We found the right software and web applications for us, and we put together a team (please be sure to thank Chad Reckhard for his expert sound tech expertise and Matt Misslin for some beautiful photography) to make it the best website we could — one that would serve the needs of the parish, be able to grow with the needs of the parish, and still be really easy to use and keep up with as little effort as possible. What’s more, the art on the website is from St John’s Collections or from members of the Church, which makes it even more about our parish. It’s not a site that will ever be done, but will be constantly growing — like our parish.

Beware ! That means this is NOT your old web 1.0 website … it’s all web 2.0, which means it’s interactive and responsive — SO it automatically loads fresh daily Bible Readings, Catholic & Vatican News from all over the world, Parish News and Events, Calendars for the Various Ministries to keep track of their own comings and goings, sermons by Fr Pete that you can listen to at will, updated and fast loading Bulletins, Google Maps for visitors to find us from wherever they are …

Plus it has all the WEB 1.0 information you need like Mass Times, Contact Numbers, Staff and Organization, Parish Council and Faith Formation Contacts. All that is still here for easy access too.

But there’s more ! It’s a place to go to learn, to share learning with your family. It’s a place to go to explore the history of the Catholic faith and contemporary issues. It’s a place to go to figure things out by yourself or reach out to find someone to help you as a sounding board or just someone to listen to for perspective on spiritual issues. This website can’t do it all, but it is an extra resource you can use to further your own spiritual journey as a member of St John’s. And it can grow and change to fit what we as a parish need. For example, here’s a couple of the new things we as parishioners can do with this new website:

• There is a Daily Mass site for the sick and home bound. You can go to Mass everyday by just going online and clicking on the Mass of the Day! And if you are a Homebound Minister … you can enhance your visit by “attending” the Mass with the home bound parishioner you are visiting … most of the Masses are just 28 mins. long and when it comes time for communion you can offer communion then!
• There are extended resources for learning with text readings, videos on Catholic Faith & the Sacraments (separate versions for the older and the younger at heart) by acclaimed teachers and presenters in Catholic thought.
• There’s now Online Giving and Scheduled Giving options right from the website (see the back)!
• There’s a Spiritual Art and Historical Photos Gallery centered around St John’s Religious Art Collections and Events.
• There’s the beginning draft of an on-going History of St John’s in Words and Photos. An old saying somewhere says we won’t really have any idea where we are going, if we can’t see where we have been. Go there and meet family.

Unlike a brick and mortar’s Church, this chapel in the clouds is there whenever you need it. It is our hope you will visit often ... The door is always open, the light is always on.

So give it a try! And if you have questions call Mary Ann at SJBC Parish Office for help or feedback! If you have interest in helping with this new IT Ministry, let Mary Ann know.