The Baptism of The Lord
11 January 2004
Dear Friends in Christ,
Since the New Year began, our old parish website and therefore our email system have been out of operation. If you have attempted to contact a member of our staff by email since January began, please know that the message did not reach us (with the exception of those who do not use the "stmarysgvl.org" address), and you will need to call the church office with your message. This inconvenience, however, is about to end. For almost a year now, a small group of professionals (most of them volunteers) have been working hard to create a new website for St. Mary’s, and by early this week that new site will be available at our same old address: "www.stmarysgvl.org":http://www.stmarysgvl.org.
Our new website is designed to be both a tool of communication and an instrument of evangelization, and I’m delighted with the work our team has done. In fact, I believe that we now have one of the finest church-based websites in the nation, and I invite all of you to have a close look at the many pages of our new electronic face. Take time to linger over both the written texts and the splendid photographs; such a stroll through the new site will help you grasp the enormous size and complexity of our parish and make it easier for you to find your individual niche in this corner of the Lord’s vineyard. One feature we hope to make especially useful for you is the Calendar of Events, a link to which appears on the home page. It will take our staff a little time to load into this calendar all of the meetings and activities that take place on our campus, but I hope you’ll begin now to get into the habit of browsing our site regularly to keep up to date about what’s happening at St. Mary’s.
This new website joins the completely redesigned parish newsletter, The Sacred Heart Herald, as a part of our effort to keep all parishioners informed and involved in the life of the church. We invite everyone who calls St. Mary’s their spiritual home to become an integral part of the Christian worship, study, service, and recreation that take place on our campus every day of the week. But while we want everyone involved, mere activism is not the goal. The point of solemn liturgy is not beautiful ceremonies; it’s changed lives. Likewise, the point of an impressive communications campaign is not enhanced activity; it’s the ever deeper union of heart and mind with the Lord Jesus which is the goal of all discipleship. In the service of the New Catholic Reformation, we invite you to plunge into our newsletter and website, but only so that you’ll know more deeply what it is to be plunged into the life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Father Newman