www.byzcath.org Forums Church Website

I am presently re-doing our Church website. I am open to ideas. Right now we are looking to change the first page on the site. Our focus is evangelization. We want anyone and everyone in our area to come to our Church.

Suggestions are welcome.

Here is the site:
https://www.byzcath.org/fortpierce/

Already stunningly attractive! I like the style, it's impressive! Just open it up a little on the first page...less text and more art.

I would suggest mentioning that the saints were named co-patrons of Europe by His Holiness Ioannes Paulus II, honoring their seminal work leading to evangelizing fully half of Europe.

Double-check the spelling of Methodius/Methodios, does that spelling match the parish name? It seems unusual.

I think people like pictures. Better plan for a big gallery of photos, especially of father Michael giving blessings and such.

Good job!

Michael

Ray,

Stunning website!

I would love to be able to enlarge photos from the thumbnail view, right now it is set to display the same size image as the thumbnail. It's hard to see the beautiful iconography on a tiny thumbnail!

Next, the Parish History page is written in white text which makes it difficult to read on the gray background. Maybe a darker colour would read better?

Personally, I would love to see a welcome screen with a note from the Pastor and an image of your Bishop - a hierarchy page, if your will...

Maybe a link to the other Eastern parishes, both Byzantine and others, in your area?

Maybe a Calendar of feast/fasts with the Saint of the Day and his/her bio?

Possibly the text of the Liturgy/Vespers/Matins and if your parish can afford it - Live Internet Feed of the Divine Liturgy/Vespers/Matins? - That would be spectacular!

Maybe a page where an inquirer could email the Pastor or other clergy and/or an FAQ?

That's all I have cooked-up for now...

I think we are going to do that. I am looking into easy ways of doing that. I might use: Online Calendar [webcalendar.sourceforge.net]

Overall, a very attractive website.

I would suggest that you left-justify the Parish History page. Especially with short column widths, the word spacing tends to be unattractive. Also, fully justified text tends to be just slightly more difficult to read.

I love the idea of the "Why I'm a Byzantine Catholic" page!

Sophia

I noticed that you said you have an interest in making a Byz Cath calendar, which is one of my goals as well. I desire to make a fully integrated calendar which has the daily lectionary, the saints (with bios), the troparia and kontakia with musical notation, the feasts, the fasts, and the so on. I am currently referencing the following websites to gather together all that info:

Typicon:
http://www.patronagechurch.com/Typicon/2006/Typicon%20Frame.htm

Lectionary:
http://www.archeparchy.ca/liturgy/lectionary.htm

Troparia and Kontakia:
http://users.netmatters.co.uk/davidbryant/C/TropKon/TP.htm

Menaion:
http://www.metropolitancantorinstitute.org/Publications

Synaxarion:
http://www.comeandseeicons.com/icons.htm

Do you (or does anyone else) have any interest on a collaborative effort? It is my goal to make the calendar itself available without charge to any others who wish to use or host it once it is finished. It would make the work much less daunting if it was shared between many.

Upon further reflection, I made the above its own thread. It can be seen here :
https://www.byzcath.org/cgibin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=2&t=004063

Glory be to Jesus Christ!

Ray,

I recently found the thread about your church website and just finished perusing the site. Very impressive, both visually and in the amount of information provided. If you don't mind a bit of constructive criticism, I have only one suggestion: you may want to edit or delete some of the posts in the "Why I am a Byzantine Catholic" section. While some of the stories are certainly inspiring, a fair number of them seem to be more about "Why I fled the Roman Church" than "Why I joined the Ruthenian Church."

One contributer notes, for instance, that "One change (in the Roman Church) that bothers me very much is that the tabernacle has been moved, either to the side of the altar or in a separate room, instead of in the middle of the altar, where it should be the focal point... so when I go to my Byzantine Catholic church, I see the tabernacle right there in front of me, I take a deep breath and say to myself, now I am home in God's house." The author seems to imply that because the tabernacle has been moved, the Roman Church, unlike the Byzantine Church, is no longer "God's house."

Another contributor laments that "In the sixties after the first Vatican Council, I felt as though everything I knew was gradually disappearing. I no longer felt happy going to church. The Mystery of the Mass had lost its Mystery and most of the spirituality I loved."

Finally, one contributer says nothing at all about the Byzantine Church; his entire 'story' is a diatribe against the Roman Church: "I switched from the Roman Rite for some of the following reasons -
l. Holy Eucharist downgraded by lay people distributing Communion and Communion taken in the hands.
2. The words of the consecration have been altered, ex., consecration of the wine the word. Many has been changed to all.
3. Protestant hymns and usage of Protestant terms like Minister and Parochial Vicar.
4. Priests switching from traditional black suits to gray and even brown.
5. Protestant ministers helped shape the new Mass.
6. Priests not using the stole when performing their priestly function, example, confession.
7. Women of all ages on the altar.
8. No. 7 is a prelude to women priests."

So the Body of our Lord is now "downgraded" because it's received in the hand? Don't get me wrong; I'm a Byzantine Catholic who loves the Church, the faith, the liturgy, and the mystery of the Christian East. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. But considering that evangelizatioin is such a pressing conern for our Church, I feel obligated to adress this section of your website. As one who recently converted from Protestantism, I can say that I would personally find Byzantine Catholicism undesirable if it were ordinarily characterized by such blatantly anti-Roman sentiments. Some people do, in fact, join an eastern Catholic Church because they're drawn to it, not because they're fleeing the Roman Church. The casual observer might be led to ask, "If these people are leaving the Roman Church because they believe all of these things are wrong with it, why are they still Catholic?" Those to whom we reach out need to realize that one of the most striking testaments to the Church's true catholicity is its willingness to embrace, accept, and attempt to understand a variety of liturgical and theological expressions (both eastern and western) that ulitmately profess one faith.

Please forgive my rambling and my boldness. For the sake of much-needed evangelization, I feel compelled to offer a criticism (hopefully constructive) of this section of the site. Otherwise, I think it's very well done, and I commend you for taking the time to make it. If only the website for my own parish came close to yours in depth and beauty!

May God bless you abundantly in all your endeavors,

Chris

Ray,

Good job so far! Maybe you could put some videos with you, your priest, or another parishioner explaining the Icons, parts of the Liturgy, significance of the Sanctuary and Tabernacle, and other things that are peculiar to the Ruthenian Church.

You have to assume that the average "Joe Twelve Pack" knows nothing about the Eastern Church... because he doesn't!

I second the notion that the pictures are too small even when clicked on. They should come up in a new page that fills the screen, at least that's what I want to see.

Once again, good job so far!

Another good thing to do would be to have your own website and not piggyback on another website. I hope I don't get kicked out of here for that!

But it looks more professional to have a website like www.stscyrilandmethodiusflorida.com [stscyrilandmethodiusflorida.com] or .org or .net than a piggybacked one. And, it's easier to remember.

If you are reading this, I need your help!

I created a demo test of a virtual tour of the Church. I would appreciate those who read this to click on this link:
Church Tour - Test

Please let me know:
1. Did it work?
1. How long it take to load for you?
2. Did you hear the audio?
3. How do you connect to the internet (i.e. dialup, cable modem, DSL, LAN, etc...)?
4. What operating system and web browser are you using?

Many Thanks!

One side note: Please don't visit the site more than once because don't want to hammer the admins server with unnecessary traffic.

Also, if this works I can show everyone how they can make the same thing for their Church.

Looked good! Detailed report coming via PM.

Ray,

It worked, it looks good, I have DSL.

My only "complaint" is that the caption of the Cherubic Hymn went too fast and I couldn't read all of it.

Otherwise, it was great! Are you going to use more photos?

Dr. Eric

Loaded instantly with my cable modem. Looks and sounds great.

I forgot to add I'm using Windows XP and Mozilla Firefox.