In
one of his Sunday addresses earlier this year the Pope spoke of the
need to use the internet to bring the Gospel to a hurting world: "I've
decided, therefore, to propose a big new theme for this year: The
Internet - a new forum for proclaiming the Gospel". More and
more Christian sites are being set up and I shall take you on a short
tour. Because of space limitations we shall restrict out travels to
sampling just three areas.
1. Resources
Our first stop is the Bible Gateway www.biblegateway.com
where there are 13 versions of the Bible in English plus versions
in 27 other languages, with a host of study aids and commentaries.
A site well worth visiting if you are preparing a bible study! Next
we go to New Advent www.newadvent.org
a useful site which includes an archive of church documents, a catholic
encyclopaedia and an online version of the Catholic catechism. At
Universalis, www.universalis.com
we can find the daily prayers of the church and Mass readings.
2. News
To catch up with the latest Catholic news we can pop over to ICN,
www.indcatholicnews.com,
a London site run by Catholic journalists which also provides a list
of UK events, a reflection on the Sunday Gospel and a readers' letters
section. Another good source of Catholic news and also comprehensive
information on the church in England is the Catholic Media website
www.catholic-ew.org.uk.
Clicking on www.zenit.org takes
us to the Zenit news agency for church news items from a Vatican perspective.
3. Multimedia
More and more websites are including audio and video channels, making
the web a truly 'multimedia' experience. If we would like to participate
in daily Mass but cannot get to church, we can visit www.themass.com
where each day we can see Mass direct from St Anne's Basilica, Scranton,
Pennsylvania. When we are tired of secular radio stations and yearn
to hear Christian radio we can try Premier Radio, www.premier.org.uk
or UCB, www.ucb.co.uk. Alternatively
we can watch Catholic TV from San Antonio, USA at www.catholictv.com.
Those of us who are devoted to Padre Pio will like www.teleradiopadrepio.it
with live video of services at S. Giovanni Rotondo plus coverage of
important Vatican events. Our final port of call is www.fathersloveletter.com
where we can experience life-changing words from the heart of God
in a beautiful compilation of biblical verses.
Mike Oliver
