St. Catharines Diocese Builds A Virtual Cathedral

2/17/2012 - 5:17 PM PST

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA ADVISORY
Catholic PRWire

St. Catharines, ON (February 17, 2012) - This past week, the Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Catharines, unveiled what they are calling, their Virtual Cathedral -- a �beyond-brick-and-mortar� approach to the new evangelization.

Saintcd.com is the diocese's new prime e-real estate development. And its a towering beauty! -- buttressed in limestone and reaching the blue of the heavens. The bridge motif is striking and unique among online Catholic outposts. But perhaps not surprising considering the superabundance of bridges that stitch the fertile and picturesque Niagara peninsula together.

�In our beautiful Niagara region, where so many people come to recreate, we wanted to build a major shrine, to serve as a bridge and a signpost on the internet highway. We wish to remind people of the source of their re-creation; our loving Creator.�, says Bishop Bergie.

Like many excellent diocesan web sites, saintcd.com provides a unified platform to everything Catholic within the diocese. But what sets this one apart is its striking appearance, its unique goal to touch the hearts of travelers through its borders, and its deployment of social communication tools that allow visitors to dialogue and contribute to the on-going construction of this �cathedral�.

With weekly Youtube videos and twitters St. Catharine's local ordinary, Bishop Gerard Bergie, hopes to reach out to his flock in dynamic ways. But this outreach Bishop Bergie regards as a call to dialogue. People can respond through the use of cutting-edge tools on the site. Special emphasis is given to crafting of a silent space, where youth can listen to that small voice of God in discernment and where all people of good will can come to explore and encounter Christ in this �cathedral's� courtyard.

In the words of the project's media developer, Anton Casta, �It takes many artisans to build a place such as saintcd.com, This is not the time for us to be timid in this age of media revolution. Media is our inheritance as Catholics since it is Christ who is our First Media, the one who first shows us the exchange of persons which is the life of the Trinity. And media must always be rooted in this authentic exchange of persons if it is to build up our human family in love. I hope we've taken a bold step in incarnating this conviction.�

That fresh approach to building a living place is echoed in the diocese's media campaign entitled, Where Faith Lives, which contains among other things, a 60 second TV spot commercial that is to be aired by Salt and Light TV in Toronto. It is also available for viewing on saintcd.com.

At a time when the world tends to marginalize the Catholic Church and trivialize the western world's indebtedness to Christian culture, this beautiful �cathedral� comes as a bold restatement of the Gospel mandate to proclaim Jesus Christ to the world.

Will travelers to Niagara notice? We think so.
--
The Diocese of St. Catharines is headquartered in Thorold, Ontario, Canada. Spokesman for saintcd.com is Bishop Gerard Bergie or Chancellor Msgr. Wayne Kirkpatrick
1-905-684-0154 | bishop@saintcd.com | http://www.saintcd.com

Contact

Diocese of St. Catharines
http://saintcd.com , L2V 4Y6 CA
Wayne Kirkpatrick - Chancellor, 1-905-684-0154

Keywords

St. Catharines Diocese, Courtyard of Gentiles, Media Mission, Authenticity in Media

Rate This Article

Was this helpful to you? Very Helpful Somewhat Helpful Not Helpful at All

Would you be interested in more articles like this? Yes, I am Interested No, I am not Interested

Rate Article

0 Comments

Comments submitted must be civil, remain on-topic and not violate any laws including copyright. We reserve the right to delete any comments which are abusive, inappropriate or not constructive to the discussion.

Though we invite robust discussion, we reserve the right to not publish any comment which denigrates the human person, undermines marriage and the family, or advocates for positions which openly oppose the teaching of the Catholic Church.

This is a supervised forum and the Editors of Catholic Online retain the right to direct it.

We also reserve the right to block any commenter for repeated violations. Your email address is required to post, but it will not be published on the site.

We ask that you NOT post your comment more than once. Catholic Online is growing and our ability to review all comments sometimes results in a delay in their publication.

Name *

Email *

Comment *

Send me important information from Catholic Online and it's partners. See Sample

Post Comment