St. Benedict’s Parish has launched a second generation website designed to bring parishioners together for interaction and exchange on the Internet.
The parish’s old website had become antiquated and lacked the latest developments in computer technology.
With that in mind, Father James Collins, associate pastor at St. Benedict’s, called on parishioner Bailey Provetto for help. Provetto is a graphics designer who also runs the St. Benedict’s Playhouse for young children.
“I think that it’s important for the church and parish to reach out to people, so we can be in touch,” Collins said. “One of the ways we do this is through computer technology. We’re a very large parish and sometimes when you have such a big organization, people become disconnected.”
Provetto has designed a website that appeals to the full spectrum of parishioners, a website that addresses all facets of church life.
“Bailey had done such a great job with the Playhouse website, we thought that it would be great to have similar web pages for [the rest] of the church,” Collins said.
The new website lists Mass schedules and the church calendar. It also includes information on St. St. Benedict’s School, the parish’s religious education program and the North East Bronx Senior Center.
“We wanted the website to reflect all the things we do,” Collins explained.
The website – stbenedictchurchnyc.clubspaces.com – tells a history of the parish, thanks to church historian John Jones, a St. Benedict’s parishioner for his entire life.
“[Jones] will write a history of the parish and put it onto our website,” Collins said. “It will include his remembrances. We will have people in the parish share their own memories as well. In addition, he will work on a history of Terrance Cardinal Cook, who grew up in the parish and graduated from the eighth grade in our school.”
The Vatican is considering Terrence Cardinal Cooke, who led the Archdiocese of New York from 1968 to 1983, for canonization as a saint, Collins said. St. Benedict’s parishioners are proud..
In addition to information on programs inside the parish, the website boasts links to websites for the Archdiocese of New York and the Vatican.
“If you click around the pages, you’ll find that there’s a lot going on at St. Benedict’s,” Collins said.
Reach reporter Patrick Rocchio at 718 742-3393 or procchio@cnglocal.com
