The days of the stale parish website are over.
The Sunday Mass times that haven’t been updated in years? Gone.
The Christmas schedule that’s still prominently posted in July? Deleted.
The outdated pancake breakfast information? Replaced by this week’s Alpha program and the latest B.C. Catholic news and commentary.
All of that musty content will soon be disappearing as more and more parishes in the Archdiocese of Vancouver unveil new websites that offer an inviting and enjoyable user experience.
On the front end will be fresh, dynamic, and beautiful parish pages, with up-to-date parish info, news from the archdiocese, and engaging news and commentary from respected sources around the world.
But it’s at the back end that the real miracle is taking place with the creation of an integrated digital platform that has been years in the planning, development, and execution.
It’s called Tilma, and it’s the creation of two West Coast archdioceses and a Lower Mainland creative design firm that happens to be populated by a number of talented Catholic creative types.
The initiative got underway when the Archdiocese of Los Angeles reached out to the Archdiocese of Vancouver, asking for our collaboration in developing a technology platform for the Americas aimed at “making Ecclesia in America” a reality.
Ecclesia in America was Pope John Paul II’s 1999 apostolic exhortation in which he put forward the Church’s mission of bringing the new evangelization to America.
Tilma’s vision is to evangelize the “digital continent” by developing tools that better connect, inform, and mobilize the laity and clergy.
Using St. Juan Diego as its patron, Tilma wants to accomplish in 2018 what Our Lady of Guadalupe did in the 16th century: bring about the evangelization of the Americas. She did that using the miraculous tilma of Juan Diego. The modern-day Tilma is designed to do the same thing.
The Fort Langley-based Glass Canvas that built Tilma developed the nuts and bolts operating system as well as the sleek design that is now evident on new parish websites such as Corpus Christi, Our Lady of Good Counsel, St. Anthony’s, West Vancouver, St. John the Apostle, and St. Nicholas.
The parishes that have come on board so far are already excited about the newer, friendlier look and feel of their sites. They hope that as parishioners (and non-parishioners) start exploring, the sites will help them grow in their faith.
That’s exactly Tilma’s goal, because as great as a new parish website is, it’s nothing if it’s not helping to draw people closer to Jesus.
One of Archbishop Miller’s Priorities and Goals is to help Catholics continuously grow closer to Jesus. Another is to help parishes thrive and renew themselves by freeing up pastors from tasks that pull them away from priestly priorities.
Tilma helps with both of those priorities by helping priests spend more time on their chief responsibilities – people – while the Tilma platform looks after the hosting and connecting of parish communities with one another.
Tilma will help streamline everything from bulletins to donations. It will promote the priorities of pastors and parish leaders. It will link parishes not only with the archdiocese
but with partners across the continent. It will offer premier news and opinion
from The B.C. Catholic, as well as from trusted contributors from across Canada
and around the world, including Catholic News Agency and eventually EWTN, ChurchPOP, and The National Catholic Register.
Feel free to check out some of the new parish sites, even if you’re not a parishioner. You may find yourself wanting to bookmark a new portal to the new evangelization.
pschratz@rcav.org
twitter.com/paulschratz
