Need: Increase awareness of how ordinary parishioners use FORMED in their everyday lives
Description: St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Somonauk, IL featured an article called “Faith Formation at Your Fingertips: Hundreds of Catholic Resources Available Free to Parishioners Through FORMED.” This article primarily featured the story of Lisa Short and her family, and highlighted the many ways that she and her family use FORMED on a regular basis.
Here are some excerpts from the article:
“For Mike and Lisa Short – busy parents of four children, aged 10 and under – the convenience of being able to access the materials on their own schedule is one of the greatest benefits of FORMED. ‘You can do it on your own time, whenever it’s convenient for you,’ Lisa says. ‘For Mike and me, it’s hard to get some of the programs at church, but this we can fit into our lives whenever we get a chance. For example, we have date night once a week, and recently our date night was sitting down and listening to the Beloved program on marriage.’
Lisa also enjoys the weekly Opening the Word readings and videos, which provide parishioners with a great way to familiarize themselves with the readings before Sunday Mass. She is also excited to explore a new children’s section that was recently added to the website.
With the great wealth of resources available through FORMED, faith formation is no longer limited to a specific class offering or schedule. Instead, learning about the Catholic faith can be continuous – and truly limitless – process.”
The article ends with a call to action: “We invite anyone that has not yet explored this website to do so, and begin making faith formation a valuable part of your daily life today!”
Result: Rather than simply posting the Parish Access Code in the bulletin, St. John the Baptist Catholic Church used Lisa’s story as a personal invitation from Lisa to her parish community, which is a more welcoming way to utilize parish publications to entice users to register and begin accessing all the enriching content on FORMED.
– St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, Somonauk, IL
