A message from Fr. Charlie
Fr. Charlie V. Lachowitzer, Pastor
The Truth of Communications
I remember when the “Pastor’s Message” in parish bulletins was only available to those who went to Mass, took a bulletin and actually read it. Meanwhile, Catholic school students doing service projects or a dedicated group of daily Mass attendees, put flyers into every bulletin.
Announcements at Mass were needed to promote important events in the parish, especially if more volunteers were needed.
Then came the national statistics that were no surprise to parish maintenance staff who had to throw away the leftover bulletins from the weekend Masses.
According to the survey, only a small number of registered households actually took and read the bulletin. For example, in a parish of 1200 addresses, on any given weekend, only 133 people took a bulletin. Again according to the survey, only 44 people actually read part of it and only 14 people read all of it. (We are actually doing slightly better than those numbers at St. Gerard’s.)
With a significant reduction in the number of bulletins printed in many parishes, parish staffs debated whether all the time and effort to produce content every week was worth it. The announcements at Mass grew and grew.
Now because of amazing technology, a pastor’s column on the parish’s website can be viewed by anyone in the world.
Today, a quality website requires resources far beyond the bulletin. As the primary tool of parish communications, everything from information on specific events, volunteer opportunities, signups and registrations are all on the website. There is no longer any debate among the staff of parishes about the necessity of generating each week the content needed for an electronic bulletin. Now the challenge is to get more people to go to the website.
A parish’s bulletin is free, paid for by generous advertisers (thank you!) and is but a snap shot of what is on the website. Today when I write my bulletin message, it too goes on the website and is sent to the subscribers of Flocknote.
You may have noticed that I like to keep the announcements at Mass limited and often refer to our website. The truth of electronic communications is the same as with the paper bulletins, it is only more effective when more people read it.
God bless you for reading this!
Fr. Charlie Lachowitzer, Pastor
I remember when the “Pastor’s Message” in parish bulletins was only available to those who went to Mass, took a bulletin and actually read it. Meanwhile, Catholic school students doing service projects or a dedicated group of daily Mass attendees, put flyers into every bulletin.
Announcements at Mass were needed to promote important events in the parish, especially if more volunteers were needed.
Then came the national statistics that were no surprise to parish maintenance staff who had to throw away the leftover bulletins from the weekend Masses.
According to the survey, only a small number of registered households actually took and read the bulletin. For example, in a parish of 1200 addresses, on any given weekend, only 133 people took a bulletin. Again according to the survey, only 44 people actually read part of it and only 14 people read all of it. (We are actually doing slightly better than those numbers at St. Gerard’s.)
With a significant reduction in the number of bulletins printed in many parishes, parish staffs debated whether all the time and effort to produce content every week was worth it. The announcements at Mass grew and grew.
Now because of amazing technology, a pastor’s column on the parish’s website can be viewed by anyone in the world.
Today, a quality website requires resources far beyond the bulletin. As the primary tool of parish communications, everything from information on specific events, volunteer opportunities, signups and registrations are all on the website. There is no longer any debate among the staff of parishes about the necessity of generating each week the content needed for an electronic bulletin. Now the challenge is to get more people to go to the website.
A parish’s bulletin is free, paid for by generous advertisers (thank you!) and is but a snap shot of what is on the website. Today when I write my bulletin message, it too goes on the website and is sent to the subscribers of Flocknote.
You may have noticed that I like to keep the announcements at Mass limited and often refer to our website. The truth of electronic communications is the same as with the paper bulletins, it is only more effective when more people read it.
God bless you for reading this!
Fr. Charlie Lachowitzer, Pastor
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The Church of St. Gerard Majella
9600 Regent Avenue North Brooklyn Park, MN 55443 Phone: 763-424-8770 Fax: 763-424-4327 Weekend Service Times Saturday 5:00PM (English) Sunday: 8:00am (Vietnamese) Sunday 9:30AM (English) Sunday 11:00AM (English) |
