I am going to share the genesis of our website and how it has grown surprisingly in this time of pandemic. It all came about when we saw that in the two parishes of the town, especially in Sant Sadurní, the main one, for some time now, more and more life and more synergies were being generated with good pastoral fruits. We can say that the big bang The web site was launched in mid-October 2019, when we saw that it could be a good pastoral tool. And we got down to work. In November we began to lay the foundations: pray, think, discern, prioritize, program and develop. On the last Sunday of January 2020 we launched it, and we are still doing it today. From the beginning everything was very much of God and for God. And in fact, if we did not develop the website with this intention, we would close it today.
The web has grown very fast in the last month. So much so that in a month and a half, we have gone from having 1,000 visits to 10,000. This growth has a direct relation with the coronavirus crisis, it is evident. In the same way that the events are marking our day-to-day life, they are marking the "life" of our website. The coronavirus and confinement have changed us. We have all adapted our agendas, our schedules, our relationships, our work... In turn, needs have arisen and one of those needs, for Christians, is to live the faith at home and from home. So we clearly saw that we had to adapt and help them. One of those needs has been to communicate, and what we have done has been to respond to that need. The good thing? We had the website created, we were eager, we started to create.
We had to give an answer, but not just any answer. We wanted to connect with people. To connect with their real needs, interests or aspirations, even the noblest of the heart. To think and develop the proposals, at the beginning there were two of us; the mother of a teenager from the parish, a communications and publishing professional, and myself. This was the hard core, never better said. If we had already seen the need to create a team for some time, this was the perfect occasion. So I created the web team, made up of the five members of the New Evangelization team and two other people, coordinators of two important groups in the community. We realized that this time of confinement could be a time of growth.
Holding up your spirits with hope
What have we developed? I think the best thing to do is to go to the website and find out for yourself. You have it at parroquiesmontornes.org However, I will share with you some of the initiatives that have generated more impact. The first one, the Hope Diary. This is a section that includes a very brief daily writing, of quick reading (2-3 minutes), but that wants to give air while this marathon of confinement lasts. I am writing this diary with one intention: to sustain the spirits of those who will read it, with the powerful weapon that is hope. It is not a personal chronicle about the past, but a varied reflection to live this time, present and future, with meaning, and always moved by hope.
At Virtual tools there are short videos of our bishop of Terrassa and a section of videos for children of First Communion age. Seeing that the catechesis could lose the rhythm, we decided to continue at home with his family. The videos of Juan Manuel Cotelo are great for them to continue their formation.
Connecting with hospitals
We saw the need among the sick and the health care workers, and we wanted to connect with the life of the hospitals. First, to help coronavirus patients who spend so many hours alone, we launched the possibility of sending letters or drawings for the patients. We send them to the Hospital de Terrassa. Secondly, 24 hours for the LordThe pastoral course in the life of our community, promoted by the Pope, really marks the pastoral course of the life of our community. So, not being able to celebrate this event, we decided to make for three Saturdays 12 hours of prayer for hospitals. There were half-hour shifts and the people in each shift prayed for the center that would have been assigned to them, one of the seven hospitals of our diocese.
You can see more initiatives on Youtube Parroquiès Montornès. Let's continue on the web creating everything from faith and for love.
Montornés del Vallés Parish Priest
