The website- designed by Peter’s House- is beautifully designed with high quality images, while retaining much needed simplicity.
Source: Diocese of Nottingham
Fr David Cain admits that he was sceptical when a parishioner suggested they start live-streaming Masses, during a parish council meeting back in 2019.
“I wasn’t keen at all,” he explains. “But then it got to 2020- a few days before lockdown-and parishioners, Stuart and Geoff, came to see me and they said, ‘look Father, we think we are going to go into lockdown, do you mind if we set up a little camera in the little side chapel?’ And I said, ‘don’t worry-it will all blow over!’”
But Fr David was persuaded and jokes that when lockdown was announced, only days later, he was widely praised for being so well prepared. “But it was all down to them and nothing to do with me!”
At this time, Fr David was based in Derby but now he is parish priest for the Holy Family Community in Leicester-which is made up of three separate parishes- and the community has just launched an impressive new website, marking the amalgamation of the three churches: Our Lady of Good Counsel; St Joseph’s; Sacred Heart and St Margaret Mary’s.
The website- designed by Peter’s House- is beautifully designed with high quality images, while retaining much needed simplicity to make the website user-friendly. The Mass times are front and centre, listed in a clear timeline, so that Catholics can quickly work out which Mass they can attend that weekend and where it will take place.
It also features a striking logo picturing the Holy Family in the shape of a heart, which Fr David tells me is borrowed from a parish in Kentucky, USA, with their permission, of course.
Fr David explains that Covid was a “massive wake-up call’ regarding the importance of the Church becoming more digitally prepared and engaged.
“I think that we must keep waking ourselves up as well, not just saying ‘that was great during Covid.’
“I think there are now new sorts of communities with new ways of celebrating Mass-whether we like it, or not-people love a live stream Mass. They may only be able to come to church physically, maybe once or every two or three months.”
Fr David is clearly blessed to be supported by his enthusiastic Parish Office Manager, Anne Cartwright, who is enjoying getting to grips with the new website and recognising the many ways in which it can serve the parish community. At the same time, she is keen to emphasise that simplicity is key to ensuring the website remains a success.
Holy Family’s website will not only serve as a bridge between those who cannot be physically present in the parish; both Fr David and Anne, have an ambitious vision for how it will serve in the wider call to mission.
They strongly believe that it will facilitate a better quality of communication while being a solid platform to publicise the abundance of good things taking place in their parish community.
“We’ve just started advertising for a new communications team within the parish who can write articles and share pictures on the new website and cultivate a stronger presence on social media,” Fr David tells me.
His plans also include virtual tours of the parish hall with an online booking system, a parish website app which notifies parishioners about second collections with a quick link to the donations page. But he emphasises that these plans are not immediate.
About her long-term vision for the website, Anne says that she wants it to be a window into the life of the parishes.
“I want people to look at our website and I want people to be able to see the life and joy. I want people to be able to see the life and joy that people tend to see when they come to our Masses. We are very blessed and a lot of people who come to our Masses will say-this place is so welcoming! So, when people look at our website they see a living, thriving community.”
Visit: https://holyfamily-leicester.rcdon.uk/
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