I have added to the webography a link to the website Orthodoxy in America, which has an ingenious church locater, a very valuable tool for locating Orthodox parishes in the United States and Canada.
I found this to be a very good website. It gives one a taste of how Orthodox Churches present themselves on-line. This seems to be a very valuable way of letting others know that they're out there as well by offering many teaching tools through their website. I found loads of different Church sites that offered books on-line. As well you learn about many golf tournaments, dances, car and house raffles to raise money, etc. There seems to be a pattern for jurisdictional representation. One notes that there are a multitude of OCA parishes on-line, then the Greeks are the next highly represented followed by a toss up between the Russians and Antiocheans. Others, including Serbians, Bulgarians and Ukranians don't have many Church websites or much representation "on-line" in comparison. For one doing the "Orthodox crawl" across North America, this sites for you.
You're quite right that a site such as the one in question serves a very valuable purpose by rising above jurisdictional and ethnic lines, and often offering a service that parishes themselves don't provide.
One of the reasons I began this little blog was to help point people to the riches that can be found online. One just needs to know where to look, and one can find just about anything.
I really do think it is a good idea for parishes to have websites. Not just for the reasons you mention, but also for really practical questions like when the services start, directions, where parking is available, contact info, and the like.
I have to admit, though, that I thoroughly sympathize with the old new-Luddites who populate our church and still likely have little to no idea what "going on-line" means. We shouldn't forget just how new this technology is, and so should be slow in judging those who haven't made use of it.
I found this to be a very good website. It gives one a taste of how Orthodox Churches present themselves on-line. This seems to be a very valuable way of letting others know that they're out there as well by offering many teaching tools through their website. I found loads of different Church sites that offered books on-line. As well you learn about many golf tournaments, dances, car and house raffles to raise money, etc. There seems to be a pattern for jurisdictional representation. One notes that there are a multitude of OCA parishes on-line, then the Greeks are the next highly represented followed by a toss up between the Russians and Antiocheans. Others, including Serbians, Bulgarians and Ukranians don't have many Church websites or much representation "on-line" in comparison. For one doing the "Orthodox crawl" across North America, this sites for you.
ReplyDeleteYou're quite right that a site such as the one in question serves a very valuable purpose by rising above jurisdictional and ethnic lines, and often offering a service that parishes themselves don't provide.
ReplyDeleteOne of the reasons I began this little blog was to help point people to the riches that can be found online. One just needs to know where to look, and one can find just about anything.
I really do think it is a good idea for parishes to have websites. Not just for the reasons you mention, but also for really practical questions like when the services start, directions, where parking is available, contact info, and the like.
I have to admit, though, that I thoroughly sympathize with the old new-Luddites who populate our church and still likely have little to no idea what "going on-line" means. We shouldn't forget just how new this technology is, and so should be slow in judging those who haven't made use of it.