Church websites. 95% are frankly not good enough.
A local audit I conducted this morning looking for confessions:
Parish 1: has a new page but not linked to old domain, so when you search the parish it brings up an old website and you can only get the new URL from the newsletter.
Parish 2: has been “under construction” for the last month and so has a temporary website which gives an error message when you try to download the newsletter.
Parish 3: Better website but lists the Bishops’ message for people to return to church after COVID as it’s top news item…
Parish 4: functioning website but no mention of confession time at all even in their newsletter.
Parish 5: up to date, mass times well signposted with online version of newsletter, but website looks terrible and can’t find confession times.
That’s just a selection locally and I’m sure it’s a similar picture in most areas.
Most people looking for information about their local Catholic Church will look online first.
We are neglecting one of the biggest tools we have in our missionary arsenal.
You can create a website entirely in Claude now - you don’t need to pay astronomical amounts to a web agency, or even have much skill.
What’s the issue here - is it a lack of knowledge of clergy? Lack of willing volunteers? Or a lack of caring?
“We are not trying to create panic”
but are going to keep putting out these alerts until you are panicking…
🇪🇺 The EU is telling 450 million people to pack an EMERGENCY bag.
And it has put “payments” on the same list as food, water and medicine.
On November 3, Brussels unveiled new crisis guidelines.
The rule: every household should be able to survive the first 72 hours of an emergency on its own, with a grab bag ready to go.
The 7 things the EU says you NEED to cover:
1. Food
2. Water
3. Heat and light
4. Medication
5. Hygiene
6. Information
7. Payments
Why payments?
Because card machines and banking apps NEED power and internet.
In April 2025, when Spain and Portugal lost power, card terminals went dark and people queued at cash machines that still worked.
Some countries are already going FURTHER than Brussels:
• Sweden tells people to cope on their own for a full week
• The Netherlands raised its advice from 48 hours to 72
• France published a 27-page survival guide
The EU even wants an annual Preparedness Day, starting October 23, 2027.
The guidelines are non-binding. Brussels says the goal is to avoid panic, not cause it.
But the message is clear. People are expected to have a way to pay that doesn’t depend on the grid.
If the power went out tomorrow, how would you pay for anything?