In January of 2002, Pope John Paul II gave a speech entitled “Internet: A New Forum for Proclaiming the Gospel.” In this speech he spoke of the value of using the Internet as a new form of evangelization for the Church. Many people within the Church have taken up this call to arms, establishing Web sites on a wide array of topics. With the wealth of information currently available, the next question becomes how to access and process it all. It is the goal of the Catholic Web Traveler, in conjunction with Catholic Exchange, to provide you with links to the most relevant and useful Catholic Web sites focusing primarily on the areas of vocations, family life, media and the arts. We hope you find this information useful and we wish you well on your journeys around the Net!
Catholic Educator's Resource Center
http://www.catholiceducation.org/
The Catholic Educator's Resource Center (CERC) is a place to come for all those who need resources to help them develop Catholic-related educational materials. The purpose of the CERC is “to identify existing resources and to develop new resources which effectively communicate the power and beauty of Catholic faith and culture and to make these resources readily available for Catholic educators.” The web site is broken up into several areas, all of which provide extensive resources. There is a core subjects area, which covers the basics of Catholic life. There is also a current issues section, which address major topics such as abortion and social justice. All of the articles related to each of the topic matters are very informative and useful for building lesson plans. The layout of the CERC site is clean and easy to navigate. This is a good site for any Catholic-focused educator to visit.
A Catechist's Helper
http://members.aol.com/DEsteva/
The focus of A Catechist's Helper is to assist educators and teachers by providing materials primarily targeted towards junior high students. This is a non-commercial site, so everything is free to use as one sees fit. You will find materials on subjects such as praying the rosary, the creed and bible basics. Some of the subjects are broken up into a subject, summary and poster section. Check this site out for some useful catechist training resources.
Parochial School Directory
http://www.parochial.com/
The Parochial School Directory web site provides links to the web sites of Catholic K-12 schools around the world. The list is broken up into a directory-style format, either by state or country. Not all schools are listed – only those who have submitted their web sites to the directory. You will also find that some of the links are outdated. This aside, the Parochial School Directory is a good place to research Catholic schools for your children.
Nino Marchetti is a member of the parish at St. Catherine's in Burlingame, California. He is an avid web surfer who is dedicated to helping Catholics find the best information on the Internet that will allow them to live their lives more fully in the faith. If you have a web site you would like him to consider listing, or just wish to send a comment, you can email him at ninomarchetti@msn.com.
