Photos: Vijay D'Souza

Mangaluru, Jul 17: In a significant move to bring parishes into the digital age, the Commission for Social Communication of the Diocese of Mangalore organised a workshop titled "No-Code No-Cost Website for Parishes" at Shanthi Kiran Hall, Bajjodi, Mangaluru.

The event witnessed the enthusiastic participation of 135 representatives from 86 parishes, including priests, religious sisters, lay leaders, parish media team members, parish convenors of the Social Communication Commission, and other enthusiasts. All were eager to explore the potential of Google sites for managing parish websites without incurring any cost or requiring coding skills.

Fr Anil Ivan Fernandes, Diocesan Secretary of the Commission for Social Communication, led the workshop along with  Kevan Nandan D'Souza, Leo Victor Zalki, and other resource team members. The interactive sessions provided hands-on experience, allowing participants to bring their laptops and pre-prepared website content in line with the provided site map.

Participants were given a choice to select from a variety of website templates created by the Commission's resource team members. This allowed them to customize their chosen template with their parish details, ensuring a personalized and relevant online presence. Some of the google sites templates were made of www.cccmangalore.in , www.scayogmangalore.in , www.stmartinchurchbelvai.in, www.narampadychurch.in, www.stpaulchurchbalakunje.in  and www.stantonychurchnaravi.in 

In his introductory talk, Fr Anil Fernandes highlighted the necessity of parish websites in the modern age for the digital documentation of pastoral activities. Fr Anil said, “The workshop was inspired by a recent survey commissioned by Most Rev. Dr Peter Paul Saldanha, Bishop of Mangalore. In his July 2024 message on INTERNOS, the Bishop emphasized that a website serves as the virtual face of the parish community. He revealed that out of the diocesan parishes, 35 have active websites, 19 are inactive, and 70 lack a website entirely. The Bishop called on all parishes to maintain an active online presence.

Fr Anil Fernandes also guided participants in using Canva for graphic design tools to create content, logos, and social media posters and videos. He provided training on best practices in creating and managing a website, covering technical details such as custom themes, design principles, content moderation, image compression, SEO techniques, and some AI tools.

Kevan Nandan D'Souza guided the participants through the Google Sites editing interface and tools required to build and update a Google Site, while Leo Victor Zalki discussed the process of buying a domain name and integrating it with the website.

The program was coordinated by Fr Trishan D'Souza, Sr Grace Bennis, Mr Wilson Pereira from Beluvai, Sumitha D'Souza from Naravi, Ashwin D'Souza, Dr Rohan Monis, Roshan Glen D'Cunha from Gurpur, Fr Sunil Miranda and Vijay D'Souza.

By the end of the workshop, participants successfully launched and made their parish websites live, marking a significant step forward in the digital transformation of parishes in Mangaluru.