June 2, 2010

Scriptural Web site debuts, aims to generate talk about God’s word

By John Gleason

A new Catholic Web site by a local woman has made its debut on the Internet.  The scriptural reflection site, www.TheStoryand You.com, went up a week ago.  Its goal is to help people think about and share thoughts on the Sunday Scriptures, according to founder Kathy McGovern.

“There are so many people who want to talk about the sacred story—what a reading means and what they can get out of it,” she said. “That is exactly what this site is for.”

McGovern, who holds degrees in both Scripture and liturgical studies, taught for 17 years at the Denver Catholic Biblical School.  Last year, while she was thinking about some way to get people talking about the Sunday Mass readings, McGovern was invited by Father Patrick Dolan, pastor at Most Precious Blood Parish in Denver, and the parish’s Director of Religious Education Rita Mailander, to write a weekly Scripture column.

“I wanted people to talk about the readings,” she said, “and what better way than through the church bulletin.”

Soon, her column was being published in weekly bulletins in more than 30 parishes and McGovern set her sights to getting it in every church bulletin in the United States—approximately 19,000.  (Parishes interested in publishing McGovern’s column can e-mail her at kathy.mcgovern@TheStoryand You.com.  Cost is one dollar a week.)

An incident last summer got McGovern thinking about expanding her horizons in hopes of reaching an even wider audience.

“I was with friends on June 25 when the news broke about the death of Michael Jackson,” she said.  “Going online my friends found the news all over the net, it was everywhere.  I read later there were so many hits on YouTube in the 20 minutes after announcement of Jackson’s death the government thought we were under attack.”

McGovern said that over the same weekend, 1.4 billion Christians heard the story of an amazing healing by Christ from the Gospel of Mark as they attended church services.  However, outside of church, there was nothing about it.
“Where was the heat this story generated, the fascination?” she said.  “Where are the questions that a story like this would bring up if we’d give it a little oxygen?”

According to McGovern, Bible stories are “smoldering wicks” just waiting for someone to breathe on them so they can catch fire. And, she thought, the best way for them to become living, breathing stories was by way of the Internet.  So on Pentecost Sunday, thestoryandyou.com was rolled out.

The site contains reflections of past readings and there is space for people to share their own comments. There are links to other reflection sites such as Creighton University Reflections, Daily Mediations, eCatechist, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Daily Readings Web page (www.usccb.org/nab). A Spanish language version of McGovern’s site can be found at www.lahistoriayusted.com.  Parishes that would like to get her weekly column for their own church bulletin can order online as well.

 In addition, the site has a link that will take people to the St. Jerome Mission about the building of its catechetical center in Juarez, Mexico.

“One of the main purposes is to get people to the mission Web site,” McGovern said.  “Begun in 2007, the mission’s goal is to bring the word of God to the people of Juarez.  Located in one of the poorest sections of Mexico, it’ll be a safe place for sacramental events such as weddings and baptisms and serves as a center for adult religious education.”

McGovern said she hopes that everyone will take time to check out TheStoryandYou.com site and share their thoughts.

“Here’s a chance to not only see the stories for what they are, but how they affect other people,” she said.