Doing God's work on the electronic stairway to Heaven

There are numerous web sites selling community on the Internet. But the impressive award-winning virtual community set up by Father Pat aims at much more than simply being another online neighborhood.

This cyber community prays together, reads Scripture together, chats together, shares photos of special moments together, and even grieves together. Visitors are offered many options throughout the site to send in prayer requests and to sign up for Father Pat's daily morning prayer www.cin.org:81/guest/RemoteListSummary/us, a Scripture reading and meditation listserve available through the Catholic Information Network going out to over 4,000 separate e-mail addresses each day.

In the chat room, anyone can bring up a topic of interest or concern. And through the online cancer and grief support groups, even a suffering soul on the other side of the globe from this Catholic community of 10,000 in the Diocese of La Crosse, Wisconsin, can find comfort and fellowship.

"This is indeed a ministry," explained Father Pat in an e-mail interview. "Some of our members belong to no other Church, although I always encourage them to get involved at the local level."

Even the adjectives that come to mind in describing St. Bron's Web site--warm, friendly, comfortable, helpful--reflect properties of being a "real" community. It is hard to imagine anything lacking that will make this "virtual" fellowship more real.

The Web site's welcome page is colorful and easy to navigate with an extensive menu bar on the left of the screen listing both on-going ministry links and timely ones, such as "Easter links" or a "Dia de los Muertos" page. The web master even painted the pages green for St. Patrick's day.

Many of the pages have music and still or moving pictures--like the thumbnail sized image of Oliver Hardy getting hit in the face with a snowball--but they remain simple to navigate and fast to download.

Although Saint Bronislava's web page describes itself as the "CyberSide" of its Plover, Wisconsin, counterpart, there is truly a cyber-community existing quite aside from the "real" one that Father Pat pastors.

"It's necessary for the Church to be where the people are. There are lots of people in cyber-space, and there's lots of information for them there... some of it good, some of it not so good," Father Pat declared.

"There are lots of people with questions, too, and many who are no longer practicing their faith. Our site provides a place for them to go."

Father Pat said he believes that "every parish that has a bulletin should have a web presence as well. It could be simpler than ours, but would be a place for parishioners and non-parishioners alike to access basic parish information."

Like hundreds of other parishes already online, the St. Bron's page provides functional information on the parish such as a schedule of services, information on the parish and its staff, and even a bingo schedule--with an advertising for free coffee and popcorn. But this online congregation comes alive through its many other options.

For example, the "Away at School Page," a link probably set up to remain connected to the youth of the parish who are away in college, is not confined only to St. Bronislava parishioners. The page offers a weekly spiritual reflection, a prayer page, a prayer book, links to colleges where students attend, Christian music quotes and links, another option to sign up for daily morning prayer by e-mail, and a variety of "fun" links--from a Prairie Home Companion to the National Right to Life Committee and the La Crosse bishop's pastoral letter on HIV/Aids.

A click on it's Menu page will offer links that are both educational and entertaining, nformative and useful. If it's been suggested, it was created--from information on annulments, reconciliation and infertility to historic parish photos, links for HIV/Aids support, grief support and youth ministry.

Are you a Catholic who has not gone to confession in years? Drop by the reconciliation page for a cheat sheet to guide you through the process. Need information on the Catholic Church or simply need to talk? Step into the chat room or write Father Pat, the web master, directly. Are you, like Father Pat, coping with cancer and looking for support? Click the grief or cancer support links.

There is even a "Book Choices" page with recommended books and a Barnes & Noble keyword search and link option and a brief history of St. Bronislava, who is, I learned, the cousin of St. Hyacinth and Blessed Chester, born in Silesia in the early 13th century.

"As the needs of people have arisen, we've added to our site," noted Father Pat. "This has evolved very naturally. It will continue to grow as the needs of people continue to present themselves."

This Web site has earned the many awards it has received, including the "USA Today Hot Site," the "Web Surfer's Choice Home Page of the Year finalist," "The Golden Grail Award," and the "Virtual Reality Mall Pick of the Day for Christmas Day."

A sister page to St. Bron's Web site is its creator's homepage, "Father Pat's Place: a Catholic Priest in Wisconsin" (www.frpat.com).

In a simple and laid back design, Father Pat's page offers information about his own life and the road that led him to priesthood. It also offers information on his favorite author, Mark Twain, and another opportunity to sign up for morning prayer by e-mail.

Although this Web site shares many common pages with St. Bron's homesite, an important element of Father Pat's web page is his emphasis on his personal story as vocation--and throughout the site he offers sources on vocations as well as many opportunities to write him directly (frpat@frpat.com).

Two years ago Father Pat began to send morning prayers to staff members of St. Bronislava. They, in turn, shared these Scripture/meditations with others and the numbers grew. Father Pat, now a member of the HTML Writers Guild, used a Microsoft program to teach himself how to design Web pages where he posted Mass schedules and other parish information. The rest is history.

Father Pat spends approximately four hours a day maintaining his ministry on the World Wide Web--answering e-mail from around the world; adding new material; and sending out morning prayer in time for his European parishioners to receive it when they get up in the morning.

With over one hundred pages, the St. Bron's site is so extensive and so frequently updated that it is impossible to list all of its features and be up-to-date. Even if you don't sign their enormous guest book or check out any of their many available links, drop by this site. Like the potato chip television commercial, it will leave you with a one-word response: "Wow!"