PAWG

On Thursday 9th October a meeting was held for the Pastoral Area Working Group. I was in attendance and it was most enjoyable. There were representatives of all parishes within the PA and three priests. Father Grant chaired the meeting and his enthusiasm was as inspirational as ever, seeming to glue the whole thing together. Well he is pastoral leader.

I didn't say anything, I just listened intently. Father Grant introduced the agenda for the meeting and highlighted the possible areas of consideration for the committee. This opened up an interesting debate in which members of the committee gave their views on what needed to be focused upon. It became clear that there are many things that could be improved upon within the catholic church to make it more accessible to all ages. Today was not to discussed what was to be improved, it was more of a litmus test to see what would come up in the meeting.

One issue could be combined from many that were opined throughout the evening. The one being that we need to regain the attention of certain age groups after communion and confirmation. Young families were discussed, both the children and parents within them. Another group that a member picked up on was the late 20s to 40s age group. Why aren't there more like me who come back to the church at my age? I feel this is the age where you can gain a true understanding of the faith, fully appreciate and gain the maximum out of it.

The issue of the schools role in faith was another problem identified. That it appears to be excellent at teaching the theory of the faith, but not how to put it into practice. No particular schools were exemplified, it was just a general opinion that arose during the meeting.

The whole point of the Pastoral Area group is for all Parishes to put their faith into practice together, shedding the insular nature of Parishes past. The enthusiasm within this camp gives me great hope that we will be able to turn actions into words. There are people with a wide range of experiences ranging from teachers, to social workers, to web designers and civil servants (guess who that is). Young and old. Roll on November 27th, the next meeting.

Did You Miss Me?

It's been a good few weeks since my last post. There's been Lourdes and moving house in between that. I've taken loads of video footage and pics, enough for a whole Lourdes section.

The Video section is finally complete. The videos have been on Youtube for a month now and are finally accessible on the website itself. Here's some insight into how a video gets from my video camera to the website:

• Video is imported onto an application called iMovie, part of the iLife application package made by a wonderful company called Apple;

• Imported video is then edited using iMovie. Music, voiceovers and titles can be added as appropriate;

• Once finished, the movie can be uploaded straight on to youtube for the world to see. A movie title and description is added with keywords, so when a user puts a specific search phrase on youtube, our movie might just pop up;

• An icon is created for the video and placed in the appropriate video page;

• A separate video page is created that contains the video in question with title and description. There are also links to take you back to the associated video menus.

The "getting it on the website" part is probably the most tedious part of the process. It involves resizing images into the blue boxes that you can see throughout the site. It is worth it though, as it is a great user-friendly method of site navigation.

The best part is the editing. It's a lot of fun adding voice overs and picking the right music for a piece. Perhaps you'll disagree with my choices but I just picked what I know.

Video Section Continuation

Vidiblog

Thought it would be quicker to record a videoblog than type up a blog. I am still waiting for the vidiblog to be processed so I can put it on this page. May as well type up a couple of sentences whilst I am waiting. Sorry I didn't get round to getting the video section up and running as I intended.

It's been a busy week. Had a meningitis scare on Tuesday after noticing a rash on my arm that didn't fade using the glass test. Went to a walk-in centre, A&E (after being referred to by the walk-in) and my GP (the following morning for a third opinion) to have it checked out.

Thursday, had dinner with my Dad and we watched Sweeney Todd together. Friday, attended a wedding party of Sophie's Aunt's. Fantastic buffet at Aintree racecourse with a chocolate fountain.

Saturday, went to a concert in Leeds with a friend based in Stockport. Had a chat with the keyboard player of the band Frost* and he signed my CD. Very nice guy. The other band I went to see, Spock's Beard, were very good too.

The vidiblog has now been published so I can stop gabbing by text now. Goodnight.

Video-a-go-go

Made a significant amount of progress on getting the video section of the website ready.  Uploaded the video from my camera onto my Mac and have completed rough versions of the virtual tours of the 3 churches.  They are quite amateurish, I have to admit as I am still getting used to the software I am using.  I have heard bad things about iMovie 08 but I have to say I find it amazing how simple it makes everything.  My efforts so far are just scratching on the surface.  I've added some background music and voiceover to each tour.  It's not Christian music per se but is uplifting in its own way.  The Virtual Tours are on Youtube now but will eventually be accessible via the website itself. 

I will be putting more videos on there this week and hope to have the whole section up and running by the end of the week.  

Audio Sermons

Last couple of days I have been working on a system whereby Father Vin will be able to upload sermons from his dictaphone onto the website.  These will be similar to the sermons he delivers at Mass and will not only be useful for members of our Parish who are unable to attend Mass, but also for anyone around the world who is interested on what Priests say during the Homily part of the Mass.  

The sermons are in Windows Media Audio, not the universally-used MP3 I would have preferred, it is the only format that Father's dictaphone records with.  This format is playable on Windows Media Player for PCs and if you have a Mac like myself, you can download the Flip4Mac plug-in that enables you to play WMA files on your browser. 

Last night I got as far as uploading audio files onto the webserver (where the website is stored) successfully.  The problem I was having was enabling users to download the stored file off a webpage. Once I worked that out earlier this evening, the only problem I had was making the date display correctly so users would be able to tell which sermon corresponds to which mass week. All the file information is stored on a database so each sermon is listed tidily on the Audio Sermon section.  This includes the date that the sermon was submitted.  In order for the date to be printed correctly on the webpage, the date on the database had to be converted into something that the programming language that displayed information liked.   Once I worked out how to do that I was quids in and it was sorted.

If you go on the website now you may be wondering why it isn't up yet.  The section will not be live until there are some genuine sermons uploaded.  Once Father gets round to doing that the section will go live.  What's the point in having a blank page on there?

I've added another banner to the website as requested by Father.  He asked me weeks ago to put a link on the website about the Lourdes Grotto and how you can visit it online by using the webcam section of the Lourdes website.  There is now a Banner that will take you straight through to that webcam section for you to check out.  It is part of a random banner generator that loads up a different banner everytime you open up the home page.  If it doesn't come up first time you will have to press your refresh button  (See above picture for what a refresh button looks like) until it does come up.   

The 21st Post

I would have put in my last post that it was my 20th. But seeing as I forgot to make an issue out of it a 21st will have to suffice, which does have its own significance in human years.

We got some new pictures in the Events Gallery. 3 new events have been posted. My favourite being the Rock 'N Roll night, most likely because out of the three, it was the one I was present. Not that it was solely good because I was there. The music was brilliant by Elvis Priestley and Alive and Kicking. But it was also great to see a lot of our Parish turn up to enjoy the evening with one another and support the Pilgrims going to Lourdes. It's fun taking pictures of all the happenings but I am now starting to think that pictures are not enough to fully portray the shenanigans of an event. I really do need to get that Video section sorted. Watch this space. And the website of course.

The other two events are significant in their own way. A milestone moment was documented with Father Vin preparing Primary School children for their first confession. We all need to think about what we have done wrong sometimes (not all the time or you will never live) and then go about putting it right, with the help of our Lord and his redemption.

Holywell and Pentasaph looks like a beautiful place and somewhere I would like to go on a pilgrimage to one day. The person who took the photos was rushed into hospital the week before the pilgrimage. He's come out fit as a fiddle and taken some great pictures for the website. Never underestimate the power of prayer and the love of God. It never ceases to hold me in wonder at what can be achieved. Thanks very much for the pics, Matt, and glad to hear you are better.