The World of Grandpa Don

The Web Site of
St Julie Billiart Roman Catholic Church
of
The Years 2010 and Before

History of the Web Site

As I remember it …
~ Don Plefka (Parishioner)

In about 1998 I ran across a web site of the American Bible Association which advertised a goal to provide a web presence for every Christian church in North America. They provided a blank page in which I could insert the information about our church. I took information from our parish bulletin and inserted it into their forms and St Julie had their first web page.
(When I told Fr Homa, our pastor, that St Julie had a web page he asked, “What’s that?”�) 

Some time later, I had learned a little of the web site programming language and decided we needed to expand the amount of information on the web page. At that time I found RCnet that offered free (limited) hosting service to Catholic parishes. I bought web building software and trained myself to use it, thus expanding the scope of the parish site. After some time I was notified that I had exceeded the RCnet size limitations. It was either reduce the size or move on.

By then, St Julie parish had their own email addresses and I discovered that along with it, web hosting was available at no extra cost. www.stjulie.org was born.  Kevin Stasik, who was the consultant used by the parish to set up the email services, was very helpful in getting the web site set up. (He did not charge the parish for this service) I could not have managed without his help. The web site continued to grow … and grow from there. My self-imposed rule was that everything on the web site must come from the bulletin or other “official” Parish or Catholic sources.

 Sometime after Rev Steve Lanza became our pastor he gave me several articles on what a parish web site should be. As a result, the main menu system was revised and many pages were added. We now had (roughly) the following site structure:

Serving the category of What we are and what we do:

·         Our Parish (Who, What, Where, & Structure)

·         Ministries (What they are and how to participate)

Serving the category of Parishioner's needs an resources:

·         Sacraments (Description and reception)

·         Our Faith (Resources regarding the Catholic religion & parish liturgies)

·         Life & Living (Resources of Human Concerns - family needs)

·         School & Youth (Resources regarding children and teens)

·         Social Groups (The activities that bring parishioners together)

Building and maintaining the web site afforded me the opportunity to be creative, which I love. When Fr. Steve approached me after Mass one Sunday and asked if we could have a virtual tour of the Church on the web site I said "Yes" without the least hesitation. As I went home I wondered how I would do it. The pastor provided all the text for the presentation. He wanted it to be "prayerful". I contacted Joe Krawjewski and asked him to use Fr. Steve's text as a guide and take photos of the interior. I bought SwishMax software and learned how to make a "flash" movie. It was a grand success and is one of the few things that were carried over to the new web site. (see below.)

In an effort to have other parishioners who could maintain the web site and wanting to provide people and structure to continue the web site when I am unable to, a Web Ministry team was recruited. Bob Lewis has been working with me for years maintaining various pages on the site. (He also maintains the web site for St Terrence Parish) Both Liz Frankenbach and Karen Peterson have been helping for the past couple years. Sr. Gael has been very supportive and an inspiration. Other members of the parish support staff have been very helpful, Rita and Merilee to mention two who stand out. We are the WebServants of the parish.

Need for a change

Technology moves on and there are better ways to build and maintain web sites. The old web site did not conform to industry standards in structure or form. Navigation was difficult and actually, too much information was presented, information that could be obtained, and is better presented, on other web sites. The site was difficult to maintain.

And so, we welcome a new era and a new web site for St Julie parish, a change that it needed. I take the opportunity, at my advanced age, to gratefully retire from the ministry and leave it to younger blood. We thank Adam Fischer, a young parishioner and a professional in the field of web site building for providing the new structure that will replace the amateur built structure of the old web site.

The past years have been a joy to me and I am eternally grateful for being given the opportunity to be part of St Julie Parish and this wonderful ministry. We are truly ...

Ordinary people doing extraordinary things
with faith in the good God
and in the goodness of each other.  

It is conventional to wish "good luck" to the parish and the web ministers who will carry on but I will not do that. "Luck" has nothing to do with it (or anything else, for that matter). It has to do with faith, love and a will to do God's work. The new web site will be great because of the people of St Julie parish.
 ~ Grandpa Don (Retired)

I had prepared a CD which included the above message along with one of the last issues of the old web site. It would serve as a historical record and a resource for anyone who would want to retrieve any of the information that it contained.

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