 Catholic Web Content Development Articles Series (4 of 7) - Sharing
the Richness of Catholic Spirituality
Introduction
Some of us Catholics were educated in an all-boys or an all-girls school
run by priests and brothers, or by Catholic nuns. These educational
institutions were founded by members of a religious order which follow
the charism of their religious founder. The religious founders
of these men and women lived a specific Catholic spirituality which they
taught their members, who in turn also teach it to the students of the
educational institutions they manage. All these various Catholic
spiritualities enrich the Catholic Church with different forms of prayer
and apostolic life. As we learned the various forms of prayer and
apostolic life from these Catholic institutions of education, we can then
share what we learned in the writing of Catholic articles and blog posts.
Aside from educational institutions, there are also other religious orders
and congregations who have as their charism, the administration of parishes
or shrines. If we are a member of one their parishes, we also learn about
their spirituality through parish formation programs, and what they daily teach
in their homilies and sermons. This can also be substantial material for
sharing in Catholic articles and blog posts.
Charism of a religious founder
Charism (after the Greek term meaning "favor", "gratuitous gift", "benefit"),
according to the Catholic Catechism (#2003), is a special grace, intended for
the common good of the Church. They are "at the service of charity which
builds up the Church". The founders of Catholic educational institutions
have the charism to educate the young, by teaching them not only the
secular subjects they need to know for working in the world, but also the
specific forms of prayer and apostolic work which they can engage in as
Catholics. Likewise, the founders of those who undertake the mission of
building parishes, have their own forms of prayer and missionary work, which
they teach their parishioners - usually influencing them with an ardent
missionary spirit in their Christian life. Examples of charisms in education
are the Benedictines, the Augustinians, the Dominicans, the Franciscans,
and the Jesuits. These, and much more, are engaged in the educational
apostolate. They teach a way of praying, and a way of engaging in the
apostolic work of the Church. Many of these religious are also engaged in
the parish apostolate - the building up of parishes according to their
specific Catholic spirituality.
Developing content on prayer
Prayer is the charism that often makes a definitive impact in our lives
- especially during our school days. Developing content on prayer can
be sharing what we know in theory or by experience. If we write from
experience, then we can create a greater positive impact,
because we can write from the heart. We can share what we have
experienced in recollections, retreats, or any activity involving
knowledge of a specific form of prayer. As an example, the Benedictines
have their "lectio divina", the Jesuits have their "examen", and the
Dominicans have the rosary. These are only a few examples of the many
forms of prayer we can share with others in developing content for
our Catholic blog or web site.
Additional ideas for web content development
Aside from writing about the charism of the religious congregation
that administers the Catholic school we attended, we can also
provide our readers with additional information, by mentioning the
history of our Catholic university. Some Catholic universities have
been founded in the 1500s. And a few are founded earlier than that
century. There
is a lot of historical content that can be developed when we write
about this subject in our Catholic articles and blog posts. Just by
writing about: the religious founder and his charism; the history of
the religious order or congregation and how it developed educational
institutions in our country; and the history itself of the Catholic
university in which we have become its alumnus, is already three sources
of material for web content development. What can be the common thread
that ties up these three sources of writing is the charism and
the spirituality in which we have learned from them a way of being
Christian in the world.
Web content development tip:
We need not cram everything that we know, or have researched on,
in just one web page. Instead of developing one web page which can
rank high in the search engines results pages, we can divide our web
content on Catholic spirituality into three web pages, wherein each one
focuses on a specific topic. This way, we can obtain a threefold
harvest of visitor traffic.
Summary and conclusion
The Catholic faith is very rich in spirituality. And these we can
discover more in the varied ways of praying and working for the building
up of the Church. Other Christians who only have the Bible as their norm
for the Christian life, have left out much when they separated from the
traditions of the Catholic Church. These traditions which we now have,
were rooted in the traditions of the apostolic community that have lived
during the New Testament times. From then on, many Church leaders have
lived a specific way of praying and working, which is rooted in these
traditions of the Church. They have founded religious orders and
congregations, that have embodied a specific charism of prayer and work,
which up to now, many are benefitting from, and find much meaning in
their lives as Christians. By developing web content that define these
forms of prayer and work, we can make Catholic spirituality alive
in the web pages of the world wide web.
Related resources
Dennis Emmanuel Cabrera
Web Developer Methods for Catholics
www.c-web-developer.net
My Main Catholic Blog
www.c-internet-mission.net
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