A
question that I am asked most often is where do you see the bulletin going in
the future?
My
first reaction is don’t you mean to ask what do you see in the future for
parish communication?
When
you think about parish communication of activities and events the pulpit
announcement is first and foremost as the most effective avenue to reach your
congregation. Accommodating parish ministries requests for pulpit announcements
can add more than a few minutes to the pulpit announcements and most pastors
refrain from a multitude of announcements before and or after Mass. The
alternatives are the bulletin and the parish website.
The
bulletin announcement or bulletin insert is the next obvious choice. Most
submissions can turn into a short novelette rather than the announcement of a
coming week activity. Often writers are not educated in copy writing and submit
long and repetitive entries leaving the bulletin editor hours of unwanted
revision, often subjecting themselves to a writer’s scorn for editorial
privilege. The bulletin should
have a singular purpose of highlighting all the activities pertaining to the
following week. A short synopsis of succinct copy, art and strong attention
grabbing headlines will better serve any parish activity. Any more explanation
of a ministry other than basic information (who, what, where and how)should be
re-directed to the parish website.
As
we entered into the age of information (the
creation of the web 22 years old this past February 16) the opportunity to
provide vast amounts of information about the many ministries is essential for
a thriving parish community. Web-editors are becoming as important as the
bulletin editor (most are one and the
same). Parish administrators are becoming more aware of the advantage of
having an up-to-date comprehensive website. Not only can ministries write pages
of information they can send a viewer to links providing more insight to a
subject Most recently mobile devices have entered the picture.
Our
way of communicating has changed the bulletin from a sole source of information
to a point of reference for the website. Integrating and keeping continuity
between the bulletin and the website is the new challenge. Pastors and parish
administrators wanting to know more about Bartleby Press’ bulletin service and
website service should visit our website www.bartlebypress.comunder menu item website services.
About the
Author: Thomas
Miner is the president of Bartleby Press, an Austin bulletin printing service
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