The site, sponsored by the Franciscans of the St. John the Baptist province and St. Anthony Messenger Press, is named: www.OnceCatholic.org

The goal of the new Web site is to "offer people a welcoming place to stop in on their quest for spirituality, with the hope of reconnecting them with a local Catholic parish," said Franciscan Father Greg Friedman, a member of the project's development team.

While there are numerous Web sites that serve Catholics, he said, the Franciscans believe this site is unique in its ministry to Catholics who have become disconnected from the church in some way.

Research by the U.S. Catholic bishops have found that Catholics most often leave the church because of dissatisfaction in at least one of several areas including marriage issues, poor parish relationships, offense by a church authority or differences in beliefs. OnceCatholic.org offers an online discussion area for each of these topics and others.

Each discussion area is staffed bv a team of pastoral ministers called "companions" who have experience in that area of outreach. The team is made up of men and women, priests and laity from throughout the United States.

In the interest of confidentiality, the companions will use screen names while online. Visitors to the site have the option of posting their questions anonymously in the public discussion area or requesting a personal answer via e-mail.

"Special care was taken to be sure everyone's privacy would be protected, both the public and the companions," explained Franciscan Father Pat McCloskey, another project initiator.

Also featured on the Web site are educational materials from St. Anthony Messenger Press and a listing of contacts for diocesan "Come Home" programs across the United States. In the Archdiocese of Louisville, an outreach campaign to inactive Catholics, called Catholic Connection, began in January.

To keep the Franciscan Web site inspirational and welcoming, its content is updated daily. "We know that people expect Web sites to stay fresh," explained John Bookser Feister, editor of the site. "We will achieve that with fresh input from visitors, a daily reflection and weekly welcome messages from our editorial staff at St. Anthony Messenger. We also expect our listing of local programs to grow dramatically as word spreads about this site."

Father McCloskey believes it is only natural for the Franciscans to have initiated this Internet ministry, given the outreach efforts of their 13th century founder. "There were many alienated Catholics in St. Francis' time, and he took the Gospel to the streets. He had the idea that the Gospel could be lived and preached in a new way. Ours is the same ministry, but with new technology."

"St. Francis was savvy to new kinds of media," added Father Friedman. "This is the 21st-century extension of what St. Francis would have done to help people to connect people to their faith."

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