A church accepts prayers via SMS

One church is moving with the digital times, launching an initiative to receive prayers via SMS as it embarks on a holy mission to lure people in an innovative way.

Reminiscent of Jim Carrey’s film Bruce Almighty, where God attempts to read everyone’s prayers in the form of e-mails, the Church of St Nicholas of Tolentino in Tarxien is inviting the faithful to send a text message asking what grace they would like to receive and these are then included among the prayers.

The text messages containing the prayers, sent on 9918 0098, are charged at the normal rate. The idea, church rector Franco Grech said, was to offer the faithful the opportunity to pray round the clock.

The 45-year-old priest has also set up a website as he embarks on a novel initiative to boost Mass attendances by rising to the challenge of a fast-paced culture of online social networking.

Launched last weekend, the website (www.augtarxien.org), which has received some 1,500 hits, is not just centred around Mass. Fr Grech is hoping it can be a tool to spread the message of the gospel to as many people as possible.

The website’s homepage welcomes browsers with a Youtube video of a trendy young man holding rosary beads, lamenting how he is misunderstood and how people believe it is boring because he is saying the same thing over. So he stencilled the words ‘I Pray The Rosary’ on his T-shirt and set out on his own.

In the end he is joined by other young people who carry the same message. It ends with the question, ‘Do You Pray The Rosary?’

There is also a Facebook group of the Augustinian friars, a children’s corner, games, and a forum where Fr Grech is encouraging people to discuss and debate on issues close to their heart.

“These days time is so precious that those who have a doubt over something or wish to contact us never manage to fit it in. We want to provide the opportunity to reach everyone and encourage people to open up their hearts in a different way,” Fr Grech said.

The friars had opened a college in Tarxien in 1948 and its chapel became so popular with the neighbourhood that it was later replaced with a larger church and an oratory.

Regular events are organised and at the moment volunteers are preparing for the St Nicholas of Tolentino National Award being organised on November 6 at the church’s hall in Lampuka Street.

“We’re trying to put forward an appealing message,” Fr Grech said.