Church Uses Texting To Engage Members During Lent
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Catholic Church in the northwestern suburbs tried something new on Wednesday to try to get casual Catholics to become more regular Mass-goers.
Text Alerts For Lent
At St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Crystal Lake, yesterday was Ash Wednesday and Bring Your Phone To Church Day
It was a day to reach out to Catholics who only show up on Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Christmas and Easter.
"They don't have any good reason why they don't come, just an apathy kind of thing," JoEllen Gregus, director of evangelization at St. Thomas. "We really want them back."
During Masses, priests encouraged people to text the church to sign up to receive messages.
"Every Friday they'll be getting a new message," Gregus said. "It'll be mostly encouraging them to stay with the process of Lent."
Gregus says 700 people texted in church and signed up for the messages.
