Text Me to Church: How SMS is Renewing the Faith
Summary
St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church, located in Crystal Lake near Chicago, has noticed a sharp increase in the number of attendants only during major Christian holidays, and hopes to retain those who come only on days like Christmas and Easter. St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church is using a subscription service to improve retention rates; at the end of major holiday services, the Reverend encourages attendants to text "Saint Thomas" to a certain number, giving them the option to sign up for updates from the church by text, email, or phone call. This new implementation of SMS makes religion more accessible and convenient for people with busy lives, giving them a means to contribute remotely to the daily prayer, and offers a way for regular church-goers to stay connected if something comes up and they need to do things like travel, work extra hours, or stay with a sick relative during church time. SMS2Wall is a welcome, more convenient makeover of older services that allow people to send prayers via email, which a Rabbi would then print and place in the Wall. PopeAlarm, created by the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) gives subscribers the option to receive either a text or an email as soon as a new Pope is elected.