St. Ann’s Church and Shrine, 651 Broadway (at Emslie St.) may be a historical gothic landmark founded in 1858, but it is still a 21st century parish community in a challenging, urban setting.
In order to promote itself, St. Ann’s has been on the famous site Youtube since January 2008 with two videos that have been seen by more than 2000 people. Many of the viewers, especially those from out of town, have connected or re-connected with St. Ann’s after finding it on Youtube.
In late January 2009, St. Ann’s registered on the three most popular social networking websites Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter. All of these have millions of daily users. Within just a few days of beginning on these sites, St. Ann’s received dozens of “friend requests.”
St. Ann’s pages include various photos, historical background and news updates and are able to receive comments and questions from others.
St. Ann’s hopes its forefathers who would never have dreamed of such promotion venues would be proud of the church’s efforts to preserve the heritage it received from them.
