A SERVICE delivering novenas over the internet was launched yesterday. Novena.ie will stream live services online several times daily until next Saturday, when the novena ends. But the website will continue to retain its novena.ie address following this week's prayer event in Limerick.
The facility has cost the Redemptorist order in the city a total of €18,000, along with a further ongoing investment of €250 a month to stream services on the webcam.
Fr Séamus Enright said there had been 3,000 visits to the site in recent days and people have also e-mailed prayer requests.
He said members of the cyber congregation watching via a webcam online have included a house-bound woman who cannot make it to Mount St Alphonsus church where the novenas are conducted.
"We got an e-mail from a man who said his dad had died recently and his mum was not mobile. He has put the novena on the internet each evening for her, over the last number of days, and this has made her so happy. So for me, setting this up has been worthwhile as it allows us to connect with other people," said Fr Enright.
During this week there will be 10 different daily sessions shown on novena.ie from 7am through to the last 45-minute service at 10.30pm. Users can also light a virtual candle, which flickers into life at the click of a mouse, for a person or petition.
Fr Enright (58), a priest for 28 years, said that "if even one person . . . found some happiness in their life, some peace of mind or some of their questions answered" as a result of the online novena, then it would have been a success.
"We have been tracking hits and e-mail requests from Limerick and around the world. Since Friday we have had 3,000 hits, and people we know in Canada and scattered elsewhere are following the novena online."
Senator Ronan Mullen (Independent) said the website was an example of using modern technology to promote the Catholic faith in an age where a "distracted" culture is increasingly responding to images, on television or on the internet, rather than the written word.