By Dave Jolivet, Editor
FALL RIVER, Mass. — Two years ago, The Anchor published a feature on one of the many helpful tools Catholics can find on the Internet. Faithful on vacation or away from home for any reason can quickly and accurately locate a Catholic church and the weekend Mass times with a few clicks of the mouse at Masstimes.org.
While that website continues to furnish Catholics with that necessary information, some may find the method a bit outdated already.
With the advent of iPhones and iPads, comes a fountain of information one can slip into his or her pocket, purse, or briefcase. But Catholics on the go needn’t worry about finding where to fulfill their weekly obligation, TheCatholicDirectory.com, a service of CatholicWeb.com, has developed an application that can be utilized on these “smart” devices to locate the nearest Catholic churches and find Mass times. The app, called Catholic Mass Times, is a free download available at the iTunes Store (itunes.apple.com) for iPhones, iPod Touch, and iPads.
The usefulness of the new app doesn’t end at finding churches and Mass times. Other valuable information, available at the tap of a screen or the swipe of a finger, includes getting maps and directions to the churches, as well as Confession times, websites, parish staff, bulletins, and phone numbers. An added feature provides users with the saint of the day, daily readings, and daily Mass videos. Users can also bookmark and make personal notes about their favorite churches.
Released in mid-2010, the Catholic Mass Times app was upgraded and improved last November.
As of press time, the iTunes website indicated that users have given the Catholic Mass Times app an average rating of four stars out of a possible five.
Some of the comments included:
— “Great app for on the go when you’re out of town and need to go to Mass. Very easy to use and downright helpful.”
— “It’s not like you have to get on a plane in order to find this application useful — just driving an hour or so from home and we Catholics are stuck when trying to find a Mass. With links to parish websites and phone numbers this is perhaps one of the most helpful applications I have while on the road. Thank you.”
— “This app makes it easy to find Mass times when on vacation, at work, or anywhere I am away from my home parish. It has saved me numerous phone calls and web searches. It even finds Masses for parishes that don’t appear on a Google Map search.”
— “Thank you from the bottom of my heart! God bless!”