For more than twenty years, The Summit has been serving the Church in Melbourne and beyond by forming, educating and inspiring those in liturgical ministries.
Since parishes are fundamentally sacramental communities formed through the liturgy—‘the source and summit of the Christian life’ (Lumen Gentium, §11)—we cannot support, encourage or equip the Church’s mission effectively without a strong focus on the liturgical and sacramental aspects of parish life. With our newly launched and reimagined Summit Online site, then, we hope to empower parish leaders and liturgy teams to create beautiful liturgies that in turn inspire missionary disciples to go out in a spirit of true Gospel boldness—a boldness springing from the endlessly self-giving love of God, which we experience most profoundly in the Eucharist.
Last year, to this end, we surveyed regular Summit users about their needs, and based on the results, the new Summit Online site has been developed to provide Melbourne parishes with high-quality, freely accessible and engaging liturgy resources and liturgical-formation materials in a more attractive, easy-to-use online format.
Some of the new features to explore:
- Weekly resources are all still there but are presented in a more logical way, giving users more flexibility in how they find, access and use them. Each ‘Exploring the Word’ resource, for instance, is presented as a webpage, for those who might prefer to use it online, such as those in online RCIA groups. But it is also provided as a downloadable, two-page PDF that can be printed and distributed in face-to-face groups. Similarly, each prayer of the faithful is presented both as a webpage and as a downloadable Word document, which individual parishes can edit and customise. There will also be ‘print’ and ‘share’ buttons for each resource and article.
- Articles from The Summit’s rich archive will be republished, gradually building an online trove of resources for the formation of liturgical ministers. The handy new search function will also help you find the articles and resources you most need.
- Easy and intuitive site navigation with multiple ways to access the resources you need, and with a simple menu bar and ‘breadcrumbs’ to help you find your way around.
- ‘This Sunday’ feature on the homepage, where you can find the resources for the coming Sunday all in one place, including a link to the full text of the readings on Universalis. By simply pressing a button, you can jump to the resources for the following Sunday, or you can access the next twelve weeks of a particular resource through links on the homepage or by navigating to them using the menu bar.
- Thematically organised ‘libraries’, where you will be directed to curated lists of excellent resources from around the web, as well as relevant Summit articles. This month, you will find libraries on Advent, music and prayer. We will also be publishing regular news items on liturgy-related events and developments.
- An index of recommended music and hymns to be launched in 2022 to supplement the weekly suggestions. The index will be searchable by season, saint, part of the Mass, rite and topic, to help you find just the right piece of music.
To keep up to date with new Summit Online articles, resources and news items, be sure to open and read your monthly Proclaim e-newsletter. If you haven’t yet subscribed, you can do so here, and if you know of others in your parish who might be interested in finding out more about The Summit Online, please forward this to them.
In the meantime, go to summit.melbournecatholic.org and start exploring!
