Gennaro used to work full-time in web design but now, with a family of five children, runs his independent business on the side.

“I see it as an apostolate. I help as many people as I can,” he said, adding he has volunteered some of his time to design sites for Church organizations.

“The Church needs more men and women able to place their talents at the service of the Church, especially in the development of vocations and in the process of evangelization,” Gennaro said. “As the Internet grows, so will the Church’s need for people with web development knowledge.”

A former journalist, Gennaro came to web design after working at CityTV and 680 News in Toronto. During a job search in 2002, he began working with the World Youth Day team in Toronto, developing visual entertainment for the event.

Gennaro said he feels called to use his web skills to help others.

As for having religious communities and vocation information online, he said it’s important because that’s where most people find information. Gennaro said the web is a convenient tool since it’s open 24/7 and can open the door to answering questions about vocations or a particular religious community. Having these web sites also helps those who are living outside the major city centres where a community or order is located.

Fr. Mike Traher, vocation director for Scarboro Missions, agrees and says www.vocations.ca has been very helpful. From May to March, there were 16,777 unique visitors (not just page hits), with about half of those users from Canada. In the last few years, there had also been about an average of 3,000 visits per month to the site and 1,500 to 2,000 visitors bookmarking the site each month.

Traher said being online helps priests and religious become more visible to the public.

Launched in 2003, the vocations web site was initially an idea from the Toronto Area Vocations Directors Association that grew out of World Youth Day.

“We needed to follow up with all that enthusiasm and energy,” Traher said. “What we hope is to do our part to promote a new vocation culture in the church in Canada.”

In March, the site came under the leadership of the National Association of Vocation and Formation Directors.