“The Largest Catholic Map in the World”
We are delighted to share the feature on Catholic Mass Times in Gaudium Press! The Catholic news agency, headquartered in São Paulo and with editions in Portuguese, Spanish, English and Italian, dedicated an article to the app this past July 23 and described it with an expression we would never have dared to use ourselves: “the largest Catholic map in the world.” The agency notes that the app brings together more than 138,000 churches in 245 countries and has logged more than 40 million searches, and presents it as the largest database of Mass times in existence today.
That this recognition should come from Brazil has a special significance. It is the country with the most Catholics in the world and one of the fastest-growing within the app. That is precisely why we have just launched the Portuguese edition of this blog: a tool that presents itself as a map of the universal Church has a duty to speak to everyone in their own language.
The Gaudium Press article highlights what the project was born for: easing access to the sacraments while traveling and in daily life. Finding a church, drawing near to the Eucharist, rediscovering Confession, taking part in Eucharistic adoration. Pablo Licheri sums it up in a phrase the agency chose as its subheading. As the article says, “we help you take a vacation with God instead of a vacation from God.”
Behind that map there is no large organization, only thousands of ordinary people. Schedules change, parishes reorganize, and liturgical feasts alter the routine, so the information stays alive only because users submit new churches and correct the ones they find out of date.
The service is free and ad-free, sustained by that shared effort and by the donations of those who believe in it. If you know of a parish that is missing or a schedule that has changed, you can add it in seconds right from the app.
Don’t miss the chance to join our community. Download Catholic Mass Times and discover churches near you!
Read the full article on the Gaudium Press website now!
