AUSTRALIA : FREE LENT CALENDAR APP FROM XT3

Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese,
13 Feb 2013

Xt3.com's Lenten Calendar for 2013 is accessed by thousands worldwide

Social networking site Xt3.com's Lenten Calendar for 2013 has used the very latest in technology to make it accessible and compatible with even more devices than ever before.

"We wanted to make sure Xt3.com Lenten Calendar continues to be the "go to" portal for users throughout Lent. This year, no matter where people live and no matter what device they use, they will have full access to daily reflections, quotes, prayers, podcasts and videos," says Mary Elias, Content Manager and Administrator of Xt3.com.

Compatible with iPhones, iPads, Android Smartphones and tablets, not only is technology enabling even more young people worldwide to access Xt3.com's Lenten Calendar this year, but is enabling Xt3.com to offer even more content variety and downloads for each of the 40 days of Lent.

"This year's Calendar is more interactive than ever before and is using a wide range of audio and visual material to appeal to our many thousands of different users across Australia, Asia, Europe, Britain, the Americas and the Pacific," Mary says.

Every year since 2009, Xt3.com has created a Lenten calendar, and each year these calendars have come with more bells and whistles as technology continues to develop and advance.

"Our annual Advent calendar has always been popular. But to apply the same concept to produce a Calendar for each of the 40 days of Lent was quite revolutionary, and there seems to be nothing else quite like it out there," she says.

 "Young people are not afraid to take Lent seriously and during the next 40 days of what is considered to be the most important in the Catholic year, they will use the Calendar to help deepen their faith, to reflect on Christ, his life and his teachings, and to pray," Mary says.

For Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, Bishop Peter Comensoli, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Sydney has recorded his reflections especially for this year's calendar. Then, as Lent progresses, the Calendar will feature podcasts, videos and written works. These will include articles on the Catholic faith, video talks by some of the world's leading apologetics, podcasts of Pope Benedict XVI's Lenten message for 2013 and an important new series for the faithful, entitled Way of the Cross.

Mary Elias (left) and Laura Bradley from Xt3 conduct a recent digital media workshop

Each day, the Calendar will feature daily Mass readings, a Biblical quotation, a multimedia item of interest and a small act of penance participants may choose to add to their Lenten commitments.

"This is a wonderful resource and ideally suited to youth groups, parishes, schools as well as for individual use by young people," Mary says.

Among the hundreds of emails received by Xt3.com last month asking when apps for the Calendar would be available, one young user was so keen for her school to use the Calendar throughout Lent as part of her year's religious studies that as soon as school returned two weeks ago, she embarked on a campaign promoting the Calendar app to her RE teacher and classmates.

"She told us this was a fun way for her year to follow the season of Lent without compromising the sombre and spiritual nature of the Lenten period," Mary says.

The content assembled by Xt3.com for each day of Lent 2013 remains hidden until the particular day is reached when it can be accessed along with its podcasts, materials, talks and videos.

Today, Ash Wednesday, is the first day on which the Calendar can be accessed.

To view the entire 2013 Xt3.com Lenten Calendar on line and to find out more about Xt3.com's Lent App log on towww.Xt3.com/lent

To see the promo click on to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PMB2c7pLY0

SHARED FROM ARCHDIOCESE OF SYDNEY