Holy Cross Monastery – An Anglican Benedictine Community of Men

Following the Rules of St. Benedict, Holy Cross Monastery receives visitors as Christ. They apply this philosophy to their monastic guesthouse, their school, their services – and even to their website.

Recognizing hospitality as an important way to serve God, they want their virtual home to be as warm and welcoming as the monastery itself.

The first website Worship Times built for the order in 2017 served their needs well for several years. But even the most thoughtfully built pages need updating eventually. We were honored when they came back to us this fall for a complete refresh.

The Benedictine monks wanted an updated, custom design, with better functionality. They wanted their information to be easily accessible to online guests, which required quicker navigation and better organization. For inspiration, they provided specific examples of other websites they liked – which allowed us to quickly understand their ideas and desired features.

What they were asking for – a mid-level build with more than 20 pages – typically takes around six months to complete. But Holy Cross Monastery was ready to move fast! They brought a clear vision, loads of gorgeous, professional photography, and responded quickly to our questions throughout the process. Working together, their beautiful new site went live in just six weeks! This was record time, and shows what’s possible when an organization is ready to go.

As we advise all our partners, high-quality images can make a site sparkle. Having already worked with us for several years, they knew to bring us their best: a large number of photos with a variety of subjects, good lighting, and a cohesive style and tone. Because most of these pictures were aligned vertically, we cropped them to a web-friendly, horizontal format that fills their pages with beauty, and brings the community to life. Their monastic guest program appears warm and welcoming.

Holy Cross uses their new-and-improved website as an outlet for distributing podcasted sermons, too. They embed individual episodes from their Buzzsprout channel directly onto the website, reaching even more people with their messages of love and peace.

Now, whether visitors are interested in booking a retreat, attending a service, listening to a podcast, or even becoming a monk themselves, the information they need is only a click or two away. It is, as the Benedictine brothers requested, a much better user experience.

As we continue to host this all-new, modern website, we will be available to provide the monastery with updates and answer questions as needed – gratefully continuing what has become a tradition of effective partnership with Holy Cross.

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