I built a website from scratch to make it easier for users to find Catholic mass within the United States by maintaining an index of every church I could find with a website, and automating a process to attempt to extract information like Mass Times/Language, Confession Times, and Parking Availability.
It is free to use and does not require any sign up/in, and was wondering if I could share it on this subreddit.
Thanks for sharing this. I entered our zip code and got good results, including our parish.
Having the street address is useful because before traveling I can look it up on Google maps and see exactly where it is, how far it is from where we’ll be staying, and what transit is nearby.
In the past, when traveling, I have used Masstimes.org, but the results are kind of clunky. When I entered our zip code, it gave Drexel Hill, where we live, but also Pilgrim Gardens, which is a shopping center. It gives a map of every Catholic Church within about 5 miles, but the list is according to Mass time, with 6:30 Masses listed first: our very own parish, plus others that are miles away, then it lists 8:00 Masses, and so on.
I added Church Finder to my Internet favorites.
Thank you so much for testing! I am byond happy to hear it was helpful!
You can also click each parish header to open a map view to route through Google Maps/apple maps.
Most of the value add I think I can provide is convenience and automatic detecting which is “good” but definitely still rely heavily on users suggesting updates when data is considered stale/invalid.
Thanks for telling me how to open the maps. I hadn’t looked at the details for our local churches because I know where most of them are. When I clicked on our parish I saw the map buttons (besides the map that shows all the results from the Zip code search).
A lot of churches identify their location by their mailing address. When I lived in Spotsylvania, Virginia, I attended St. Mary’s in Fredericksburg until St. Jude’s opened. St. Jude’s and some other churches are identified as located in Fredericksburg when in fact they are miles outside the city in adjacent counties. My wife and I don’t drive any more, so when we travel we need to know where a church is actually located.
Thanks again for your work on the site.
That’s very excellent and unique idea. Works really well. Nice and clear website, details standing-out so as to be easily readable, and straightforward to use and navigate. Twenty-five mile max radius for churches near to any location is sensible, as no-one is going to wish to travel further than that (for distances beyond, they can just look up a different zip-code). Your additional search-filters would come in useful. I am not a fan of websites where the pages keep extending once you get to the bottom; I preference new pages after a certain point. Really liking the fact that the individual churches are clickable and which brings up a whole new expanse of information (the map included would come in handy when planning one’s journey). Maybe the colours could differ a little from page to page, while the blue with white writing is smart.
Very useful! We just went on vacation and used an App called MassTimes. Both your website and that app helps Catholic immensely. Thank you for using your talents and treasures to glorify God.