Catholic prayer app launched in NZ

You often hear “there’s an app for that!”

Now New Zealand Catholics have an app for prayers with the launch of the NZpray2day app for their Android mobile phones.

The Church’s National Centre for Religious Studies (NCRS) — part of Te Kupenga-Catholic Leadership Institute — announced on March 11 the launch of “NZpray2day” on Google Play for Android devices.

NCRS director Colin MacLeod said “NZpray2day” is designed to support young and old in Catholic schools and parishes to enter simply into the richness of the ancient Christian cycle of seasons, saints and readings.

“It’s not an exhaustive source of all information in these areas,” Mr MacLeod said.

“But rather, it takes ‘snapshots’ and encourages people to seek a moment to reflect, pray and respond. It also brings in pieces of history to link this liturgical journey with aspects of the story of
New Zealand and the wider world.”

So far NZpray2day is only available for Android devices; simply go to Google Play Store, search for NZpray2day, and install. But it could be available for Apple devices by mid-year. Mr MacLeod said the app is free — and is a gift to people from the National Centre for Religious Studies.

“We hope it will be an inviting and useful tool for individual, class and staff prayer in schools, and for whānau and parishioners throughout Aotearoa and abroad,” he said.

Mr MacLeod added that the project has been a major labour of love and “was deceptively complicated to create”. He gave special acknowledgment to Jo Bell and Pierre Schmits as primary writer and designer on the NCRS team.

“Our simple hope is that . . . NZpray2day helps people become more easily aware of the gentle cycle of days and months which link us to creation, the life of Jesus and the shared journey of the Church. It is a journey we walk together.”