Sending a card has remained a classic and popular way to express sympathy, gratitude, love, congratulations, and a wide range of other emotions for a simple reason. People will always appreciate receiving cards from loved ones.
Jump ahead to these sections:
- What’s a Catholic eCard?
- What Should You Write in a Catholic eCard?
- Where You Can Buy a Catholic eCard?
- Steps for Sending a Catholic eCard
Many people still choose to send traditional cards, it’s become increasingly common in recent years for people to send eCards instead. Like digital gifts, eCards offer a convenient alternative to a classic gift idea.
These types of cards may also feature religious imagery and content, like a Catholic eCard. We’ll go over what a Catholic eCard is, how to find one, and how to go about sending it.
What’s a Catholic eCard?
An eCard serves the same purpose as a typical greeting card. However, the convenience of being able to easily send one over the internet isn’t the only reason some people choose to send these cards over traditional options.
For example, many eCards feature minor animations. This makes them stand out compared to cards that only feature static images.
An eCard can also be a very useful gift if an occasion that warrants sending someone a greeting card snuck up on you. For example, maybe a relative’s birthday is tomorrow, and you’ve been so busy with other responsibilities that you forgot to buy and send a card. In this case, you can send an eCard right away.
What Should You Write in a Catholic eCard?
The specific message you include in a Catholic eCard will depend on the nature of the occasion. Consider the following examples:
“Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.”
The prayer for the faithful departed, which is a common element of many Catholic funerals, might be an ideal choice if you’re trying to decide what to write in a sympathy eCard.
“God of all creation, we offer you grateful praise for the gift of life. Hear the prayers of [name], your servant, who recalls today the day of his/her birth and rejoices in your gifts of life and love, family and friends.”
This message, from a traditional Catholic birthday blessing, would naturally be an ideal choice for a birthday eCard.
“Wishing you many blessings on the day of your [name of sacrament]. May God continue to guide you through this next chapter of your life!”
The content of a Catholic eCard doesn’t solely need to be an official Catholic blessing. Simply congratulating someone on completing one of the sacraments for the first time may be an appropriate message.
Where You Can Buy a Catholic eCard?
You have a few options when choosing where to buy a Catholic eCard:
Catholic organizations
A quick Google search for “Catholic eCards” reveals many Catholic organizations, such as Catholic Greetings, America Needs Fatima, and numerous others offering Catholic eCards. Browse your options to find one offering the ideal card for your goals.
Many also offer free Catholic eCards. That can be very helpful if you’re on a budget. That said, if you can afford to spend a little more, and supporting Catholic organizations is important to you, it’s worth keeping in mind that when these organizations do charge for their eCards, the money often helps fund their missions and efforts.
General eCard companies
A Google search will also bring up plenty of links to companies that sell not only Catholic eCards, but virtually all other types of eCards as well.
You might prefer sending an eCard via one of these services if you’re sending multiple eCards to multiple people, not all of whom are Catholic.
Artists
Does the idea of supporting an individual artist appeal more to you than sending your money to a large company or organization (assuming you’re not looking for a free eCard)? If so, platforms such as Etsy allow artists to sell their eCards directly to you.
This might also be an option to keep in mind if you have very specific ideas about the content of the card. If you give them enough time to finish the card in time for you to send it, many artists on Etsy and such platforms gladly design custom cards.
Yourself
You could create your own Catholic eCard and are confident enough in your design skills to turn your vision into a reality.
You also don’t necessarily need to have substantial design experience yourself to at least attempt this. Many platforms and tools, such as Canva, allow users with limited design backgrounds to create eCards.
That doesn’t mean using one of these tools is a guarantee that your Catholic eCard will end up looking the way you intended. However, making one yourself is still an option to consider.
Steps for Sending a Catholic eCard
Finding and sending a Catholic eCard isn’t particularly challenging.
That said, by following these steps, you can significantly limit how much time you spend on the process, and more importantly, boost your chances of finding a Catholic eCard that perfectly expresses your thoughts and feelings.
Confirm the recipient’s email
Email is usually the method of delivery for eCards, so make sure you have the correct email address for the recipient to whom you’re sending a card.
Know what you’re looking for
Not all Catholic eCards are the same. Finding the right one will be much easier if you establish some criteria first.
For example, some eCards also function as eGift cards, allowing you to send a gift card in the form of digital funds. Additionally, some gift cards allow you to customize them substantially, while others don’t. Some feature animation, some are more traditional in their appearance.
Deciding which qualities are important to you in a Catholic eCard will help with the next step:
Search
Again, you’ll find many, many sellers and platforms offering Catholic eCards when you perform a basic search. While that’s in some respects good news, as it means the right Catholic eCard for your preferences is almost certainly out there, it could also mean you’ll need to spend a lot of time searching through your options to find exactly what you’re looking for.
That doesn’t need to be the case. By first deciding which features you’re looking for in a Catholic eCard, you can perform a more specific search, helping you save a lot of time. You should also consider the occasion for which you’re sending an eCard in the first place.
For example, instead of merely searching for “Catholic eCards,” you could search for “Free Catholic birthday eCard.”
Browse
Although conducting a specific search will definitely ensure you’re not spending too much time browsing through Catholic eCards that don’t appeal to you at all, it’s still unlikely you’re going to find the perfect card immediately after performing a Google search. You may still need to browse your options to some extent before picking one.
During this process, it might be important to you to only browse eCards from certain types of organizations or companies. For instance, maybe you want to know you’re supporting a genuine Catholic organization when you buy an eCard.
In this case, when clicking on websites that come up in a Google search, you should look for those that end in “.org” and/or feature obvious Catholic references in their names. Although you should still read the “About” page on any of these sites to confirm for certain that these organizations genuinely are Catholic, taking such steps will also help you save time.
Follow the steps
The specific process for sending a Catholic eCard once you’ve found the right one will vary depending on where you order a card from. For example, some platforms may have specific instructions regarding how to customize the card, while others may simply require you to provide the recipient’s email address and some basic information about the greeting inside.
Regardless, if you’re ordering a Catholic eCard from a reputable company, the instructions will likely be fairly easy to follow. One tip: if you’re ordering an eCard ahead of time but you want to wait until the day of the special occasion to actually send it, make sure the platform you’re using won’t simply send it right away once you place the order. They should allow you to schedule when to send it or should provide it as a file that you can choose to send yourself.
Catholic eCards: A Religious Take on a New Tradition
Although certain traditional gifts, such as thank you gift baskets, will probably always stay popular, the rise of new alternatives like eCards give us plenty of other ways to show people we care.