Bishop Seamus Freeman of Ossory launched a revamped version of his diocese’s website yesterday.
The website has been re-developed over a period of months by a design
team from GetOnLine.ie, which specialises in creating and managing
online sites for parishes, dioceses and other religious organisations.
The diocese said that the website, www.ossory.ie,
opened up new possibilities for carrying out its mission and it was
“apt that we use every means at our disposal in getting the message of
God's salvation to all and sundry.”
It noted that the “recent, explosive growth and greater social impact
of these media make them all the more important for a fruitful pastoral
ministry.”
The diocese said the revamped website would offer a
“unique, user friendly, interactive website which will cater for the
needs of all visitors.”
These included visitors looking for Mass times in a particular
church, parishioners seeking the address of a priest, parents hunting
for information on a particular school, minsters of the Word preparing
the text of readings for the following Sunday or casual surfers
searching for information on the Church in the diocese.
“Ossory.ie provides an easily accessible place for diocesan users and
guests to find accurate and dependable information on the Church in
general and the diocese of Ossory in particular. Visitors will
appreciate the site's ability to provide accurate directions and maps to
all of the churches in the diocese - a very useful feature for people
attending weddings or funerals in unfamiliar areas.”
The diocese plans that the site will, in due course, also host parish
bulletins and include a feature that will allow people to subscribe to
their own parish and have the weekly bulletin emailed directly to them.
The diocese praised the design work on the website undertaken by
GetOnline.ie, which it described as “a comprehensive web design,
development and support company specialising in church web presence for
dioceses, religious orders and parishes throughout Ireland. Through
close collaboration with members of the diocesan staff, they have
designed and presented this new and comprehensive web presence for the
diocese of Ossory.”
Bishop Freeman said the redesigned site would enable the diocese and
its people to be “ever more effective in promoting Gospel values by
putting modern technology ever more effectively at the service of God's
Word."
Meanwhile, the bishop also launched the Ossory diocese programme for
the forthcoming Eucharistic Congress at a function in St Kieran’s
College, Kilkenny.
GetOnLine.ie is part of the Church Support Group that specialises in
the provision of a range of innovative digital services to parishes,
religious congregations and dioceses across Ireland.
Today, this
portfolio includes ChurchServices.tv, delivering live, high-quality
broadcasting of church services - the first in Ireland to do this and
now available with a set-up box that has revolutionised the availability
of this service; ChurchResources, ie, a buying programme that
aggregates the buying power of the church in Ireland to minimise costs
for parishes, schools and others around the country.
CiNews.ie is a
part of the family of Church Support Group.