St. Alphonsus Parish, Deerfield at 222 Carey Street, Deerfield, MI 49238 US - From the Bishop

One of the joys and challenges of our time is to use technology and innovation to spread the message of Jesus. With that in mind, the diocesan Web site www.dioceseoflansing.org began two years ago. We have recently completed an upgrading of that site. One of the benefits of that upgrade is that we can turn the site's pages over to parishes, schools and diocesan offices as their own individual Web sites. It is my pleasure to announce that every parish, school and diocesan office now has their own Web site at no cost to them. This system allows parish staff personnel to post and change information easy Web based tools. All that they need is their own access to the Internet. Another feature of your parish or office site is its capacity to receive news, events and articles from the diocese. A starter Web site for your parish has been created and already contains the basic elements for this new means of communicating within our diocese. My hope is that you take ownership of your site and truly make it your own. If your parish already has a Web site, I invite you to simply link it to your new diocesan parish site. This new service is being provided by Catholic Web, a company associated with Diocesan Publications of Grand Rapids. They will provide this service as well as training for parish staffs at no cost. Banner ads will be present on your parish site in return. If you have a concern about advertising, you can opt to forgo it and assume a monthly fee instead. The attached pages contain more specifics about this exciting development. I don't know much about computers. You may be like me in that regard, However, there is one thing I do know about them. More and more of the people of our diocese are online. If they are there, we should be there, too. Our presence is truly important even if we ourselves are not computer savvy. I firmly believe in using technology to proclaim the message of Jesus from the mountaintops. I hope you take advantage of this opportunity. Thank you for all that you are doing. Yours in Christ, Most Rev, Carl F. Mengeling Bishop of Lansing

(Back)