In May of this year in his 43rd World Communications Day message, Pope Benedict XVI addressed the subject of "digital technology" in a very positive way.

In a pastoral letter, Bishop Philip Tartaglia, President of the National Communications Commission, sent to all Scottish parishes he described how the Catholic Media Office was developing and using its own website www.scmo.org and subsequently urged parishes that had not already done so to go online with a parish website.

The National Communications Commission subsequently discussed how best
parishes could utilise the internet and agreed to circulate information on establishing parish websites.

In collaboration with ISYS Computer Services, the Church agreed a template package, which would allow any parish to quickly establish and maintain a professional online presence.

Director of the Catholic Media Office, Peter Kearney said: "This is a very exiting and innovative package which would allow any parish to establish a professional website quickly and easily I hope it will encourage as many parishes as possible to get online."

Kevin O'Neill, the Director of ISYS Computer Services, added: "ISYS are very aware of the value of an online presence to any organisation and the benefits that can come from it.

"We are delighted to work in partnership with the Catholic Church to offer professional hosting, web design, domain name registration and email to every Catholic parish in Scotland."

Mr O'Neill added: "Even if a parish already has a website they may be interested in joining the rest of the parishes in adopting a common website address format, or in using our service to provide every member of the clergy with a personalised email address in a standardised, non-parish specific format - easily allowing priests to keep their own email address as they move between parishes."