A New Web Site — A New Welcome

By Bishop Paul S. Loverde
Special to the Herald
(From the issue of 10/21/04)

As shepherd of one of the youngest and fastest-growing dioceses in the country, I am pleased to announce that our diocese is taking another exciting step in putting out "into the deep" (Lk 5:4). Click on www.arlingtondiocese.org this week, and you will find a bold and elegant new Web site, an inviting gateway into our many diocesan ministries, parishes and schools. This improved Web site will spur our efforts in three vital realms: evangelism, catechesis and unity.

As one who has visited every parish in the 21 counties of this 6,500 square-mile diocese, I never fail to meet warm, welcoming and inviting parishioners. Whether in the rolling hills near the West Virginia border, the suburban communities throughout northern Virginia, or our urban parishes, the people of our diocese are clearly unified in their charity, their excitement about and commitment to their faith. We have so many wonderful ministries that are directly impacting lives in our diocese.

A Web site which mirrors these welcoming faces is one which will serve our 394,000 Catholics more effectively, as well as witness to our non-Catholic neighbors.

Our Web site is an invaluable forum where those who might not darken the door of a church can have an initial encounter with the Gospel. In his recent message for World Communications Day, our Holy Father wrote, "For the Church, the new world of cyberspace is a summons to the great adventure of using its potential to proclaim the Gospel message. This challenge is at the heart of what it means at the beginning of the millennium to follow the Lord’s command to ‘put out into the deep’" (Lk 5:4). The Pope goes on to acknowledge that the Internet can "never replace that profound experience of God which only the living, liturgical and sacramental life of the Church can offer."

Our diocesan Web site will be a critical tool for our efforts at evangelization. A large part of my role as bishop is to energize Catholics of our diocese to be evangelizers themselves. A fundamental aspect of evangelization is providing a setting for people to hear about Christ, to come to Him and to deepen their relationship with Him. For many, this initial "setting" is the Internet, perhaps a brief perusal of our diocesan Web site. Our Holy Father has encouraged us to think of "practical ways" of "stirring interest" in what is, for many, an "initial encounter with the Christian message" over the Internet. The new diocesan Web site, together with the Web sites of our parishes, can similarly aid in the call to continuing catechesis among all of our people. I shared recently that my wish for all of God’s people in this diocese is that we answer God’s call to holiness and become saints! As our Holy Father has said, "[C]hristian living calls for continuing instruction and catechesis, and this is perhaps the area in which the Internet can provide excellent help." The home pages of our Offices of Catechetics, Sacred Liturgy and many parish-based Web sites will hopefully be a treasury of Catholic teaching, an online library available for all of our people.

Finally, our improved diocesan Web site will assist in further unifying our diocese. I have seen our diocese come together in myriad ways over the course of our recent "Rooted in Faith — Forward in Hope" capital campaign. With our growth comes a sense of challenge, excitement and a continual testing of our priorities and mission as a Church. My hope is that with a vibrant and engaging Web site, our people will become connected and unified in ever more meaningful ways as we worship, pray, learn, evangelize and serve together.

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