Parishes Online: Helping Your Church Bulletin Reach Beyond Sunday

Your Catholic church bulletin lives well beyond your church doors. Parishioners bring it home, reference it throughout the week, mark upcoming events on their calendars, and keep important information close at hand.

For parishes that print their bulletins with LPi, their bulletin also has a digital home on ParishesOnline.com, giving parishioners another convenient way to stay connected throughout the week.

What Are Online Directories and Why Do They Matter?

You probably use online directories more often than you think. Yelp helps people discover local businesses. Directories like Airbnb and Hipcamp organize places to stay by location. Google Maps helps people find nearby organizations, businesses, and destinations.

Directories bring information together in one searchable place, helping people find what they’re looking for even when they don’t know the name.

For a parish, being present online in places where people are already searching, like Google and Parishes Online, creates another path back to your community.

What is Parishes Online?

ParishesOnline.com is LPi’s online directory of Catholic churches across the United States. In this nationwide directory, visitors find parish information, along with digital versions of weekly church bulletins to view and reference.

When an LPi bulletin is submitted for printing, LPi also places it on ParishesOnline.com. That means your church’s latest bulletin is automatically available as a digital version online without adding another weekly task to your staff’s to-do list.

People search Parishes Online by church name, city, state, or ZIP code to find Catholic churches and their information. Each parish listing brings useful details together in one place, including the parish’s latest bulletin (and previous editions), and the local advertisers who support their publication.

Visitors to Parishes Online may be parishioners looking for this week’s bulletin, travelers searching for a Catholic church to visit while away from home, or even people exploring parishes in a new community. Parishes Online gives each of them a simple way to search, find a parish, and access its information.

Does Parishes Online Compete with My Catholic  Church Website?

No. Parishes Online does not compete with your Catholic parish’s website. Your church website remains your parish’s main digital presence. ParishesOnline.com simply gives people another route to your parish and its information.

Think about tools such as Google Maps, for example. Someone searching for a Catholic church in your area may not even know your parish’s name, so appearing in additional places online helps them encounter your parish as they search.

Parishes Online will also work with your website. Every parish that prints their bulletin with LPi receives a Bulletin Widget that displays the latest bulletin directly on their parish website. Once the widget is installed, it automatically updates after each bulletin is submitted for printing.

H2: What is the Value of a Digital Catholic Parish Bulletin?

We already know the value of a print bulletin for a Catholic parish. The digital version extends that usefulness.

A parish’s digital bulletin can help a parishioner traveling over the weekend be able to still check what’s happening back home at their parish. Someone who has moved away or is homebound can still stay connected to the parish they care about. When Sunday’s print bulletin has disappeared somewhere between the back seat of the car and the kitchen counter, the digital edition is easy to reference because ParishesOnline.com is always available with the click of a button!

Parishioners may also subscribe to receive the digital bulletin in their email inbox each week! Once they’re subscribed, there’s no weekly email for parish staff to manually send. LPi automatically sends the bulletin to a parish’s entire email list.

How Can My Catholic Church Make the Most of Parishes Online?

A few simple steps will help your parish make the most of your Parishes Online profile:

1. Keep your listing current. Parish staff can claim and manage their own Parishes Online listing. Make sure parish information stays accurate so people using the directory can easily find your community.
   
   
2. Add the bulletin widget to your website. The widget is a one-time installation, with reader-friendly layouts, mobile functionality, customizable colors, and automatic bulletin updates. See how to add the bulletin widget with this step-by-step guide.
   
   
3. Connect your email list. Parishes can upload a subscriber list through their Parishes Online listing, ensuring the weekly bulletin reaches parishioners by email. See how to upload your parish email list with this guide.
   
   

Every week, you put time and care into creating a bulletin that keeps your parish connected. LPi helps that work travel further!