On Friday, December 7, 2007, a mouse click launched a new website for the Diocese of California. Reclaiming the old diocesan web address – diocal.org – the new website provides ministry and administrative resources for congregations and lay and clergy leaders inside the diocese and beyond. Because of its dual service to administrative and ministry resources, some at Diocesan House have begun to call the new diocal.org the "Administry Site."

Constructed with the help of church website provider Elexio, diocal.org is a resource to all the working groups and ministries of the diocese. Ministry groups, congregations and organizations will be invited to have a presence on the site, and there are modules that will be added in the near future that will allow for a fully functional online directory, group calendars, HTML newsletters, podcasts, streaming video and other multimedia.

"This is the first of a number of new infrastructure developments that the Communications Working Group is rolling out for the Diocese of California in an attempt to better target the emerging ministry needs that our congregations face," said Communications Officer Sean McConnell of the new diocal.org. Improved data management and targeted communications are slotted for rollout in the near future, and the Communications Working Group is developing a network of congregational communicators to improve information flow between the diocese and its constituent organizations, congregations, schools and ministries.

The project was managed by diocesan web associate Greg Bilke and content development was managed by communications associate Monica Burden. Both Bilke and Burden continue to work to develop the site and they share their excitement about the potential that the new site brings to diocesan communications.
With art design led by Mel Ahlborn, member of St. Stephen's, Orinda, and president of Episcopal Church & Visual Arts (ECVA), the look and feel of diocal.org is much cleaner than the previous website and reflects the image of Christ as it is manifest in the people of this diocese. That look and feel will also be seen in the diocesan e-newsletter DioBytes, and in the site for diocesan and congregational news that will continue at episcopalbayarea.org.

Burden has asked that congregations, ministries, and organizations review their content on the new website and This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Ministries that are not yet presented on diocal.org are asked to put together basic details about their work, including location, contact information, and links to their own websites and to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

There is also a new Google map of the diocese that includes "pins" for each congregation in the diocese. When a visitor clicks on a congregation's pin they will see information about that congregation. Video, audio, and links can be included on each congregation's pin. McConnell asks that each congregation review the content for their entry on the Google map and This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Congregational web developers are encouraged to update links on their website to the new diocesan website at diocal.org, and to report any problems or bugs to the Communications Working Group.