Diocesan office keeping parishes computer-smart

"Our department is responsible for providing information management and data processing support to all the diocesan departments located within the Pastoral Center," said Mr. Weisgrau. "In addition, we provide full data processing support for all the parishes in the 14 counties of the Diocese."

The Diocesan Department of Information Resources provides consultation services and helps design system specifications for diocesan officials, and they also act as a purchasing agent. Many times, they are the ones who set up the equipment, and they also arrange for the training of the users.

Easier work

Mr. Weisgrau often provides all the help a parish might want concerning technology and computer use.

"I try to show parish officials that their jobs would be much easier if they used computers," he said. "For example, a parish that has not completed a data base of all their families, one that is still manually keeping track of their families and what they contributed, is wasting a lot of their time.

"I show these officials that if they kept that information in an automated manner with the programs we've identified for their use, they could send out a letter to every family in the parish in a half-hour. They would also be able to generate many reports to see who is contributing and to what degree, to see what families belong to what parish organizations, and to even find out what talents are available in the parish families. This would be virtually impossible to do without the computer.

Rev. John Close is the staffer responsible for providing computer support to parishes.

Staying fresh

The department spends 10 to 20 percent of its time just staying on top of the new developments in the computer field.

"The computer we buy today was only a gleam in someone's eye two years ago," said Mr. Weisgrau, "so obviously we need to know about that. We're constantly increasing the capabilities of the Pastoral Center network by making sure that we're aware of the software packages that are coming out and that we know how to use them correctly."

He and his department are able to do all this work despite being a small staff of only five people. "At this point, we don't have to argue the fact that the computer is going to help people," he said. "The biggest problem we have now is prioritizing the requests for help because we can't satisfy everyone at the same time."

Leader

According to Mr. Weisgrau, the Albany Diocese is in the top third of the country's dioceses in terms of its degree of computerization. "I'm not aware of any other diocese that provides as broad a range of services to its parishes and agencies as we do," he said.

He gives much of this credit to the Chancery, which through the years has provided tremendous support to the department. "We're lucky to have that support," said Mr. Weisgrau, "because I know that many other dioceses don't provide it."

Within five to ten years, he expects to see al diocesan officials and parishes linked electronically. "When this happens, we'll be able to communicate about a large variety of things," he said. "We'll be able to share information without any difficulty whatsoever. There will be no more missed phone calls, no more lack of information, no more duplicate mailings. Everybody will be sharing information more efficiently, and the entire Diocese will be a more efficient organization."

(Editor's note: To contact the department call (518) 453-6685.)