The Internet gets a lot of bad press these days. It’s been a tool for child predators, a conduit for the spread of computer viruses and a doorway to identity theft.

But churches and religious organizations are finding more and more ways to tap its potential for good.

Log onto the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Web site — www.usccb.org — and you can watch videos of diocesan priests from around the country offering daily homilies.

Here in Louisville, St. Martin of Tours Church has two Web cameras — one focused on the sanctuary and another trained on the Eucharistic adoration chapel — operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week. When Mass, a holy hour or other activity is held at the church, Web browsers can watch and listen.

St. Gabriel Church makes audio recordings of weekly homilies available on its Web site, www.stgabriel.net. The church is preparing to overhaul its already extensive site with the help of its full-time information technology manager, Steve Mattingly.

Men and women interested in a religious vocation can check out the local Vocation Office online at www.archlou.org/vocationoffice.

The site has endless streams and tributaries that take the viewer to pages particular to their interest — such as links to congregations of women and men religious. For men interested in diocesan priesthood a Web page outlines suggestions for discernment.

Special events, church documents and the personal vocation stories of parish priests are among other offerings on the site. It also includes resources for teachers, parishes and parents who want to address vocations with young people.

The Record is available online — at the Archdiocese of Louisville’s main page www.archlou.org.

The archdiocese’s site also includes information about all of the parishes in the archdiocese and offers links to those that have Web sites. Gifts to the archdiocese can be made online.

The site also includes a summer picnic and festival schedule under the calendar of events, links to archdiocesan agencies, information for people interested in joining the church and updates on the parish planning process.

Lori Massey, director of the Office of Information Systems, said the archdiocesan site will continue to expand.

“There’s a lot we’re not doing yet,” she noted. “The redesigned site has been up since July 2005. But we continue to expand as time goes by.”

The most-visited area of the site is “employment opportunities,” she said. The Vocation Office has the most extensive site. The Office of Lifelong Formation and Education also has a host of information, resources for teachers, registration forms and downloadable booklets.

The archdiocesan Web site also provides a high-traffic “contact us” feature that people used immediately after it went active.

“It was as if people were waiting for it,” Massey said. Queries range from requests for information about marriage preparation and annulments to complaints. Massey’s office directs the inquiries to the appropriate agencies.

Parishes throughout the archdiocese have Web sites as well. Most include Mass schedules and digital versions of the weekly bulletin. Some, such as St. Patrick Church — www.stpatrick-lou.org — are extensive and interactive. Visitors can download forms and explore all of the church’s ministries on various information pages.

Massey said the Internet “has been a great way to get information to people who might not be inclined to call.”

As the regional parish planning process developed, updates were posted immediately, she said.

Massey said the archdiocese has tapped only a portion of the possibilities available for carrying out its mission online, so far.

“A day will come when it’s more interactive with the parishes than it is now,” she said. But that will be a gradual process — to be developed as time and money become available, she said.