Catholic Google has a catchy name, a funny logo and a location near one of the most Catholic places on Earth, the pilgrimage town of Lourdes in southwestern France. After only three weeks on the web, it has seen its user stats grow to about 16,000 visits a day. But the site that describes itself as“the best way for good Catholics to surf the web” may be in for a rebaptism. Its webmaster has asked Google if it has any objections to the name and is waiting for a reply.

While doing research for my blog post on Catholic Google on Sunday, I found it was based in a village outside of Lourdes. In a phone call today, webmaster Paul Mulhern told me he set up the website with standard Google filters last month as a service for Catholics who want to surf the web without all the objectionable material they usually come across there. The idea came from his wife, who runs a religious goods shop in Lourdes. They’re originally from Leeds in the UK.

He said most reaction to the site had been positive, although some comments accused him of trying to create a segregated corner of the web just for Catholics. “I can see where they’re coming from but I think they have the wrong point of view,” he said.

(Photo: Pilgrims pray at the Lourdes grotto, 5 Nov 2006/Regis Duvignau)

Mulhern said the safe search filter blocked most objectionable material but it still let some through, as readers who’ve tested it have found to their amusement: “We’re in the process of trying to eliminate as much of the unsavoury adverts as possible, but they have to be blocked by domain name, which is why it is taking some time.” Those ad links on the right side of a Google search can change according to where the reader is based, so this could be an enormous job. And the more ads he blocks, the less he potentially earns.

Some bloggers have asked if this site violates the Google trademark. “I’m in the process of speaking with them,” Mulhern said, adding he was dealing with Google in the United States. “I’ve asked whether they object to the name.” Just in case they do, he has been thinking about alternatives. “We’re thinking of changing the name of the website to something more catchy,” he said. “We might put out a poll.”

He may not have to rebaptise the site. The search engine’s office here in Paris told me they’re flexible about how Google is used on other websites as long as it clearly gets the credit for the search facility. The Google office in the United States dealing with his query would have to decide if he can keep the name and logo.

So now there’s Catholic Google*, a search engine that calls itself  “the best way for good Catholics to surf the web”, It claims that “it produces results from all over the internet with more weighting  given to Catholic websites and eliminates the vast majority of unsavoury content, such as pornography”.

When I heard this today, my first question was whether Google was getting into the religion business. Were there Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist or other versions of the search engine out there as well? If not, would Google come up with them soon? Would it design filters that screen out cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, pro-Palestinian websites or other items that followers of certain faiths might not want to see?

It turns out the answer is “No” to all above. Catholic Google has no connection to Google itself (here’s its disclaimer).  Somebody has reserved a URL for a Muslim Google but it has no content. There’s a Jewgle out there, but it’s more about jokes than real searches.

took a quick spin through Catholic Google and found that its Google SafeSearch filters were about as reliable as the bursting fishing nets in Luke’s Gospel: “It seems that when it comes to filtering topics beyond the standard “offensive” categories (swear words and sex) , CatholicGoogle only serves to make queries potentially more offensive. A search for “drunk” yields a video of “Drunk Catholic Kids”. Perhaps even more bizarre: a search for “sex” offers an article bashing the Church’s stance on sexuality (they may have included this in the results for a balanced alternative perspective, but I doubt it). It’s as if the site just appends the word “Catholic” to whatever you’re searching for and crosses its fingers.”

The disclaimer also says Catholic Google works closely with the real one to ensure the ads that pop up alongside its searches are not objectionable. But it does admit that some of them “may not be in line with Catholic doctrine and we do not endorse any of the results or adverts displayed on Catholic Google.” It wasn’t hard to find the out-of-line ads — it took almost no search time at all to find ads for gender selection, a gay dating service, surrogate mothers and divorce lawyers.

I think trying to use computer filters to create a religious search engine like this is a fool’s errand. Either it will be so restrictive that it doesn’t really search well or it will be so open that objectionable material gets through. Has anybody seen any site that gets the balance right?

(*hat tip: Patrick Heneghan)