Parish Finder Scraper

A web scraper for extracting parish information from the Stockton Diocese parish finder website.

Prerequisites

• Python 3.14 or higher
• Chrome browser installed on your system

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone <repository-url>
cd scraper

2. Install Chrome Webdriver (stable): https://googlechromelabs.github.io/chrome-for-testing

3. Setup venv

python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate

4. Install dependencies:

pip3 install selenium webdriver-manager

Usage

Run the scraper:

python3 main.py

The script will:

• Launch a Chrome browser instance
• Navigate to the Stockton Diocese parish finder
• Click on categories 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9
• Print the names of parishes displayed in each category

How It Works

The scraper uses Selenium WebDriver to automate browser interactions:

• Disables geolocation permissions
• Automatically manages ChromeDriver installation
• Iterates through specific category indices
• Extracts and displays visible parish names

Notes

• The script includes a 2-second delay between category clicks to allow page content to load
• Geolocation permissions are disabled to prevent browser prompts
• The browser will close automatically after the script completes