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Jubilee of Communications

January 28 2025

During the Jubilee Year, we’ll be celebrating people who make real contribution to the life and mission of our Diocesan family. The Jubilee of Communications was celebrated during the 24 – 26 January 2025.

Amy, Amy, Emma and Mark are the Jubilee Co-ordination team.

“It’s been a joy to collate, design, create and produce resources and content for the Year of Jubilee. We’ve been working behind the scenes on the website and social media, resources and communications for parishes and community groups, as well as digital displays and signage for the Jubilee churches.

Our Message of Hope for this Jubilee of the World of Communications is for communities to share their moments of celebration together, and to share their messages of Hope, inspiring and encouraging others to be Pilgrims of Hope!”

Here are a few of the people who are involved in the world of communications in our Diocese:

Meet Gill Hall: Parish Secretary (Stockton-on-Tees)

I have been a parish secretary for 5 years. My role – general office administration, arranging baptisms, funerals, and other parish events, and publishing/circulating the weekly parish newsletter.

One of the most humbling parts of my role is liaising with the many dedicated volunteers without whom our parish could not function. Those who read and serve at Mass, help to provide children’s liturgy, journey in faith and baptism preparation, clean and maintain the churches, prepare the newsletter, monitor health and safety, provide music at Mass and organise parish events, including our annual pilgrimage to Walsingham (which this year will celebrate the Pilgrimage of Hope of the Jubilee year) are all amazing. We all work together and playing my part in that is extremely rewarding.

Meet Joanne Thompson: Parish Secretary (Forest Hall)

Parishioners would come to mass, listen to the Gospel, ponder the homily and then take home a carefully prepared weekly bulletin. Then we went digital and we were website-ing and Facebook-ing and X-ing, even live-streaming and perhaps, during lockdown, watching and sharing morning mass together while still in our dressing gowns.

This Jubilee Year, I want to ask; What are we not communicating that keeps you at arm’s length? How can we involve you more, engage you more, support you more… and in return, receive more from you.

Meet Mary Madziva: YMT Retreat Development & Outreach Co-ordinator

The Youth Ministry Team’s (YMT) social media and online communications via our website and YouTube channel, are key to keeping everyone connected, informed, and inspired. Through fun posts, event updates, and uplifting content, we share our faith and encourage young people to get involved and feel part of something bigger. It’s our way of shining a spotlight on the exciting things happening at YMT and for young people in our diocese while linking us to the wider diocesan family of parishes and schools! Our posts aim to invite others to join the journey and celebrate the joy of faith, service, and community. It’s all about spreading positivity, sharing the love of Christ, and keeping the spirit of togetherness alive, both online and in real life! It’s also thanks to our regular updates on our website and social media many of our international volunteers discover our ministry opportunities.

Some of our current online media projects include:

  • Meet the Team
  • Wait a Minute in Lent and Advent
  • Festival Fortnight
  • Minutes of Hope for the Jubilee Year

Meet Michelle Ross: Department for Education

As Religious Education and Ethos Adviser for the Diocesan Department for Education, I provide professional development and support to all Catholic schools within our Diocese. For the Year of Jubilee, I will be providing schools with monthly resources which will be based around the theme of Hope. Schools launch their celebrations on Friday 24 January, and are encouraged to ask their local parish to join them during these activities to help us grow as one Diocesan family.

Meet Leanne: Parish of the Durham Martyrs.

Katie Flood (who was our Youth Ministry Co-ordinator at the time) and I revamped our parish website together, and it went live just before lockdown in 2020. I designed the logo used on the website which shows a combination of our three Mass centres. I’d already been manning the Facebook and X (formerly known as Twitter) accounts since 2017. The website is a vital resource for parish life and I make sure the bulletin is sent out by email every week and uploaded to the website, posting any parish updates such as Mass times, events, appeals on both our website and social media accounts. When we have parish events, I sometimes design posters to help advertise them on the website. I also make sure to take or source from attendees lots of photos at parish events to share the communal joy between parish, diocese and local community. It helps keep visiting and residing pilgrims up to date with both parish and Diocesan news, events and information.

Meet Margaret Doyle: St Cuthbert’s, Durham.

We started live-streaming Mass from St Cuthbert’s in December 2020. The first Mass we streamed was on Christmas Eve, and so many people who had not been to St Cuthbert’s for nearly a year were so thankful for livestreaming. We stream to a YouTube channel, and every week I schedule the Masses on YouTube so that people can find them easily. I also control the camera during the Sunday Masses and other services such as baptisms, weddings and funerals, so people may see me sitting in church with a tablet and wonder what I’m doing – I’m changing the camera angles for the people watching at home.

Livestreaming is a great blessing for anyone who is housebound or unwell, and also for people who are travelling. It’s important that those who can’t get to church in person are able to feel part of our parish family. We see that particularly at baptisms, weddings and funerals. So often people have family who live on the other side of the world and are delighted to be able to join these celebrations online. And we find that families are so grateful to have the video of their celebrations to look back on.

Parish website

Parish YouTube Channel

Meet Paul Nugent: Communications and IT Co-ordinator

I have worked for the Diocese for nine years. My primary role and responsibilities are managing the Diocesan website and social media channels. I serve and support Vicariates, Departments, Clergy, Parishes and Schools to promote the mission of our Diocese through the content that is published across these channels. My hope for the Jubilee Year is to see broader/wider engagement across our Diocesan communities to help foster the Diocesan Vision of ‘One Diocesan Family’.

Please feel free to explore the Diocesan media channels: