The Simplest Fix for Your Parish's Digital Problem (It's Not a New Tool)

Ask most parish staff members who's responsible for the website, and you'll get a version of the same answer: "Well, it's kind of everyone."

The pastor updates the homepage when something is urgent. The office manager sends the weekly email when she has time. A parishioner who works in IT volunteered to help with the livestream setup last Easter. And social media? That rotates.

Most parishes don't have a digital strategy problem. They have an ownership problem. And until that's solved, no new tool, no new platform, and no new campaign will stick.

The Ownership Gap by the Numbers

eCatholic's State of Catholic Digital Ministry report found that only 21% of parishes have a clearly defined role responsible for digital ministry. The majority describe "overlapping or improvised arrangements" — which is a polite way of saying that digital work happens when someone has time, and stalls when they don't.

Only 21% of parishes have a clearly defined role responsible for digital ministry.

That improvised arrangement looks familiar to a lot of parish staff. The pastor is managing the livestream link and the Sunday bulletin and three pastoral emergencies. The volunteer who updates the website does it "when time allows," which sometimes means weekly and sometimes means the events page is three months out of date. The email goes out most weeks. Most weeks.

None of these people are failing. They're doing their best within a structure that makes digital success nearly impossible.

Why Ownership Matters More Than the Tools

Here's the uncomfortable truth: you can have every platform set up correctly and still make no progress. eCatholic Websites. Online giving. Email. Social media. And still nothing improves.

Tools don't run themselves. Content doesn't write itself. Campaigns don't follow up with donors automatically unless someone set that up, and someone is checking that it's working.

Every gain in digital ministry requires a person who owns it. Not a committee. Not a shared responsibility. One person who has a defined scope, knows what "done" looks like, and is accountable to it.

When that doesn't exist, digital work operates on urgency, not intention. Things get updated when something is visibly wrong. Emails go out when someone has bandwidth. And the parish stays stuck at Stage 2 indefinitely — not because they don't care, but because the structure doesn't support forward motion.

What a Digital Point Person Actually Does

The hesitation most parishes have here is understandable: "We can't afford to hire someone just for digital." But that's not what this requires.

A Digital Point Person isn't a full-time marketing hire. It's one person with a clearly bounded scope. In most parishes, that scope looks like this:

• Website: Keep key pages current (e.g., Mass times, staff directory, events, and sacramental prep). Reviewed monthly, updated within 48 hours of changes.
• Email/Newsletter: Send the weekly or biweekly parish email. Coordinate content submissions from ministry leaders on a set schedule.
• Online Giving: Keep the giving page current, activate seasonal campaign messaging, send donor thank-you follow-up after major campaigns.
• Social Media: Maintain a baseline posting cadence. At minimum, post 2–3 times per week. Share events, faith content, parish news.
• Coordination: Be the named contact for ministry leaders who need digital help. Triage requests. Prioritize.

That doesn't have to be a full-time job. For many parishes, it's 5 to 10 hours per week. And it doesn't always require a new hire.

It Doesn't Have to Be a Hire

A capable, committed volunteer can do this. An existing staff member who has adjacent skills and some bandwidth can do this with a clearer scope added to their role. A part-time contractor with communications experience can do this.

The point isn't the employment category. The point is clarity: one person, defined responsibilities, someone they report to, and a shared understanding of what success looks like.

The parishes that move from Stage 2 to Stage 3 on the Digital Engagement Ladder almost always trace it back to one moment: the moment someone was given actual ownership. Not "you're in charge of social media when you have time." Actual, defined, accountable ownership.

How to Define the Role

If you're ready to close the ownership gap, start here:

1

Write down the scope

What platforms does this person own? What are the minimum expectations for each?

2

Name the time commitment

Be honest. 5 hours a week is very different from 10. Set expectations before someone accepts the role.

3

Define who they report to

This matters. Digital work that has no reporting structure tends to drift.

4

Describe what "done" looks like

Website is reviewed monthly. Email goes out every Tuesday. Giving page is updated before each seasonal campaign. Specific and measurable.

5

Document the logins

Before anything else, make sure this person has access to every platform they're expected to maintain.

That's the whole thing. It doesn't require a job posting or a budget line. It requires clarity.

Most of what's holding your parish back digitally isn't the tools. It's the absence of a named person who owns the work. That's a solvable problem, and it's simpler to solve than most parishes think.

Make This Easier

We built a one-page role description template to help. The Parish Digital Point Person template gives you a ready-to-adapt scope, a time commitment guide, success metrics, and a 4-week onboarding checklist.