Case Study
Diocese
of Harrisburg
By replacing an outdated and often overlooked diocese-to-parish eNewsletter with Catholic Social Media, the Diocese of Harrisburg vastly increased their communications reach.
How Simplifying and Centralizing Social Media Increased Usage by 300%
Providing parishes with ready-to-use content and publishing tools boosted the confidence of parish staff. This has resulted in an increase from 20% of parishes using chancery messages in 2023, to 80% now actively sharing engaging diocesan content in 2026.
Diocese of Harrisburg at a Glance
201,186
Catholics
served
2,336,000
Total
population
70%
Parish adoption of Catholic Social Media
1,830,015
Total views for ALL content posted
300%
Increase in diocesan created content used
By replacing an outdated and often overlooked diocese-to-parish eNewsletter with Catholic Social Media, the Diocese of Harrisburg vastly increased their communications reach. Under older distribution models, participation remained low – about 20%. That meant important and useful information from the Diocese wasn’t reaching its intended audience of parishes, and, through them, parishioners and neighbors.
The Challenge
Lack of Engagement
In 2023, the Diocese of Harrisburg faced two issues when distributing information to their parishes to use on social media and beyond:
- Varied technological proficiency among school and parish staff
- Little to no consistent social media presence
As recently as 2022, nearly one-third of parishes had no social media presence at all.
The Solution
Deliver Confidence
The ability for the Diocese to provide ready-to-post social media materials through CSM made buy-in easy among parishes. Church staff were empowered to set up Facebook and Instagram accounts they’d hesitated to create previously, knowing that they would be receiving content from the Diocese once they were up and running, as well as expert assistance from the Catholic Social Media team.
And for those parishes already with a digital presence, but with limited time, CSM provided a boost to underutilized parish social accounts.
By delivering materials parishes could utilize – Bible verse of the Day, event announcements, news from the bishop, and so on – parish staff could easily populate their social media accounts with engaging and informative posts.
“Prior to CSM, one of our biggest pain points and frustrations was that diocesan messages were not getting to our parishioners. CSM has almost completely eliminated that challenge. It’s helped build a collaborative communications effort between the Diocese and our parishes.”
Rachel Bryson, Executive Director of Public Relations for the Diocese of Harrisburg
Major Moments Made Easier
A New Bishop
In 2023, Most Rev. Timothy C. Senior was announced and installed as the Bishop of Harrisburg. This major event required a massive collaborative effort among nearly every office in the Diocese. CSM served as the communications hub during this process. CSM allowed consistent messaging to be delivered in a timely manner across a multitude of social media platforms. In short, Bishop Senior’s introduction to his people was more easily accomplished through relevant and timely social media posts, delivered directly to parishes.
The communications office utilized the resource section of CSM as an anchor for all Bishop-related materials – initial background information, official press releases, Bishop Senior’s biography, and more. With so much important and official information being announced and released in a short time frame, it was reassuring to the comms office to know that parishes had one trusted source for all the materials – rather than relying on emails, attachments, or links that could be easily missed.
Beyond Comms
The Communications Office isn’t the only department putting CSM to work. Other departments have access to schedule posts for the comms office to review and publish for parish use.
Catholic Life and
Evangelization
Promoting events
Catholic
Charities
Sharing the impact of its charitable work
Office of Pontifical
Missions
Highlighting World Mission Sunday and beyond
Office of Stewardship
& Development
Telling donor stories
to encourage support
Office of
Vocations
Assisting discernment by sharing stories from seminarians and priests
Why It Works
Catholic Social Media allows users of all skill levels to succeed:
- Fewer barriers make posting on social media less daunting
- Simplified processes free up the time of parish staff and volunteers
- New social media account owners have confidence and support to grow
- Successful content can be replicated, and unsuccessful content can be changed
- Parishes are embracing social media as a form of evangelization
Looking Ahead
Parishes that feel seen and supported by the Diocese respond by participating in its initiatives. Today, Catholic Social Media is embedded in the Diocese of Harrisburg’s day-to-day operations.
If your team is looking for a partner that can grow your digital presence and make the Church more visible in your area, Deacon John Rogers, Vice President of Catholic Services can help you explore what’s possible. You can reach him at john@prengersolutions.com and 844.333.5252, ext. 200.
“Catholic Social Media is a huge time saver that allows for collaboration together, and that makes it a very powerful evangelization tool.”
Rachel Troche, Multimedia Production Manager for the Diocese of Harrisburg
Schedule a Conversation
If your team is looking for clearer parish execution and stronger results, Deacon John Rogers, Vice President of Catholic Services, can help you explore what’s possible.
