South Philly parish adds digital component to expand reach

What if parishes live-streamed masses, developed email lists and had multi-lingual websites?

One South Philadelphia is working on those things and more as it brings in a digital service director. Our partners at Technically Philly sat down with Tom Shakely to talk about what he’ll be doing with St. Thomas Aquinas Church.

He’s got some specific goals to work toward, but Shakely, who’s written before about the Catholic Church’s need to reach people through a digital community, has the overall task of expanding the parish’s reach by using new platforms to make more people aware of the church’s services.