Archives: Case Studies

What began as an evangelization pilot program in a handful of parishes in the Fall of 2019, rapidly became, by Lent 2020, one of the most important pieces of technology used in the history of the Catholic Church. The DeSales Media Live Mass Stream program single-handedly made contactless Liturgy in the Diocese of Brooklyn possible. During the Covid-19 pandemic, when churches were closed, DeSales launched its innovative, high definition, NYS guideline-compliant Mass broadcast system. It’s a system that has been enthusiastically adopted by more than half the parishes in the diocese within a few months. This program has allowed the faithful of the diocese to remain engaged, supportive and integrated with their parishes.

The impact will be sustained long beyond the pandemic. Live Mass streams continue to provide a service to the elderly, disabled and vulnerable in our communities, while simultaneously spreading the Word beyond conventional parish boundaries to an often global scale. With online giving, sacraments, and robust reporting included in the program, parishes report viewership from six continents and have seen an increase in offertory despite the decrease in Mass attendance.

Technology will never replace the sacramental life of our incarnational church that happens in fellowship between human beings. But we will continue to harness its ability to bridge gaps and digitally connect people to their faith, not for its own sake, but to move Catholics to action.

The Secretariat for Evangelization and Catechesis wanted to have a monthly newsletter produced and emailed to their subscriber list. Newsletters are an essential part of the email marketing strategy, as they allow organizations to nurture their contacts by sharing news, insights, and highlighting upcoming events.

What we created was a bulletin called “Our Ministry Today”. It allowed SEC to share events like the Brooklyn and Queens first virtual Catholic Youth Day (BQCYD) celebration. Spearheaded by the Secretary of Evangelization & Catechesis Theodore Musco, lead event coordinator Lucia Morales and the BQCYD committee, the event as always consisted of inspirational talks, the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, praise and worship and fellowship with and amongst youth from multiple parishes in the Diocese of Brooklyn.

Email marketing strategy is an inexpensive but has a great return on investment and one of the most effective marketing channels. A well-designed marketing email sent regularly can assist in website traffic, event registrations and important information presented directly to your subscriber base. Also, measuring the performance of an email newsletter will help you accurately calculate your ROI and produce target-audience relevant newsletter content.

The Catholic Church continues to grow, with over 1 billion Catholics all over the globe. Sadly, this growth is often met with opposition and persecution. Just this past spring, the world was shocked by images of a suicide bomber attack at St. Sebastian’s Catholic Church in Sri Lanka on the holiest night of the Christian year—Easter Vigil. This story brought attention to an underrepresented story in American media—the global persecution of Christians. In Iraq, Chalcedonian Catholics suffer persecution at the hands of ISIS and Islamist fundamentalists. Nigerian Christians have weathered horrific attacks by Boko Haram terrorists. Throughout the world, Christians face constant persecution for their allegiance to Christ.

As the “Diocese of Immigrants,” many of our community members have a strong connection to countries where our brothers and sisters in Christ continue to be persecuted. We have an obligation to them and to the other members of the Body of Christ to raise awareness of the violence they suffer.

December 1, 2019 was designated as Red Ribbon Sunday, a day of prayer for the Diocese of Brooklyn in honor of persecuted Christians throughout the world.
Red Ribbon Sunday will be celebrated in partnership with Aid to the Church in Need, an international organization that offers material and spiritual support to persecuted Christians. Help us spread awareness of today’s Christian Martyrs through participating in the following events.

“Our persecuted brothers and sisters are the elite of the Church. To
show solidarity with them is a matter of honor.”
Father Werenfried van Straaten

Vincent LeVien, the Director of External Affairs for DeSales Media, and the ETF were featured on Fox and Friends.

We at DeSales are committed to serving our community however possible, especially in times of need. During the coronavirus pandemic of 2020, DeSales Media organized the Diocese of Brooklyn’s COVID-19 Emergency Task Force (ETF) in New York City and beyond.

The Emergency Task Force has been coordinating logistics and the procurement of personal protective equipment and other essential medical supplies for NYS Office of Emergency Management, Governor Cuomo’s NYS Troopers Protective Detail, New York City Police Department, Fire Department of the City of New York, FDNY Emergency Medical Services, NYC Office of Emergency Management, and other first responders and medical professionals who are fighting the pandemic on the front lines. Through their efforts, they have acquired and distributed more than 450,000 masks, sanitizers, gloves, face shields, and other vital protective equipment.

The team was also responsible for facilitating the delivery of over 50,000 pizzas to over 40 hospitals and medical centers, as well as to NYPD police precincts, FDNY station houses, food banks, and community organizations throughout the city. They have been working in partnership with restaurants, including Sauce Pizzeria, which shut down its normal operations to the general public to provide the Emergency Task Force with pizzas to deliver to first responders.

The Emergency Task Force has also coordinated with the Catholic Telemedia Network (CTN) and the Schools Office for the Diocese of Brooklyn to deliver iPads to schools where many of the families do not have the financial resources to purchase equipment that can be used for remote instruction from teachers. This has resulted in nearly 1,000 iPads being delivered to 21 Catholic academies across Brooklyn and Queens.

News Coverage

Tags Charities, Giving Back, Schools

DeSales Media built the websites for St. James Cathedral Basilica and the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph with Tilma Parish Connect.

The elegance of these sites reflects the elegance of these two beautiful Brooklyn cathedrals, but the designs tell only part of the story. With Tilma Parish Connect, DeSales is not only able to offer beautiful websites but also a suite of digital tools and services.

Learn how you can put Tilma Parish Connect to work for you!

Tags Parish

DeSales Media’s Catholic Telemedia Network (CTN) helps transforms computer labs by upgrading the WiFi infrastructure to allow for mobility learning. These labs are designed with laptops and tablets, 72” Interactive touch screens, moveable furniture and bright decor, to create an environment for collaboration and creativity. It is through this level of support that the primary Catholic acadmies of the Diocese of Brooklyn are able to compete with any private school at the technology level.

Tags Schools, Teachers

DeSales Media coordinates and provides resources to facilitate the wide variety of requests and support we take on for the Diocese of Brooklyn and beyond. For example, our Director of External Affairs serves as the official liaison for the Diocese with the Governor of New York State, both U.S. Senators, the Mayor of the City of New York, the NYPD, the FDNY, and the OEM.

After Hurricane Sandy, External Affairs worked as liaison with FEMA, organizing and providing them with the data necessary to complete project worksheets that would ultimately result in the awards of millions of dollars in assistance.

To see how critical this was, look at the state of Saint Francis de Sales Catholic Academy in December 2012, after damage sustained during Hurricane Sandy:

Tags Development, Diocese, Fundraising, Grants, Relief

Fiscal year 2018 was dedicated to be a Year of Vocations in the Diocese of Brooklyn.

His primary goal, and therefore DeSales’ primary goal in aiding the Diocese to carry out this work, was to increase vocations, especially vocations to the priesthood. The secondary goal was one of culture change: we wanted to spread a spirit of discernment, and increase the use of the term “vocation” among the diocese.

To support this work, we first needed to create a strong digital presence. We created a new website, Brooklyn Priests, for the Vocations Office.

We created a new website for the Cathedral Seminary House of Formation, our minor seminary here in the Diocese of Brooklyn:

And, we created a third new website entitled What’s My Calling?:

The purpose of What’s My Calling? is to answer questions that people–especially young people–may have about four of the various vocations God may be calling us to: the priesthood, the diaconate, religious life, and married life. It helps the visitor to understand what discernment is, and how the Church advises going about it.

The microsite became our landing page for all other activities throughout the campaign, which included a social media activation, email marketing campaign, and a video that showed priests and religious as every day, athletic, relatable men. (Scroll down to watch it!)

Vocations to the priesthood skyrocketed in the Diocese of Brooklyn that year, and our Vocations Director had never had so many young men involved in his events throughout the year. This was a very successful campaign.

Tags Discernment, Vocations

2018 was dedicated to a Year of Vocations and the biggest emphasis was on the need for diocesan priests. In speaking to our diocese’s Vocations Director, Fr. Suckiel (and in looking at the existing site), it was clear that a major component of this campaign would be a complete redesign of the website.

The purpose of brooklynpriests.org is to engage young men who are discerning or who are considering discerning the priesthood. The website is informative on all aspects of priestly life and encourages young men to get involved by joining Fr. Suckiel at any number of meetups and events at the House of Discernment and elsewhere.

The website contributed to an overwhelming response from young men in the diocese–more than Fr. Suckiel had ever seen in his five years as Vocations Director. He is still working with many of them as they continue to discern, finish their secondary studies, and prepare for our minor seminary, the Cathedral Seminary House of Formation in Douglaston, Queens.

This site was produced alongside two companion sites: one for Cathedral Seminary and one about discernment and vocations, What’s My Calling?

Tags Discernment, Vocations