The Archdiocese of Tuam has become the latest organisation to embrace the social networking sites Facebook and Twitter. The initiative comes as the archdiocese revamped its website (www.tuamarchdiocese.org), which carries news of official and other Church-related events, organisational and contact information, a section on vocations and various ministries conducted in the west of Ireland.
The archdiocese's secretary, Fr Fintan Monahan, said that effective communication was "a crucial issue" for the Church.
“This is why we have invested in the site and also in the accompanying social media,” he explained.
“The site, and our Facebook and Twitter accounts, provide a means of two-way communication, a way for us to broadcast our news, and also for parishioners to communicate with us.”
The website will host advance information as well as news about major Church events in the archdiocese or involving Archbishop Michael Neary.
These include details of pilgrimages at Knock, Ballintubber and Croagh Patrick, all of which are within its boundaries.
Tuam archdiocese is one of Ireland's largest and consists of 56 parishes spread over large parts of Counties Mayo, Galway and Roscommon, as well as the country's most populous offshore islands.
The social networking details are Twitter (tuamarchdiocese) and Facebook (Tuam Archdiocese.)
As of early this week, 138 people had signed up as ‘friends’ of the Facebook page
SIC: CIN