Disciplines
- UX/UI Design
- Web Development
Team
- Josh
- Lachlan
- Chelsea
Industry
- For Purpose
Year
- 2025
Catholic Diocese Maitland & Newcastle
The Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle is one of the largest in NSW. 37 parishes, 150,000 Catholics, 10 local government areas stretching from Lake Macquarie to Taree and inland to Merriwa and Murrurundi. It’s the spiritual home for a community that’s been gathering, serving, and worshipping in the Hunter for generations.
But the website hadn’t kept pace. The previous site had served the Diocese well for years, but it was time for something that better reflected the breadth and energy of what’s happening across the region today.
Challenge
A diocese of this scale runs on devolved trust. Parishes need autonomy to share what’s happening locally (Mass times, sacrament schedules, parish news) without waiting on a central web team. But that autonomy can’t come at the cost of a coherent identity, consistent quality, or safeguarding standards across 37 sites’ worth of content.
The challenge wasn’t just a redesign. It was building a platform that could give every parish a voice without the whole thing fraying at the edges.
Solution
A diocese of this scale runs on devolved trust. Parishes need autonomy to share what’s happening locally (Mass times, sWe rebuilt the Diocese website from the ground up in WordPress. A substantial, considered build designed to carry the weight of the organisation behind it.
At the centre is a parish finder that brings all 37 parishes into one place for the first time. Visitors can locate their nearest parish, find Mass times, and connect with their local community in a couple of clicks. Behind the scenes, layered access management means each parish can update its own content within clear guardrails, while the central comms team retains oversight of the whole.
We designed dozens of custom content blocks so the team can build out new pages, campaigns and sections without coming back to us every time. The visual identity is a significant step up. Modern, warm, and unmistakably Catholic without leaning on cliché. The new structure makes the Diocese’s breadth legible: pastoral care, schools, social services, housing, safeguarding, all in one coherent ecosystem.
A digital home that finally matches the scale of the mission.
