Parish Bell · field notes
The bulletin,
thought about properly.
Essays from Jason Tioh on parish life, translation, print and the quiet weekly work of keeping a Catholic community connected.
12 notesSince 16 June 2026Parish life · translation · design · the office
Built in Malaysia, for parishes anywhere
Parish Bell began with a Malaysian parish that prays in several languages. The problem is not Malaysian, and parishes in other countries are welcome.
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11 notesWhat AI should never do in a parish bulletin
AI is useful for drafting and transcription, but a parish bulletin needs human judgment, verified names and a person who presses publish.
The parish office is not a media company
A parish office should not need a design team, a social media manager and a proofreader to publish a weekly bulletin. It needs a clear routine.
Designing for the oldest reader in the room
A parish bulletin is read by people with tired eyes, small phones and no patience for pinch-and-zoom. Design for them and everyone else benefits.
Print is not the enemy of digital
The printed bulletin and the web page should come from the same source. A good export is not a fallback; it is part of the same weekly work.
What a diocese notice should actually do
A diocese notice should travel into the bulletins people already read, be reviewed in each language, and let each parish decide what applies locally.
A bulletin should survive WhatsApp
WhatsApp is how parish news travels. A bulletin needs a permanent link, an archive and a readable page so the message does not become the archive.
The notice behind the notice
The most important details are often in the poster, not the paragraph: a venue, a second time, a blessing after Mass. A bulletin should carry both.
Why we don't auto-publish your bulletin
A bulletin can contain a funeral time, a correction, a name that must be right. The system should make publishing easy, not make the decision for you.
Translation is a ministry, not a checkbox
A parish that prays in several languages needs translators who can see the English, the context and what changed — not a machine output published without review.
Start from last week, not a blank page
The most useful feature in a parish bulletin system may be the least dramatic one: copying last week's structure so the office only edits what changed.
The bulletin is the parish's front door
A visitor looking for Mass times does not care which file is newest. They care whether the parish has a page that opens, reads clearly and can be shared.
A weekly bulletin is a pastoral document.
If your parish is wrestling with files, translations, print deadlines or a public page that nobody can find, tell me what your week looks like. The first conversation is a look at the work, not a pitch.