"CAUTION: Dates on calendar are CLOSER than they appear." Anonymous

As a parish, there are so many places content is needed:

• the bulletin

• social media accounts

• the website

• the e-blast

• the blog

It's enough to make you want to throw in the towel.

Do not despair. Instead create a Content Calendar!

Below are 5 easy steps to help you do exactly that.

Step 1 - Print a Calendar or Write the Dates Out

This is definitely the easiest and fastest of the 5 steps.

You can literally print out the calendar month you are working on, or just grab a piece of paper and write out the days of the month. I use both methods and both work.

Choose the month you are planning for and write out all the dates. That’s it. You’re ready for step two.

Step 2 - Filling in the calendar

While you certainly don't have to have content for every day of the month, it is something you can work toward over time.

To help fill out the days, I suggest looking at five different categories, in the following order.

Liturgical Calendar

I generally start with the liturgical calendar to see what the “big” days are in the month I’m planning for.

Look for things like:

• Solemnities

• Major feasts

• Memorials

• The beginning or end of a liturgical season

Depending on the time of year, this might include celebrations such as Pentecost, the Solemnity of Christ the King, Ash Wednesday, Easter Sunday, or the return to Ordinary Time.

The best place to confirm these dates is the USCCB Daily Readings Calendar.

Saints' Feast Days

Next, I look to see which feasts, memorials, and solemnities of saints fall during the month.

My two favorite resources are:

• Franciscan Media's Saint of the Day

• The Vatican's Saint of the Day - Calendar of Saints.

I generally choose:

• Well-known saints.

• Saints connected from my country or parish.

• Saints, blesseds, or venerables I’m less familiar with.

Remember, they all have interesting stories, and sharing them is a wonderful way to introduce parishioners to the richness of our faith.

Secular Holidays

I also like to include major secular holidays.

These might include:

• National holidays

• Family-focused days such as Mother’s Day or Father’s Day

• Seasonal milestones like the first day of summer

You can find a full list of secular holidays for any year on sites such as timeanddate.com.

Parish Happenings

Be sure to include whatever events are happening in the parish.

• Are there First Communions or Confirmation?

• Is there a school Mass or end-of-year celebration?

• What about a Parish picnic?

• Is your priest, your deacon celebrating an anniversary or birthday?

Miscellaneous

This category is your secret weapon.

It can include:

• Quotes or short reflections

• Book or movie recommendations

• Virtual tours

• Catholic places to visit during the summer holidays.

This category is especially helpful if you are trying to fill in a few remaining blank days on your calendar.

You can also refer back to the blog "Where to Find Content" for even more ideas.

Download the 2026 planning calendar which highlights major Catholic feast days, saints, key moments in the liturgical year, as well as widely observed secular.

Step 3 - What? Where? How?

Once you’ve identified content for each day, it’s time to decide:

• What are you posting?

• Where will it appear?

• How will it be presented?

Once you have an idea of content for each day, you then need to decide where you will use it.

For example:

• Create daily posts for your social media, which you could also send out in an e-blast?

• Write a few short blurbs for your parish bulletin and then also use them on your social media or on your website.

Next you have to think about how you will present each piece of content. For instance, there are many beautiful paintings of the Ascension that are in the public domain (Christi Himmelfahrt by Gebhard Fugel, c. 1893) combine that with a quote from the gospel and voilà!

For saints, I often:

• Use a public-domain image plus a quote

• Share a short YouTube video (there are many good ones)

One of my other favorite go tos is a virtual tour! For instance, you could suggest people take a virtual tour of St. Peter's Basilica as well as St. Paul Outside the Walls for the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul on June 29th.

For secular events, I often search the event name along with the word Catholic to see if there is a natural connection. or secular events like the Belmont Stakes for example, I turn to Google and type in the word Catholic along with the event to see if anything comes up. That's how I found the story of Catholic Jockey and Triple Crown winner Mike Smith when I needed something for the Kentucky Derby.

And if you’re stuck, you can always ask ChatGPT to help you find a Catholic connection.

Step 4 - Make the Content Look Pretty

The best place to do this is in Canva! This particular step will probably take the longest. But if If Canva feels like too much you can:

• Share a public-domain image with a caption.

• Post a relevant YouTube video or article.

• Use Facebook’s built-in background feature for quotes or Scripture (see photo)

Remember - simple content, shared consistently, is far better than perfect content that never gets posted.

Step 5 - Post & Print

Finally, post and/or print your content:

• Captions

• Images

• Videos,

• Quotes

You’ve done the hard work — now let it be seen.

Final Thoughts

A content calendar may feel overwhelming - and yes, it is a bit of work.

But when you break it down, it becomes manageable.

Creating the calendar itself should take about 30 to 40 minutes. Gathering the resources and prettying them up will take longer. But consider working on one week of content at a time.

And remember: you don’t need content every day. Start with one or two days a week and build from there.

👉 To help you get started, download my 2025 list of Catholic feast days and secular holidays — a simple planning tool you can use all year long.

See ya soon!👋

📩P.S.If you enjoyed this post, you’ll loveGrace Notes— packed with helpful tips and free ready-made Catholic content delivered weekly.