At the cutting edge of modern evangelism

Personal Profile

Emmet Thompson’s connection with St Eugene’s Cathedral and the nearby Long Tower parish in Derry go all the way back to his childhood. It’s a connection he has maintained through his work as pastoral co-ordinator for the two parishes, a role that was of great importance over lockdown, as Mr Thompson was heavily involved in online outreach.

Although his faith remains important him today, Mr Thompson admits there was a period when he drifted away from the faith”

“I grew up in the parish of St Eugene’s Cathedral, so I came from a faith-filled house,” Mr Thompson tells The Irish Catholic. “My faith has always been important to me, I was a regular Mass goer here at St Eugene’s Cathedral. It’s quite funny, at Christmas time – my dad was originally from the Long Tower parish so we were – always taken there at Christmas time. I live in close proximity to the two churches.”

Although his faith remains important him today, Mr Thompson admits there was a period when he drifted away from the Faith. When asked what brought him back, he pauses to think for a moment before responding.

“I don’t know,” he begins. “I think it was probably the foundations that my parents lay many years ago and then just seeing that and becoming probably a bit more mature as well and recognising that spiritual fulfilment – longing for that was quite important to me as well. I actually thought then, I must start going back.

“I think as well – you’ve struck a chord there – I went to St Therese novena. I had dropped it for a while and one year I went to St Therese novena and Martina Purdy gave a talk on that week. It was a very good week, there was a buzz – I can’t remember exactly, it was several years ago, but Martina Purdy and it was just something about that week.”

Mr Thompson is married now, with twin girls of his own, and is deeply invested in his faith both at home and at work.

“My kids are two, going on three,” he says. “I run the children’s liturgy in the cathedral, it hasn’t been taking place since Covid. I have been taking my children more, recently, now that they’re that bit older and they understand more, I take my kids to Mass. We run faith camps during the summer, though not during Covid, it’s part of my role. There’s 450 kids attend over three weeks, it’s a faith-based camp in the parish. It’s trying to help young people in the parish grow in their faith and build that sense of community.”

Having worked as a teacher at a local post-primary school, Mr Thompson took on the role of pastoral co-ordinator six years ago. In his daily role, he is responsible for a variety of activities and programmes in both parishes. He organises sacramental preparation, looks after the digital side of things, and manages catechesis programmes for both youth and adult formation. Unsurprisingly, the pandemic has meant the whole lot had to shift online quickly.

“Our following exploded,” Mr Thompson says. “We had the webcam in for quite some time, we did a lot of pushing on Facebook. Both parishes, we were in and around 15-20,000 followers, whereas we’re in and around 40,000 now. It’s growing a lot, a lot of things have gone online. We did our catechesis, especially during Lent and we did a book club. And then people all over the UK and Ireland joining in for that. We had over 50 people, from Cork, Devon and Cornwall. It’s been extremely beneficial for the parish, during that time.

“When lockdown happened we made sure we had a full programme, which we’ve continued. We have Mass three times a day, we added on the angelus and rosary, and then adoration and night prayer Monday to Friday. We’ve continued that even since the end of lockdown. There’s a lot of people tuning in online, but not only that, there’s a lot of parishioners coming out for the angelus and rosary at 12. The model has changed slightly for the adult formation and prayer life, which has been extremely positive since it happened.”

For Mr Thompson, it’s great to be on “the cutting edge” of modern evangelisation. Reaching out online has been one of his primary roles since he started, and he’s very grateful for the forward-thinking help he has had from the local priests.

I think it really brought the parish together, because there were several people who volunteered to translate into the multiple languages”

“The administrator of the Cathedral, Fr Paul Farren and Fr Aidan Mullen of St Columba’s, Long Tower – they’ve been very forward thinking for the digital evangelisation, even before [lockdown]. Our role in chaplaincy, we’ve YouTube channels and we do chaplaincy videos weekly as no one was allowed into primary schools. What we actually did was, we had a weekly vlog for catechesis for the sacramental classes. Then we would publicise that, both myself and my colleague. It’s been really, really beneficial. We’ve been getting a lot of positive feedback from the schools throughout the year.”

Always keen to innovate, Mr Thompson has been working on another project to raise interest in the Faith. He and the administration at St Eugene’s Cathedral have recently completed a multi-language, self-guided tour of the cathedral.

“I had an idea then that we should do a self-guided audio tour. I made contact with the gentleman who does it and we decided then that we’d have the audio tour. I was also in contact with Visit Derry, because they say there’s lots of people come and they want to see a Catholic cathedral, but there’s no tour. We decided we’d do that and translate it into six different languages. I think it really brought the parish together, because there were several people who volunteered to translate into the multiple languages.”