I had hoped never to have to write this article but alas the time has come.
It is time for Catholic parishes to move beyond bulletins and websites as the sole methods for communicating with their parishioners. Yes! This article is about embracing blogging, Facebook and dare I say Twitter.
As a society we are experiencing a major and rapid change in how we seek, acquire and ultimately consume information. We are migrating away from traditional sources such as the home delivered newspaper, the news magazine and the evening news. We are visiting websites of our choosing from our computers or our smart phones. We are simultaneously narrowing our focus to specific types of news or specific viewpoints while at the same time using technology to keep us informed on a remarkably broad range of subjects.
Want to know if a severe thunderstorm is approaching your area? No problem sign up for a weather alert and your phone will notify you with a warning. Are you interested in up to date scores of your favorite team? Instant notification is about ten keystrokes away. Ever wonder what happened to that funny kid who you bunked with in summer camp? She is on Facebook-waiting for you to “friend her”.
Modern technology has changed much about how people interact with each other and connect with their community. There is much to be concerned about; there is no question that “new” comes with a fair amount of “not quite as good as it was”.
Embracing the new technology, however, can also be extraordinarily powerful. It can bring people together; it can dramatically expand the ease and speed in how you communicate with your parishioners, area Catholics, or supporters. Effective use of this technology also provides a forum for disseminating real content, for having real conversations, for tackling important topics.
Blog sites, Facebook and even twitter are all tools that Catholic Dioceses as well as parishes need to be investigating. A quick search on the term “Catholic Parish” on the Facebook website yields dozens of parishes who have built their own “groups” to promote the parish, to connect members of their youth programs, to discuss their faith. Some parishes have several hundred members in their groups that they can communicate within seconds, several hundred members who are learning about their parish, their youth group, parish activities or important elements of their faith.
An investigation of the www.Blogspot.com blog hosting company provides dozens of examples of blogs being maintained by Catholic pastors where important topics related to our faith are being discussed. There are blogs from business managers, youth ministers and energetic lay people. Discussions are happening, people are sharing, and people are connecting!
Most of these sites are free and have tools which allow for privacy, access and content control.
As for Twitter it is worth looking at if only to get a preview of where things may be heading. Essentially it is a real time, running dialog, of very short messages from an individual to a community of people who have elected to be kept informed of the individual’s activities.
The big message of this article is blogs, Facebook and even Twitter are important tools that individuals, leaders, businesses, nonprofit organizations and churches are using to communicate, to build community and to connect people with common interests and ideas to each other.
Sounds familiar, sounds relevant, sounds important!
John
(note: article to appear in an upcoming Cunneen Company newsletter, I am well aware that anyone reading this knows about blogs!)
Pause for Prayer: SUNDAY 9/14
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