Last week I asked my Twitter followers for some examples of parishes using new media. I got some good ones, which I was pleased with. So thank you fellow tweeters!
But I must admit that, overall, I was a bit disappointed in my search. I also “googled” the topic fairly extensively and the pickin’s were few. I hope that one day when we google “Catholic Parish,” we are blown away with how impressed we are with the many, many great results we find. In the meantime, we have some learning, sharing and working to do! Keep in mind I am looking for new media being applied specifically to the life of the parish, not simply its use in various other ministries by those in the Church.
I tried to capture a good variety of new media applications that parishes might find useful. But I hope it doesn’t stop there. I hope leaders of parishes will be contacting these parishes, asking them what works and what doesn’t and all taking some steps forward together. I also pray that the laity who have been blessed with the ability to produce and apply new media will come forward and fulfill an important roll in their Church.
Here are a smattering of my findings:
St. William’s in Round Rock, TX has a good mix of new media on their website. They’ve got a blog-type thing that lists latest posts in the meat of the page. They have the mass times easily referenced, but not overpoweringly so, on the front page. They offer a photo tour of their parish, an audio podcast (in English and Spanish), a Twitter profile and a Facebook group.
St. Mary’s in College Station has an outstanding community and website. They have online registration that uses flockNote to gather all registration information directly into a database and then immediately subscribe parishioners to the plethora of ministries they offer there. They also have a very popular blog, Facebook community and Twitter profile.
A number of parish priests have blogs, often with further commentary on the day’s readings, that they update for their parishioners. Like here, here and here.
St. Ann’s offers online giving links on the main page of their website.
St. Charles did an online survey of their parishioners.
St. Anne’s Youth Ministry uses part of their web page for an “Ask Fr. Fred” section where Fr. Fred answers questions from visitors.
Fr. Riccardo uses libsyn.com to podcast his homilies and other goings-on at the parish.
Here’s a youth ministry from Holy Family using multiple forms of social media well on their website.
You can find a few parish priests who tweet here on TweetCatholic.com in the priest section. I’d love to see this grow…a lot. It’s very easy for any Catholic to add themselves there.
What other parishes out there are using new media effectively at a parish level? Please share in the comments! Let’s help each other.
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At St. Raphael the Archangel, the Pastor’s been doing a pretty good job keeping his blog up to date, and I know the parish is beginning to use more social/community features on the website (it’s a Drupal website ;-).
Over at Open Source Catholic, there’s a LOT of discussion about this particular issue, and I’d invite Catholics involved in webdev to come over and help us help parishes. One of the best things is the Open Source Catholic Wiki, which is currently lacking in many areas, but offers some great resources for Catholic parishes.
Mad props to Fr. Riccardo! His podcasts (as are his radio programs, as well as the RCIA for Cradle Catholics and other talks he gives at our Church on Catholic moral teachings) are always worth the time. Best thing to happen to our Parish since Jesus.
I agree 100% with Victor regarding Fr. Riccardo! My husband and I live in Des Moines, have never met Fr. Riccardo, nor have we ever attended a mass where he presided. Yet, we both have become better Catholics because of his podcasts. We became aware of him through our local EWTN radio apostolate that airs his Christ Is the Answer series. The man has a gift for teaching and speaking. And the most important part: makes no apologies for being true to church teaching and his vocational responsibilities as a priest!
During the three years I spent at Florida State before I became college, I was heavily involved with the FSU Wesley Foundation, the Methodist campus ministry. Even back a few years ago, they were always on top of the New Media game.
Check out their website: www.fsuwesley.com
When I think of what Catholic parishes can do, I’m always inspired by FSU Wesley’s page. I particularly like the prominently embedded YouTube announcement video, which features announcements/messages from the pastor and staff, updated throughout the week. What a great way to engage in the “social” aspect of New Media than through comment-able, share-able, video of your pastor speaking to you through video during the week. A simple video camera and someone marginally familiar with YouTube could maintain this quite easily.
In the future, I would like to see all parishes have this type of barebone engagement: a blog (with announcements/event summaries and photos/articles written by priests and parishioners/links to good Catholic content around the web), a Facebook/Twitter presence, a podcast (with downloadable homilies from the pastor), and a videocast (similar to the previously mentioned example).
I think in five years, any thriving parish—thriving in evangelization and internal faith formation—will have those four components as a minimum.
Also, there will be an interesting dynamic creeping up within parishes that is already visible in the Protestant churches, most of whom are a few years ahead of Catholics on the New Media curve. When linking to content from Catholics outside the church, or hosting/linking to content from popular, evocative preachers, you run the risk of disenchantment with the local parish. With the advent of social-media, many small, local pastors are having many difficulties. Tangible community becomes belittled in the face of digital community—you know Catholics online at a deeper level than in your parish. Also, people slowly begin being transformed less and less by your local preacher; he’s no Archbishop Dolan, he’s no Fr. Barron, he’s no Scott Hahn. Fulton Sheen had a similar effect.
So, there’s benefits that need to be emphasized on the parish levels and dangers to be wary of.
*During the three years I spent at Florida State before I became Catholic*
My parish, St. Anthony Cathedral Basilica, in Beaumont, Texas is moving forward with our use of media. The website, http://www.stanthonycathedral.org/ has gotten so much better in the past year. One of our priests, Fr. Klaudiusz Rokicki, put a great deal of time and effort into it before he left us to go to the Marian missions in the Philippines. He also set up our FB account which is now being updated by a very talented parishioner. Our bishop is quite active on twitter & our priest, Msgr. Jerry has an account as well.
It is so awesome to see what other parishes out there are doing to promote the Word. Hopefully one day very soon more parishes will use the tools that are out there and we can all connect via web.
Matthew,
I am concerned that so few parishes are integrating social media in their outreach, and in their “normal” modes of operation. Recently, when doing research for a presentation I was doing, plus prepping for the CNMC, I found the same lack. I think this will change in the next 5 years as pastors and parish administrators see its low cost and effectiveness—geez, most of their parishioners probably use Facebook in some way, so there’s a start—but we will be playing serious catch up. The effective use of the internet for the life of a parish is secular proficiency and competancy that the laity must help their local parishes in uses well for the glory of God
If you want to see a Catholic parish that makes good use of the internet, social media, and new communications tools, check out www.churchofstmary.org. The Church of St. Mary is a Catholic, evangelizing parish of the Archdiocese of Chicago. Since our website launch in December 2009, our traffic has increased from 4,000 unique visits per month to over 18,000 unique visits per month. With the use of Web 2.0, integration with social media, delivery of podcasts, an in-house video production team, and new and improved email communications, our traffic continues to increase each month. Additionally, we use online registration forms, survey tools, and other means for interactivity. The response we have seen has been astounding. We have been contacted by parishes all over the United States to learn how to get started.
If you would like more information about our current and future plans for evangelization using the new media, please contact Andy Duran at aduran@churchofstmary.org.
Here at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Cincinnati, OH are dabbling in a lot of different forms of the new media. We have a a Twitter account <www.twitter.com/IHMParish. A 700+ fan facebook fan page at <http://companies.to/ihom>. We podcast at <http://ihm.podbean.com> and we have a Vimeo channel at <http://vimeo.com/ihm/channels>. We also have a LinkedIn Group at <http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=2411908>
Our long range vision is to integrate all of this into our website, and to train our whole parish staff/parish leaders to use social media!
St. Patrick Parish (Stoneham, MA) has installed a Digital NewsBoard in their parish center as a means of better communicating with their parishioners. It falls under the category of digital signage, which is New Media, and is used to graphically and dynamically promote news and events. There is a DEMO link at the bottom of this page: http://www.proparish.com/Solutions/Digital-NewsBoard.aspx
The Board is updated remotely via an Internet connection. It can stream video, local weather media RSS and RSS, post images, scroll text, blog updates…etc
† Here at ST. PATRICK CATHOLIC COMMUNITY, SCOTTSDALE, AZ, our WEBSITE is updated daily with news, staff blogs, photos, events, daily readings, weekly bulletin, internet resources and more including our video page which has over 525 videos embedded on Catholic teaching from a wide variety of resources. † We have nearly 500 FACEBOOK friends from around the globe (St Patricks Scottsdale), 145 TWITTER followers (St_Patricks)and 8,600 views on the parish YOUTUBE channel (stpatricksscottsdale). † VISIT US TODAY! http://www.stpatrickscottsdale.org
Semi-related: A good (Protestant) article on how pastors can use Facebook in service of ministry:
http://www.challies.com/christian-living/how-and-how-not-to-use-facebook-for-ministry
Any Diocese or Parish web site must have a prominent link to the “CATECHISM of the CATHOLIC CHURCH, Second Edition” for accurate evangelization, and to protect their Faithful from error.
The CCC protects us from our own errors, the errors of others, and intended errors from enemies within.
If your Diocese or Parish does not have a very prominent link to the CCC find out why. No one can evangelize the truth without all the facts.
The best web site that I have seen is “St Charles Borromeo Catholic Church” in Picayune, Mississippi - regarding the Catechism. It is so good that it has been recognized by the Vatican.
The Vatican, USCCB, and St. Charles Borromeo Church all have the CCC that any Diocese or Parish can easily link to.
No offense, but I checked several Church web sites listed above, and they do not have any promient links to the “Catechism of the Catholic Church”.
Therefore their evangelization is merely what one person “says”.
Using the CCC * * * * ” What are presented in the Catechism is not one faction’s personal opinions or theological hypothesizing, but the solid, objective and definitive Faith - what the Catholic Church believes and teaches authentically and authoratively.
It is not a book containing merely one perspective; it is the objective and essentially immutable doctrine of faith - in short, the Truth, the teaching of Jesus Christ. It must be approached that way.” - Fr. John Corapi * * * *
Anne: But the majority of people find the CCC hard to digest, which is why evangelizers often popularize the Faith using other means. Orthodox evangelization doesn’t have to be composed entirely of verbatim quotes from the Catechism or other Church documents. Their truths can be articulated in new ways, through new media.
Brandon, the CCC is being used in a few Catholic High Schools in the mid-West.
Everyone over age 15 and is literate, should have no problem reading and understanding it.
After slowing reading it once from cover to cover, if a person is interested they can go back and check out footnotes at the bottom of each page - Scripture, Church Documents.
Anyone not using the CCC subjects themselves to their own errors, the errors of others, and the errors of “enemies within” the Church.
The CCC is also printed in other languages for those who are more comfortable with that.
Major Heading topics include the Creed, Sacraments, Dignity of the Human Person, Commandments; Christian Prayer. What’s not to understand?
It also includes but is not limited to:
1. Those in consecrated life profess a Vow of Celibacy; (915, 1579, 2102)
2. Women will not be ordained Priests; (1577, 1578)
3. Homosexual Acts [which includes gay marriage] is gravely sinful and can never be approved; (2357, 2358, 2359 with Scriptural footnotes)
4. Participating in an abortion is automatic excommunication; (2271, 2272)
5. There is a specific distinction between euthanasia and the rejection of overzealous treatment, and treatment of pain; (2278, 2279)
6. Why purposeful viewing of pornography is a mortal sin; (2354, 2396, 2211)
7. Who may and may not receive the Eucharist in the Catholic Church. (1355, 1415)
8. Ignorance of a sin can be sinful in itself; (1791, 1792, 1801)
9. Each of us can have a responsibility for the sins committed by others, and that we can become accomplices in the sins of others through complaisance; (1868, 1869, 2480)
10. “Social Justice” without “Subsidiarity” which protects the rights of the individual and family is wrong. (1883, 1885, 1894, 2209, 2211)
11. Socialism, Communism, pure Capitalism, Collectivism, and excessive intervention by the Government are wrong. (1883, 1885, 2425, 1907)
12. The Church is not to be confused with the Political Community, and only is to pass moral judgments in politics when the “fundamental rights of man” or the “salvation of souls” require it; (2245, 2246, 2257)
13. It is a moral obligation to Vote, and vote for the common good [as opposed to selfish motives]. (2240)
14. Scandal can be a grave offense (mortal sin); (2284, 2285)
In all of the above, please read the CCC for exact Church wording and intent.
If we are going to evangelize, we must be accurate.
There is also a section in the CCC regarding “The Use of the Social Communications Media”. If someone does not know what it says or what it means because they have not read the CCC in its entirety, they can not adhere to it.
“The proper exercise of this right deamdns that the content of the communication be TRUE and - within the limites set by justice and charity. Further it should be communicationed HONESTLY and PROPERLY. This means that in the gathering and publication of news, the moral law and legitimate rights and dignity of man must be upheld.” 2494
We (www.eglantz.com) created St. Mary of the Assumption’s website about two years ago using html (we are now using Drupal). We no longer maintain it but you will find examples of a blog, video page, many podcasts, online homilies, You Tube videos, facebook page, online photo album, etc. Check it out! www.stmarymanayunk.com. We also created a website for IHM which can be found at www.ihmphila.org. Such features here are online poll, facebook link, google events page, prayer request page, link to Catholic TV, online photo album and some of the same features as St Mary’s. We are trying to get the pastor to include more features but not sure if that is going to happen. Realistically we would like to add more but it is up to the pastor at this point. Enjoy!
@ Sean Ater Impresive use of social media for a parish! Nice work. How long have the FB and LinkedIn pages been up? What technology are you using for your website?
The Parish of Saint Gregory the Great, in Danbury, CT has an archive of homilies to be listened. The upload each Sunday’s homily. That’s awesome.
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