My wife and I (and daughter) just returned from the 2011 CNMC in Kansas City. A huge thanks to Fr. Roderick and Steve Nelson and everyone who helped organize and put the event on. It was another outstanding experience and it was exciting to participate. This was the fourth annual CNMC and my third to attend. These were my favorite parts:
The People
The people I get to hang out with have always been my favorite parts of the CNMC. We gather in liturgy and prayer, in workshops, in group discussions and over notes, or tweets, a meal and a beer, and we chit-chat about two of the things we all love most: Our Church and New Media. It’s a good mix of old friends and new faces, business and pleasure, retreat and conference. And it’s really neat to put a handshake or a hug with an online avatar. It’s a perfect example in itself of the power of social networking, bringing people with a common mission together in ways never before. I also really enjoyed all of the presentations, especially Sr. Anne Flanagan’s (@nunblogger).
The perspectives
My next favorite part was probably the diverse set of perspectives one gets to hear from all of the participants at the CNMC. One of my particularly favorite parts was a discussion panel where a lot of the audience were able to participate and share their thoughts as well. It’s such a healthy process for each of us to hear how others perceive our common challenges in the Church. And to learn how others have overcome them or think they may be overcome. And all in union with the teachings of the Church, of course! It’s the necessary kind of back and forth that will keep us headed in the right direction. And it’s very catholic.
Sean Patrick Lovett
Mr. Lovett is the Director of Vatican Radio. He’s had 4 pope’s as bosses and has a very unique (and important) perspective on the use of media in the Church. Aside from very much enjoying his dynamic story telling (including personal stories involving popes and future saints), it was extremely refreshing to have a distinctly vatican perspective amidst the discussion at the CNMC this year. Of course, papal encyclicals and the like are always very present in the conversation, but to have a living and live voice join in was something special. And for me it made the vatican and us seem not quite so distant as we all work together to help the Church use media more effectively. It was also beneficial to hear some of the reasoning behind why the Vatican does (or doesn’t do) many things regarding new media.
A Bishop Tweeted about me
And not so much that he (Bishop Coyne) tweeted something I said, but that he was tweeting about everything going on at the conference. I’ve never seen a bishop live-tweet anything. Oh, and this was after he offered his personal hot-spot (via Twitter) to anyone still needing an internet connection. Nice, Bishop! It’s one of those things that, while simple in itself, marks a non-trivial and fairly significant milestone in new media utilization by those who happen to directly succeed from Jesus’ apostles. Archbishop Naumann was also in attendance! The support and participation of such bishops are so important and I thank them for it!
The Progress
In one of my presentations I highlighted how far we’ve come in a few short years in Catholic new media. I just wanted to emphasize that again. It’s amazing how many websites, apps, profiles and new media movements are here today that were either non-existent or completely unknown only 3 or so years ago. And it’s a credit to every one of the Catholics out there who have stepped out of their comfort zone and answered the call. But it’s also a credit to the CNMC, as I’ve seen a number of such things result directly from connections or ideas formed at a CNMC. That’s pretty cool. And every year we seem to get more and more eager “beginners” and more and more talented “experts” showing up at the event to see what it’s all about (and to contribute to the discussion in an important way).
CNMC 2012
...will be in Dallas, TX! Which is nice for me because I live very close by. But it’s nice for everyone else because there are a lot of really fired up Catholics ‘round these parts ready to join the party. It will also be jointly organized with the Catholic Marketing Network conference. Which I think is a great idea on so many levels.
I also think that such a partnership, along with the increasing diversity and volume of participants, will help open up more opportunities for workshops involving some specific Catholic new media niches. Like:
Social media for Catholic businesses- I noticed a lot more Catholic business owners showing up this year, which is encouraging. Aside from helping them run their businesses more successfully, it might give way to some thinkTank, Silicon Valley, entrepreneurial evangelization type networking.
Catechesis and the new media- Lots of catechists are wondering how to extend their passion and knowledge to teaching online. This could cover everything from personal catechetical blogs to some of the creative, outside the box opportunities we could employ using new media to teach classes, engage students and find creative ways to drive interested people to RCIA classes everywhere.
Laity-Clergy parternships- Covering how we can recruit and leverage the leadership and talent sitting in our pews, as well as how we build and nurture the relationships necessary for an effective and fruitful partnership between the laity and our parish and diocesan leadership. This will be key to moving forward as a Church regarding our use of new media. We have a good example of this in the Austin diocese where the regional Austin Catholic New Media group is figuring out ways to work closely with the Diocese to help the Church. Speaking of regional Catholic new media groups…
How to create and run your own regional Catholic new media group in your diocese or state- This could be one of the next key steps from an event like the CNMC…establishing regional networks of people who share our common interests and goals to collaborate and help their dioceses. And to do so year-round, carrying on the momentum of the CNMC in between the annual events.
Just a few ideas that popped into my head after all the discussions and excitement from the CNMC this past weekend. Would love to know what you all think? And also, feel free to share your blog posts and other resources (in any way related to the CNMC 2011) in the comments below. I know I and many others would love to read them. Hope to see the rest of you next year in Dallas for CNMC ‘12!
You can get a recap of all the CNMC11 tweets here and below are some of the great photos Scott Maentz (and probably some others) took during the event:
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Awesome recap Matt—and I especially love your suggestions at the end. I’ll make sure the board and those in planning take account and hopefully we’ll see many of them come to fruition. You can find a short post I wrote about my time at the CNMC at http://www.faithandfamilylive.com/blog/post_cnmc_blues_inspire_action/
Thank you for sharing your gifts and talents and for inspiring so many of us!
It was great seeing you again and meeting your lovely wife and daughter. You can find my photos from the weekend in this flickr group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/cnmc11/pool/
I was really impressed with the Catholic New Media Conference that I attended for the first time this year. Meeting so many young, energetic and talented Catholics who were “fired up” about their Catholic faith was very encouraging. I’m really looking forward to working with everyone to make CNMC/CMN 2012 a big success!! Al Napleton,President Catholic Marketing Network
I couldn’t believe my brain freeze! It was only after I got home did I realize that the Matthew Warner I met was the same blog I read. Sigh.
Meeting you and your wife (and your cute baby)was one of the most inspiring parts of the CNMC on a personal level. You’ll have to check out my blog on Thursday or so at foryourmarriage.org to see the update posted and how this is going to affect my husband and I.
In addition, I was really reflecting on the “building relationships” most of the speakers touched on as I drove home. My husband was a former FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students) missionary. He had to fund-raise his entire salary. When we had been dating for about a year, we went to his hometown to “meet the parents” at least 5 years after Justin had left FOCUS. Justin made it a point to visit some of his donors - FIVE YEARS after they were no longer donating to him on a consistent basis. Justin didn’t want anything expect to tell them thank you for their continued support. To this day - SEVEN YEARS after Justin has needed monthly support, he’ll still visit some of his donors when he is in the area. And, we still pray daily for all of these donors.
How does that compare to how we build relationships on both a personal level and in the Catholic Church? How can we use New Media to develop these types of relationships?
CNMC was a wonderful experience for me. Being my first of such conferences and barely knowing of such things just a few weeks ago it has really inspired me to understand and utilize this type of resource. Benedictines were among the first missionaries of Europe and some of the most effective in the US. We, Benedictines, must again work to foster evangelization efforts with the means at our use: New Media. It allows us to span the globe while remaining still and stable within our cloister. Thank you for the wonderful insights, ideas and personal connections that I was able to foster this past weekend. May God bless this work.
Matt, I just learned about the CNMC from Twitter and would love to attend one. Unfortunately, for various reasons (finances, family situations, etc.) I can’t foresee that happening. But I was wondering if anyone has the resources to show the presentations as live webinars for next year? What a bigger net we could cast for those of us who truly want to be involved but can’t physically be there to learn, share and grow in this wonderfully exciting opportunity. Or if that’s not possible, maybe videotape them and post on YouTube? I am desperate to stay on this “catholic technology bandwagon” and think this would be a great way to do it. Thanks so much for a great recap!
Thanks for this great post, Matt, and the suggestions, and of course your wonderful participation and input at the CNMC! I also love that you’re inviting comments for posting our own blogs.
Here’s my reflection. http://begojohnson.wordpress.com/2011/10/04/friends-romans-of-the-catholic-kind-countrymen/
@nanette, you can view the recording of the sessions, and a few livestreams of the participants here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/SQPNLive. We always try to live stream the event for those who can’t make it, and archive it for others who find out about it late :) The quality suffers sometimes, but overall it’s a neat archive of what we did!
Thanks Matt for the great write up and photos. I also just posted about the CNMC on my blog: www.calltoholiness.us
Joel and I greatly enjoyed our time last weekend in KC. One year ago, we watched CNMC10 via UStream as we were curious about Catholic new media and how to get involved. Here we are 12+ months later, trying to assume our share of the “responsibility for the evangelization of this ‘digital continent’” that Pope Benedict XVI referred to in his message for the 43rd World Communications Day. So to Nanette, you never know where your journey may lead!
Here’s our story: http://www.thepracticingcatholic.com/2011/10/04/we-went-we-met-we-connected-our-cnmc-experience/
Hope to see you next summer in Dallas. Wait, I just realized the next CNMC will be held in Texas during the summer?! :)
Better late than never!
Here’s my reflections on how I was inspired at the CNMC to be a better wife: http://foryourmarriage.org/heres-to-all-the-good-women-and-men/
Do any of these folks appreciate that there is a world out there that Vatican II calls us to evangelize—a greed economy impoverishing and killing billions of fellow human beings, a militarist imperial government committed to endless war and slaughter to enrich the military-industrial complex, a threatened human habitat, racism rampant in Palestine(Israel), Haiti, Colombia, etc.? That we are called to build the kingdom here, a world of justice and peace?
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