One of the greatest challenges of this culture to the Catholic Church
\nis its egalitarianism. Anyone can create a blog; everyone’s opinion is
\nvalid. And if a question or contradiction is posted, the digital natives
\nexpect a response and something resembling a conversation. We can
\nchoose not to enter into that cultural mindset, but we do so at great
\nperil to the Church’s credibility and approachability in the minds of
\nthe natives, those who are growing up in this new culture. This is a new
\nform of pastoral ministry. It may not be the platform we were seeking,
\nbut it is an opportunity of such magnitude that we should consider
\ncarefully the consequences of disregarding it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Looking around diocesan websites, I’d say that at the moment disregarding is pretty much the rule. Take, for example, the Facebook page of New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, which the new USCCB prexy himself posts on pretty regularly. <\/p>\n
Last week, someone took him mildly to task for departing from Vatican norms by encouraging applause during Mass, and someone else helpful cited the norm in question. I figured it was pretty cool of His Excellency to let the comments stand–evidently not in violation of the posted notice that “Personal attacks and inappropriate comments will be flagged for removal.” But after lingering unanswered for 24 hours or so, suddenly they were gone. Poof! What stays are only the verbal equivalent of kissing the archiepiscopal ring. (“Thank you , your Excellency , The homily was terrific.”) Somehow, I don’t think that’s what Bishop Ron had in mind. <\/span> <\/p>\n Monday, November 15, 2010<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n <\/a>“As Great a Challenge as * * *<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Social Thank you for this time today.<\/p>\n I often hear people, both in my work and in my circle of friends, who dismiss Twittering.<\/p>\n Status updates.<\/p>\n Blogs.<\/p>\n The very words used by the practitioners seem to beg for ridicule. Their I am here today to suggest that you should not allow yourselves to be fooled by That sounds like more hyperbole, doesn’t it? But the numbers are compelling.<\/p>\n There are more than 500 million active users on Facebook. If it were a nation, Pope Benedict XVI calls the world of social media a Digital Continent, with The opportunities can be incredible. As I stated previously, the participation Let And these are not just young people. Almost half of Americans classified as the Although social media has been around for less than 10 years, it doesn’t have Because it is so different from mass media and mass communication, social media When the Church does attempt to evangelize the Digital Continent, it has some One of the greatest challenges of this culture to the Catholic Church is its Secondly, the Church cannot abandon legacy communication outlets while it Finally, if as bishops you acknowledge that social media is not the latest fad, This past month the USCCB Communications Department, at the direction of the An executive summary is available to you on the table outside, and it is posted I hope you are relieved to learn that, when asked what they needed to use You may also be happy to hear that they don’t need you to learn how to use Depending upon the skills and experience of your staff, they are also seeking When the Communication Committee decided to ask for this time on the agenda, we When they were given a list of seven possible resources and asked to rate them What we have been able to discern from these responses is that there is a By committing to ongoing analysis and research, continued compilation of best posted by Rocco Palmo at <\/span><\/i>19:53<\/span><\/i><\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At the USCCB meeting in Baltimore a month ago, Bishop Ron Herzog of Alexandria, LA, summoned his fellow hierarchs to join the Social Media World. (I’ve posted his talk after the jump, courtesy of Rocco.) There’s plenty of tasty food for thought, though I have to say I’m a little puzzled by the implication that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":222,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nthe Reformation”: The Bishops on Social Media<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nmedia: Friend or Foe, Google or Hornswoggle?<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
\nsocial media as frivolous and shallow. Who can blame them?<\/p>\n
\nlight-hearted twisting of the language suggests that these are the latest fad
\nin a culture that picks up and drops fads quicker than the time it takes me to
\nfigure out my cell phone bill.<\/p>\n
\nits appearance. Social media is proving itself to be a force with which to be
\nreckoned. If not, the church may be facing as great a challenge as that of the
\nProtestant Reformation.<\/p>\n
\nonly India and China would have more citizens. The American Red Cross reported
\nthat it raised more than $5 million dollars, $10 at a time, through a text
\nmessaging service. One out of eight MARRIED couples in the United States say
\nthey met through social media. It took 13 years for television to reach 50
\nmillion users. After the iPod was introduced, it took only nine months for 1
\nbillion applications to be downloaded.<\/p>\n
\nnatives, immigrants, and even missionaries. He encourages Catholics, especially
\nour priests, to approach this culture of 140 characters and virtual friendships
\nas a great opportunity for evangelization. We are asked to respect the culture
\nof these Twitterers and Facebookers, and to engage on their terms to bring
\nChrist into their “brave new world.”<\/p>\n
\nin this new form of media is staggering. Media ecologists and other
\ncommunication experts cite several reasons for the phenomenal growth:<\/span><\/p>\n\n
\nand finances, especially given its reach<\/span><\/li>\n
\nthat transcends geographical and other physical barriers<\/span><\/li>\n
\nme give you one example. The USCCB started a community on Facebook last August.
\nThere are now 25,000 ‘fans’ associated with that community. Every day, USCCB
\nstaff provides at least four items of information to those 25,000 people: the
\ndaily Scripture readings, news releases, links to information on our marriage
\nand vocation websites, and other information. Furthermore, if those 25,000 are
\nlike the average profile of a Facebook user, they have 130 friends, or
\ncontacts, on Facebook. With one click they can share the information they
\nreceive from USCCB. If only 10 percent of the USCCB fans share what they
\nreceive from USCCB, we are reaching 325,000 people. Multiple times a day. All
\nit costs us is staff time.<\/p>\n
\nbaby boomers – born between 1947 and 1964 – have a Facebook account. Social
\nmedia may have started with the younger generation, but it is now a very useful
\ntool to reach Catholics of all ages.<\/p>\n
\nthe makings of a fad. We’re being told that it is causing as fundamental a
\nshift in communication patterns and behavior as the printing press did 500
\nyears ago. And I don’t think I have to remind you of what happened when the
\nCatholic Church was slow to adapt to that new technology. By the time we
\ndecided to seriously promote that common folk should read the Bible, the
\nProtestant Reformation was well underway.<\/p>\n
\nis creating a new culture on this Digital Continent. Young people use it as
\ntheir first point of reference. In other words, they’re not even going to their
\nemail to get information. The news, entertainment, their friends – are all
\ncoming to them through their mobile devices and through their social networks.
\nThe implications of that for a church which is struggling to get those same
\nyoung people to enter our churches on Sunday are staggering. If the church is
\nnot on their mobile device, it doesn’t exist. The Church does not have to
\nchange its teachings to reach young people, but we must deliver it to them in a
\nnew way.<\/p>\n
\nserious challenges to overcome. Most of us don’t understand the culture.<\/p>\n
\negalitarianism. Anyone can create a blog; everyone’s opinion is valid. And if a
\nquestion or contradiction is posted, the digital natives expect a response and
\nsomething resembling a conversation. We can choose not to enter into that
\ncultural mindset, but we do so at great peril to the Church’s credibility and
\napproachability in the minds of the natives, those who are growing up in this
\nnew culture. This is a new form of pastoral ministry. It may not be the
\nplatform we were seeking, but it is an opportunity of such magnitude that we
\nshould consider carefully the consequences of disregarding it.<\/p>\n
\ninvests in the new media. Although the baby boomers may be going to Facebook to
\nstay in contact with their grandchildren, they still use newspapers, radio,
\ntelevision and books. Those media have attributes and strengths that social
\nmedia does not. Not to mention the fact that most financial donors to the
\nChurch still rely on these legacy media. So the Church needs to continue
\ninvesting in those efforts, while also investing in social media.<\/p>\n
\nbut a paradigm shift, please accept the fact that your staffs – and perhaps you
\nas well – will need training and direction. In the past, the church would often
\nbuild new parish structures, knowing that people would recognize the church
\narchitecture and start showing up. On the Digital Continent, “if you build it,
\nthey will come” does not hold true. It takes careful strategizing and planning
\nto make social media an effective and efficient communication tool, not only
\nfor your communications department, but for all of the church’s ministries. We
\ndigital immigrants need lessons on the digital culture, just as we expect
\nmissionaries to learn the cultures of the people they are evangelizing. We have
\nto be enculturated. It’s more than just learning how to create a Facebook
\naccount. It’s learning how to think, live and embrace life on the Digital
\nContinent.<\/p>\n
\nCommunication Committee, conducted a survey of diocesan communication directors
\nwhich focused on their use of social media and their needs.<\/p>\n
\non the password-protected website for the bishops. The survey showed that your
\nstaffs have a strong desire to engage new media – only two percent of the
\nresponders say that they personally avoid using social media. But it came
\nacross loud and clear that they want help in engaging. They want to be
\nenculturated in this missionary world.<\/p>\n
\nsocial media more effectively, they didn’t say more money. They are looking for
\nstaff who are trained – or can be trained – in the use of social media, however.<\/p>\n
\nTwitter or Facebook. They do need a vision and leadership from you. Is this
\nsomething that is important to you? Is it a tool that they should be using to
\nreach young people and others who are unchurched? Do you want them to be
\ndeveloping ways to integrate social media into the diocese’s communication and
\nevangelization planning? What about fundraising? How much attention should they
\nbe giving social media and how do you want to use it?<\/p>\n
\nsupport from you as they work in social media. This could be translated as any
\nor all of the following: your affirmation of their efforts, including allowing
\ndiscussion\/dissension\/dialogue on your diocese’s social media; financial
\nresources for training; and the permission or direction to devote a specific
\nnumber of hours of their work week to social media. That final item could mean
\na discussion with them about what do they not do to make room for that time in
\ntheir day.<\/p>\n
\nmade it clear to the USCCB Communications Department staff that the
\npresentation should include not only why it was important for bishops to take
\nsocial media seriously, but also what USCCB would provide to help them and
\ntheir staffs. The survey provided some direction for us in that regard, but not
\nas much as I had hoped. When asked to identify the single most important issue
\nfacing them in the area of social media, no clear answer emerged. The two most
\ncommon answers were the need for more staffing and resources and the need to
\nidentify how to most effectively use social media.<\/p>\n
\nas being most useful to their diocesan efforts, nearly six out of ten chose all
\nseven resources as useful or very useful.<\/p>\n
\nrealization that, even though many dioceses may be beginning to use social
\nmedia, the church’s communication professionals are not devoting the time or
\nexpertise that it deserves.<\/p>\n
\npractices and guidelines, and education and training opportunities, the USCCB
\nCommunications Department intends to assist their colleagues and to support
\nyour ministry as bishops on the Digital Continent. They welcome the challenge
\nand hope that we can one day have all of you as our friends on the USCCB
\nFacebook page.
\n<\/span>
\nPHOTO: <\/b>AP<\/span>
\n
\n-30-<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span>![\"http:\/\/img2.blogblog.com\/img\/icon18_email.gif\"](\"https:\/\/\/Users\/msilk\/AppData\/Local\/Temp\/msohtmlclip1\/01\/clip_image002.gif\")
<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n