eChurch Blog

This is created by my friend Joseph W:

The following is a presentation to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) made by Bishop Ronald Herzog last week.

I’m going to reproduce it in full here as I think he touches on many important issues facing the church in this new scoial media age.

Thank you for this time today.

I often hear people, both in my work and in my circle of friends, who dismiss social media as frivolous and shallow. Who can blame them?

Twittering.
Status updates.
Blogs.

The very words used by the practitioners seem to beg for ridicule. Their light-hearted twisting of the language suggests that these are the latest fad in a culture that picks up and drops fads quicker than the time it takes me to figure out my cell phone bill.

I am here today to suggest that you should not allow yourselves to be fooled by its appearance. Social media is proving itself to be a force with which to be reckoned. If not, the church may be facing as great a challenge as that of the Protestant Reformation.

That sounds like more hyperbole, doesn’t it? But the numbers are compelling.

There are more than 500 million active users on Facebook. If it were a nation, only India and China would have more citizens. The American Red Cross reported that it raised more than $5 million dollars, $10 at a time, through a text messaging service. One out of eight MARRIED couples in the United States say they met through social media. It took 13 years for television to reach 50 million users. After the iPod was introduced, it took only nine months for 1 billion applications to be downloaded.

Pope Benedict XVI calls the world of social media a Digital Continent, with natives, immigrants, and even missionaries. He encourages Catholics, especially our priests, to approach this culture of 140 characters and virtual friendships as a great opportunity for evangelization. We are asked to respect the culture of these Twitterers and Facebookers, and to engage on their terms to bring Christ into their “brave new world.”

The opportunities can be incredible. As I stated previously, the participation in this new form of media is staggering. Media ecologists and other communication experts cite several reasons for the phenomenal growth:

1. a low threshold of investment, both in user knowledge and finances, especially given its reach

2. the opportunity for immediate dialogue and conversation that transcends geographical and other physical barriers

3. and the speed in universal adaption.

Let me give you one example. The USCCB started a community on Facebook last August. There are now 25,000 ‘fans’ associated with that community. Every day, USCCB staff provides at least four items of information to those 25,000 people: the daily Scripture readings, news releases, links to information on our marriage and vocation websites, and other information. Furthermore, if those 25,000 are like the average profile of a Facebook user, they have 130 friends, or contacts, on Facebook. With one click they can share the information they receive from USCCB. If only 10 percent of the USCCB fans share what they receive from USCCB, we are reaching 325,000 people. Multiple times a day.  All it costs us is staff time.

And these are not just young people. Almost half of Americans classified as the baby boomers – born between 1947 and 1964 – have a Facebook account. Social media may have started with the younger generation, but it is now a very useful tool to reach Catholics of all ages.

Although social media has been around for less than 10 years, it doesn’t have the makings of a fad. We’re being told that it is causing as fundamental a shift in communication patterns and behavior as the printing press did 500 years ago. And I don’t think I have to remind you of what happened when the Catholic Church was slow to adapt to that new technology. By the time we decided to seriously promote that common folk should read the Bible, the Protestant Reformation was well underway.

Because it is so different from mass media and mass communication, social media is creating a new culture on this Digital Continent. Young people use it as their first point of reference. In other words, they’re not even going to their email to get information. The news, entertainment, their friends – are all coming to them through their mobile devices and through their social networks. The implications of that for a church which is struggling to get those same young people to enter our churches on Sunday are staggering. If the church is not on their mobile device, it doesn’t exist. The Church does not have to change its teachings to reach young people, but we must deliver it to them in a new way.

When the Church does attempt to evangelize the Digital Continent, it has some serious challenges to overcome. Most of us don’t understand the culture.

One of the greatest challenges of this culture to the Catholic Church is its egalitarianism. Anyone can create a blog; everyone’s opinion is valid. And if a question or contradiction is posted, the digital natives expect a response and something resembling a conversation. We can choose not to enter into that cultural mindset, but we do so at great peril to the Church’s credibility and approachability in the minds of the natives, those who are growing up in this new culture. This is a new form of pastoral ministry. It may not be the platform we were seeking, but it is an opportunity of such magnitude that we should consider carefully the consequences of disregarding it.

Secondly, the Church cannot abandon legacy communication outlets while it invests in the new media. Although the baby boomers may be going to Facebook to stay in contact with their grandchildren, they still use newspapers, radio, television and books. Those media have attributes and strengths that social media does not. Not to mention the fact that most financial donors to the Church still rely on these legacy media. So the Church needs to continue investing in those efforts, while also investing in social media.

Finally, if as bishops you acknowledge that social media is not the latest fad, but a paradigm shift, please accept the fact that your staffs – and perhaps you as well – will need training and direction. In the past, the church would often build new parish structures, knowing that people would recognize the church architecture and start showing up. On the Digital Continent, “if you build it, they will come” does not hold true. It takes careful strategizing and planning to make social media an effective and efficient communication tool, not only for your communications department, but for all of the church’s ministries. We digital immigrants need lessons on the digital culture, just as we expect missionaries to learn the cultures of the people they are evangelizing. We have to be enculturated. It’s more than just learning how to create a Facebook account. It’s learning how to think, live and embrace life on the Digital Continent.

This past month the USCCB Communications Department, at the direction of the Communication Committee, conducted a survey of diocesan communication directors which focused on their use of social media and their needs.

An executive summary is available to you on the table outside, and it is posted on the password-protected website for the bishops. The survey showed that your staffs have a strong desire to engage new media – only two percent of the responders say that they personally avoid using social media. But it came across loud and clear that they want help in engaging. They want to be enculturated in this missionary world.

I hope you are relieved to learn that, when asked what they needed to use social media more effectively, they didn’t say more money. They are looking for staff who are trained – or can be trained – in the use of social media, however.

You may also be happy to hear that they don’t need you to learn how to use Twitter or Facebook. They do need a vision and leadership from you. Is this something that is important to you? Is it a tool that they should be using to reach young people and others who are unchurched? Do you want them to be developing ways to integrate social media into the diocese’s communication and evangelization planning? What about fundraising? How much attention should they be giving social media and how do you want to use it?

Depending upon the skills and experience of your staff, they are also seeking support from you as they work in social media. This could be translated as any or all of the following: your affirmation of their efforts, including allowing discussion/dissension/dialogue on your diocese’s social media; financial resources for training; and the permission or direction to devote a specific number of hours of their work week to social media. That final item could mean a discussion with them about what do they not do to make room for that time in their day.

When the Communication Committee decided to ask for this time on the agenda, we made it clear to the USCCB Communications Department staff that the presentation should include not only why it was important for bishops to take social media seriously, but also what USCCB would provide to help them and their staffs. The survey provided some direction for us in that regard, but not as much as I had hoped. When asked to identify the single most important issue facing them in the area of social media, no clear answer emerged. The two most common answers were the need for more staffing and resources and the need to identify how to most effectively use social media.

When they were given a list of seven possible resources and asked to rate them as being most useful to their diocesan efforts, nearly six out of ten chose all seven resources as useful or very useful.

What we have been able to discern from these responses is that there is a realization that, even though many dioceses may be beginning to use social media, the church’s communication professionals are not devoting the time or expertise that it deserves. By committing to ongoing analysis and research, continued compilation of best practices and guidelines, and education and training opportunities, the USCCB Communications Department intends to assist their colleagues and to support your ministry as bishops on the Digital Continent. They welcome the challenge and hope that we can one day have all of you as our friends on the USCCB Facebook page.

Following my theme of good news today, the National Secular Society bring us the thoroughly uplifting announcement that several Christians are among the newly announced intake of peers into the House of Lords.

NSS – More evangelists appointed to Lords

A natural sequel to my last post:

CNA

Fr. Charles Shelton –a Jesuit priest, psychologist, and the author of a new book on gratitude– says that the choice to live gratefully can help to improve virtually every aspect of a person’s life.

The multi-talented priest, a professor of psychology at Denver’s Regis University, recently published “The Gratitude Factor,” a book that examines the importance of giving thanks for one’s work, leisure, relationships, and other everyday experiences of God’s grace.

Fr. Shelton has made notable contributions to the field of “positive psychology,” a branch of the social science which studies the cultivation of virtue and well-being. “The Gratitude Factor” combines his work in the field with an emphatic focus on Christian spirituality, in the tradition of St. Ignatius Loyola.

Speaking to CNA on Nov. 20, he explained how the choice to live gratefully, even in the midst of difficulty, could profoundly change one’s experience of the world. Gratitude, he said, gives depth to the experience of joy, and profound meaning to less desirable tasks–  by “re-framing” both as important aspects of the life that one receives from God.

He stressed that gratitude, for Christians, comes most of all from understanding that “we are God’s sons and daughters, and Jesus’ brothers and sisters.” That “core experience” is “channeled, through our hearts, into various commitments” that allow believers to share God’s gifts to them with others.

“The more we can carve out some time to reflect on that (identity) in our lives,” he offered, “the more rich they become.” He described the fatherhood of God as a “centering point” for Christian gratitude, allowing the entire range of human experiences to be viewed as God-given responsibilities.

….continue reading

I’ve recently grown weary of blogging bad news as it’s making me feel gloomy, but try finding good religious news to blog about, I haven’t managed it today.

I’ve been going through one of those “Woe is me” phases, “Poor me, look what I don’t have, look how bad I have it.”

Did you know that if your income is £16,000 per year, you are the richest 10% of the world? In fact, if you earn £1,500 per year you are the richest 15% of the world.

I have a roof over my head and enough food to be able to throw the excess away.

I’m not persecuted for my faith and my family are all in good health.

And what has been my response to such blessing and grace recently? To bitch, whinge and moan at my perceived lack and hardship.

God calls us to be thankful, but am I most of the time? No. I take for granted the blessings I’ve received from God.

Anyway, I’m endeavouring to count my blessings and to cultivate the attitude of gratitude.

Do you have any good news to share with us?

Agenzia Fides have a piece covering an interview with French intellectual René Guitton who’s just authored a book entitled: “Christianophobia”.

I shouldn’t belittle this piece as it covers the serious point that it is estimated that more than 50 million Christians suffer persecution, contempt, and discrimination worldwide.

But this bit really got my goat:

….But that of Christianophobia is a phenomenon that has especially developed in the last 10 years: this is why I created this word.

No, I did back in November 2009!

eChurch – Christianophobia or Christianophobic

Where’s my royalties?

OK, I confess, in my exhaustive investigation back in November 2009, I discovered the BBC, Telegraph and NSS had all used the term as far back as December 2007, quoting Tory MP, Mark Pritchard.

Things have moved on since those days as there is now a Wiki page entitled; Anti-Christian Sentiment, which has this to say:

Christophobia or Christianophobia are also according to Council of European Episcopal Conferences (CCEE) names for “every form of discrimination and intolerance against Christians”

So there you go, more useless information for you to stuff into your already overcrowded brain….

A few links I found interesting for one reason or another:

A Grain of Sand – On Your Knees

Exploring our Matrix – The Blogging Revolution: New Technologies and their Impact on How we do Scholarship

Significant Truths – Proclaiming liberty

BBC – Girl, 15, arrested over ‘Facebook Koran burning video’

And now for some good news:

Francis Sedgemore – Coffee and cake are good for the brain

For some reason this reminded me of yonks ago when I studied memory and came across the term “state-dependent cues” in relation to “cue-dependent memory”.

Put simply, the premise is that the psychological state in which you receive information, is the optimum psychological state to recall said information.

They did some great experiments to prove this.

They got folk drunk and asked them to hide items in their house and asked them the next day where they hid the items. Often, the – now sober – person couldn’t remember, however, once they were drunk again, they often could.

They did experiments with cannabis, caffeine and amphetamines, which all yielded similar results.

This has implications when studying, as if you are in the habit of using a substance to revise, then you ideally need to use the same substance for optimum recall during the examination.

Of course, during a three hour exam, it might be a little awkward to get hold of three pints of beer coffee and two mars bars.

The US State Department has issued its annual report on global religious freedom which includes a report on the UK.

I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, so this is a reminder for myself and a link for you if you’re interested:

International Religious Freedom Report 2010 – United Kingdom

The move by the Russian Parliament to restore religious property seized by the state in Soviet times really does reflect Patriarch Kirill’s increasing political power and influence.

In the 20 years since the collapse of the Soviet system, the Russian Church has been rebuilt from ruins inhabited by shuffling old women and somewhat eccentric zealots into the most powerful body on the post-Soviet stage.

No other Russian social institution has experienced such a rising from the ashes. And no other country has seen such an obvious revival of faith as has occurred in Russia.

It is not so much the Church which has sought union with the state in recent years. Rather it is the state that has been eager to demonstrate its loyalty to the Church – and perhaps to seek its counsel.

It turned out that after the collapse of the Soviet Union only one institution – the Church – had ideas, understanding of what was happening and vision.

Russia is in search of its identity. It needs to re-establish key reference points that were lost in the Soviet period. And the Church, while not calling for the past to be restored, relies on traditional values that underpinned the life of Russian people for centuries, whether they were Christians, Muslims or adherents of other faiths.

When Patriarch Kirill is addressing believers he often uses the concept of Holy Russia. This is not simply a historical reference.

Today the Church is the only thing that binds together the peoples of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, as well as a number of other countries, despite their conflicts and squabbles – the only thing that makes them feel they are a single and indissoluble whole, a part of that spiritual and cultural space which is Russian Orthodox civilisation.