A More Connected Church

CEDAR KNOLLS  As technology continues to advance at breakneck speed in the field of communications, how can the Church keep up with its flock and reach out to them?

With more than 90 percent of New Jersey households owning a computer — desktop, laptop, tablet or smart phone — it seems only natural for the Diocese of Paterson to use technology to reach people in the pews and in their homes.

Already almost every parish in the Paterson Diocese has its own website through eCatholic, which has become a portal for local church news, ministry updates, information for non-active Catholics wanting to return to Church and evangelization tools. Many parishes also are connecting with parishioners through social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

With all these ways to stay connected, the Diocese is taking the next step in cutting-edge technology advances so that parishes can easily stay in touch with parishioners.

Now being made available to parishes is a program called Flocknote, founded with the Catholic parish in mind. It is an email and text messaging tool created for parishes and the various ministries they offer. Parishioners have the option to control the alerts they receive from their parish and which ministries to receive messages from that family members are involved in.

According to Flocknote founder Mather Warner, “Whether it’s short messages or long newsletters, Flocknote is the simplest way to send emails and text messages to groups — large or small. Flocknote’s mission is simple — a more connected church.”

On Sept. 19, the Diocese will host a workshop on Flocknote at Notre Dame of Mount Carmel Parish in Cedar Knolls at 1 p.m. The workshop will also include time for parishes to speak about other ways they are connecting with parishioners through technology. Those who attend are welcomed to come earlier at 12:30 p.m. for coffee and refreshments and informal discussions about parish technology. Matthew Sewell, an engineer at Flocknote, will be leading the presentation, which will include a demo of the program.

Tom Barrett, diocesan coordinator of special projects and services, encourages every parish of the diocese to attend the workshop. He especially encourages pastors to attend since they are integral part of making Flocknote a success on a parish level. He said, “It’s very easy to use, a great way to communicate and it is a wonderful tool to connect the Church with its parishioners.”

Since 2013, Notre Dame of Mount Carmel Parish has been connecting with its parishioners through Flocknote. More than 2,000 members of the parish are signed up for Flocknote.

Cristina Folan, communications specialist at Notre Dame, said, “It has been a great blessing at our parish, giving us the ability to quickly and effectively communicate with our entire parishioner base. We are able to deliver engaging messages that include graphics and video, for purposes of announcing evangelization and faith enrichment programs, special events, seasonal changes in Mass schedule, staff announcements, etc. This year in particular, it has been a great resource in helping us reach beyond the pews as we communicate initiatives and happenings pertaining to the renewal of our parish mission and vision. The comment feature on these messages is valuable as it encourages parishioners to respond with comments, questions, etc. It truly has become a lifeline for us.”

Flocknote has also become a critical resource at the Cedar Knolls parish for purposes of ministry communications. One of the ministries which uses it the most is the Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion. With more than 150 Eucharistic Ministers and five weekend Masses at the parish, Mass assignment schedules are prepared quarterly. Because, the schedules are prepared in advance, ministers often find themselves in need of finding substitutes, due to last minute emergency, personal or work conflicts.

“In the past, a minister in need of a substitute would have to call other Eucharistic Ministers or send email messages, relying on personal email lists that would often be out of date. The time-consuming and frustrating task was actually discouraging many from serving in the ministry. With Flocknote, securing substitutes has become a much easier task; a minister in need of a sub simply sends a Flocknote to the group of ministers who regularly serve at that particular Mass and often times, within just minutes, a response is received via the comment feature. It’s that simple,” said Folan.

At St. Vincent the Martyr Parish in Madison, the church community has used Flocknote since April 2016. More than 1,000 members are using Flocknote and similar to Notre Dame, it is used to make parish announcements, such as weekly events and Holy Day reminders. Individual ministries in the parish also use it to communicate with its specific members. During renovations of the church building, St. Vincent’s gave updates on the work being done for its parishioners to be in the know.

Jan Figenshu, pastoral associate at St. Vincent’s, said, “It has been great. We send a newsletter every other week. Even our senior citizens are using it.”

Figenshu said contrary to popular belief, many seniors have cellphones and are on the Internet. If they don’t, they have friends who use the Internet. Many seniors use Facebook to keep up with their grandchildren and keeping up with their church community is just as important to the elderly population, she said.

St. Vincent’s also uses the evangelization and liturgical features of Flocknote offered to all parishes. Flocknote gives excerpts from Catholic books and sources for parishioners to view that include daily inspirational quotes, Catholic fun facts and gives information on universal Church events. Bishop Barron, who writes a column for The Beacon and other Catholic newspapers, is one of the featured columnists also used on Flocknote.

Several other parishes are beginning to use Flocknote with announcements in bulletins on how parishioners can sign-up.

Barrett recommends that the best time for parishes to launch Flocknote is after weekend Masses.

“Pastors can actually take time after Masses to have parishioners take out their cell phones and begin the start up process,” said Barrett, “Most parishioners these days communicate with family and friends through technology and the Church is a family. Flocknote is another tool that allows the Church to grow with the times.”