'The Digital Church'

Catholics learn how to use new media to evangelize at conference

MADISON  Digital technology, which includes email, websites, text messaging and social media, has been giving Catholics around the world the tools to get more involved in the mission of the New Evangelization.

Learning how to properly use these tools of technology to reach out in new and innovative ways to evangelize was the focus of an all-day conference, “The Digital Church,” March 7 at St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Center for Evangelization at Bayley-Ellard here.

More than 125 Catholics came to St. Paul’s, including clergy, religious, teachers and laity from around the diocese and beyond, to understand how to craft messages that inform and inspire people, spark conversation, generate greater participation in their parishes, schools or Catholic organization and make communications more efficient and effective for people the Church serves.

The anticipated event — which showcased the use of multimedia, including computers, audio and video — featured presentations by three Catholic pioneers in Catholic digital media: Josh Simmons, founder and CEO of eCatholic; Brandon Vogt, blogger, author and speaker; and Matthew Warner, founder and CEO of Flocknote. Participants came from as far away as Washington, D.C. and West Point, N.Y.

“The question for the Church is ‘How can we tell our story in fresh and creative ways?’ We need to proclaim the Gospel, not from the rooftops, but the laptops,” said Vogt, during the conference that was held in St. Paul’s auditorium. “Technology has drastically changed the way that we communicate. We need to change the way that we communicate. We must be speaking the same language,” he said.

Today, Catholics can reach people, who have fallen away from the Church effectively through a number of digital technologies. YouTube, a popular video-sharing site, attracts 1 trillion views per year. FaceBook boasts 1 billion users, who enjoy sharing posts, photos, stories and videos. Twitter, which limits posts to 140 characters each, fields 400 million “tweets” per day. Text messaging has become the most popular way that young people communicate; people send about 8 million texts per day, Vogt said.

Before any Catholic organization starts to use any form of new media, it must ask a fundamental question that will help it assess its communication needs: Why does it exist?

Then it should start planning, using the POST method in determining: People — who is your audience? Objectives — what do you want to achieve by interacting with the audience? Strategy — how do you connect with the audience? and Technology — which media tools will help you achieve that? Vogt said.

“Your website is the first impression of your organization. If it’s boring or ugly or has out-of-date information, people will think that your parish is boring or has nothing going on,” said Simmons, who emphasized the importance of maintaining an informative and attractive website, noting that most people, who move into a new town use search engines, such as Google to find local parishes. “Your Web site is your home base. It has to be great. It’s open 24/7, even you are sleeping. It’s about engagement — how to use your website to plug people into your parish,” he said.

When designing a website, parishes need to consider what the two types of visitors — first-timers and returning — are looking for on the site. The site should sport a “clear, simple” layout with consistent colors, fonts and ways of navigating through the pages and sections. The home page should feature no more that five pieces of information, especially items that they most often want to see, such as Mass times. Pages should be adorned with “beautiful and rich imagery” — more pictures, perhaps of the parish church or its stained-glass windows, and less text. Also, the website should be easily readable on mobile devices, such as smart phones, Vogt said.

A successful website contains dynamic content that keeps visitors coming back, Vogt told the crowd. “Continue to update the site with fresh content and up-to-date news items. Consider using a more engaging format such as videos to communicate the importance of an upcoming event, rather than writing a long description of it,” Vogt, a convert to Catholicism, said.

“We need to break through the noise of the Internet and engage people in dialogue, talking with others, listening to them and relating to them,” said Warner, who urged parishes to encourage people to reply to open comments. “In the end, we should be asking if there is a meaningful relationship, if they are coming back and if they are benefiting from what we are posting.”

Parishes should consider joining social networks, such as FaceBook, Google +, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Instagram, but should also consider using email and texting, which people still read in large numbers. In fostering two-way communication, parishes should ask people for their email addresses and cell phone numbers, so faith communities have a way to reach out to them, Warner said.

“People want information, inspiration and conversation [when they use digital media]. Jesus calls us to radical service. New media gives us the tools to reach out to people more effectively. Now, we must be inspiring, get excited about what we are doing and tell our story,” said Warner.

The conference also included presentations on “The Five Secrets to Evangelizing Online” and “The Game Plan” — ways that participants can apply the lessons leaned that day, along with a question-and-answer session.

During the conference, Father Paul Manning, St. Paul’s executive director and diocesan vicar for evangelization, suggested that the event dovetails with the mission of the diocesan evangelization center: to be “a leader, model and catalyst for the New Evangelization, inspiring people of all ages, backgrounds, beliefs, professions and perspectives” to a deeper relationship with Jesus and “to find a place in the Church.”

“Pope Benedict XVI encouraged Catholics to share the saving truth of Jesus with the tools available,” said Father Manning, who noted that St. Paul’s plans to hold a follow-up session to “The Digital Church” for parishes and other Catholic organizations.