Young author says Catholic Church must engage in new media

[_Abyssinia]

Twenty-five-year-old author and Catholic convert Brandon Vogt has a message for the Church: utilize new media or fail to reach the American population and much of the rest of the world.

“These new media tools have already infiltrated our culture, our way of communication, in ways that are mind boggling,” Vogt told CNA on Sept.16.

“They are not a trend, they are not a passing fad and are therefore necessary for the Church to engage in,” he underscored.

“If this digital continent is where people are then the Church needs to be there too.”

In his new book, “The Church in the New Media” (Our Sunday Visitor/$13.95), Vogt describes a planet with over 750 million Facebook users, countless blogs and over three billion YouTube video views per day.

catholicnewsagency.com/news/young-author-says-catholic-church-must-engage-in-new-media/

 

[catholictiger]

Twenty-five-year-old author and Catholic convert Brandon Vogt has a message for the Church: utilize new media or fail to reach the American population and much of the rest of the world.

“These new media tools have already infiltrated our culture, our way of communication, in ways that are mind boggling,” Vogt told CNA on Sept.16.

“They are not a trend, they are not a passing fad and are therefore necessary for the Church to engage in,” he underscored.

“If this digital continent is where people are then the Church needs to be there too.”

In his new book, “The Church in the New Media” (Our Sunday Visitor/$13.95), Vogt describes a planet with over 750 million Facebook users, countless blogs and over three billion YouTube video views per day.

catholicnewsagency.com/news/young-author-says-catholic-church-must-engage-in-new-media/

i agree 100%

 

[St_Francis]

Why is this an issue? It’s not as if the Church is avoiding using the internet or something.

 

[Joe_5859]

Yes, we must use the new media. Filmstrips and books are now an essential part of handing on the faith to this generation.

 

[Birdpreacher]

I’m Calling IT: Skype Confessions, they will happen within next 30 years.

 

[Joe_5859]

I’m Calling IT: Skype Confessions, they will happen within next 30 years.

I’m not sure if your serious or joking, but I think there are some things that will never be replaced by the new media. In-person Confession is one of them. If Confession isn’t allowed over the phone, I have a hard time believing the Church would ever allow it over Skype.

 

[Neil_Anthony]

Our local bishop has a blog and a facebook account with over a thousand friends. I think that’s a good idea.

 

[onlybygrace]

I think the Catholic Church is slowly using the media today, and I think a lot of Catholics are slowly weaving their way into broadcasting stations and films. It shows that a few of the television series today have some, if not a little, signs of Catholicism and values. It’s creeping there, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a new wave of morality in media comes in soon.

 

[catharina]

Twenty-five-year-old author and Catholic convert Brandon Vogt has a message for the Church: utilize new media or fail to reach the American population and much of the rest of the world.

“These new media tools have already infiltrated our culture, our way of communication, in ways that are mind boggling,” Vogt told CNA on Sept.16.

“They are not a trend, they are not a passing fad and are therefore necessary for the Church to engage in,” he underscored.

“If this digital continent is where people are then the Church needs to be there too.”

In his new book, “The Church in the New Media” (Our Sunday Visitor/$13.95), Vogt describes a planet with over 750 million Facebook users, countless blogs and over three billion YouTube video views per day.

catholicnewsagency.com/news/young-author-says-catholic-church-must-engage-in-new-media/

**Yoo-hoo, young Catholic author!

Hope you included the fact that Pope Benedict XVI strongly
urged this very action nearly TWO full years ago.**

va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/communications/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20100124_44th-world-communications-day_en.html

 

[OrdinaryMelkite]

Why is this an issue? It’s not as if the Church is avoiding using the internet or something.

Yes, but Protestants have amply proved there are better at taking advantage of it for conversion and communications/information purposes. That’s almost a given nowadays.

Particualrly in reaching young people.

Even I, sadly, admit that.

 

[OrdinaryMelkite]

**Yoo-hoo, young Catholic author!

Hope you included the fact that Pope Benedict XVI strongly
urged this very action nearly TWO full years ago.**

va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/communications/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20100124_44th-world-communications-day_en.html

Yes, he did. Good for him. And I agree with this author 100%.

 

[St_Francis]

Yes, but Protestants have amply proved there are better at taking advantage of it for conversion and communications/information purposes. That’s almost a given nowadays.

Particualrly in reaching young people.

Even I, sadly, admit that.

Protestants ae good at making conversions but not necessarily at keeping them. The Church has been using the media available for decades, and Catholics were very involved in a Catholic way (not like that guy who does South Park) before the mid-sixties. Being Catholic is hard; being Protestant seems easy, so of course it will be easier for them.

 

[Holly3278]

I agree with him. We must make use of all the means available to us to spread the Truth of Catholicism. I want all people to convert to Catholicism. Unfortunately I know that not all people will convert to Catholicism. However, I still hope and pray for as many conversions as possible.

 

[NewEnglandPriest]

While the Church should always use whatever means are available to spread the Gospel I seriously doubt facebook, twitter, etc. are of much use. Little information of substance is conveyed through those means. The Vatican website is great, podcasts are great, blogs can be useful but much of the so-called “social media” is silliness and self-absorption.

 

[rlg94086]

While the Church should always use whatever means are available to spread the Gospel I seriously doubt facebook, twitter, etc. are of much use. Little information of substance is conveyed through those means. The Vatican website is great, podcasts are great, blogs can be useful but much of the so-called “social media” is silliness and self-absorption.

It’s not all self-absorption. When people “like” a page on Facebook, updates from that page will show up in a format more likely to be read than email. I have a number of Church-related blogs, candidate pages, etc, that I easily keep up with through Facebook.

You have to go to a website or blog to see interesting comments or news. Facebook brings them to you, if you’ve previously “liked” it. So, if you believe that “the Vatican website is great, podcasts are great, blogs can be useful,” then you should agree that Facebook can be useful as a vehicle to get people to those sources.

 

[NewEnglandPriest]

It’s not all self-absorption.

I didn’t say it was all self-absorption but much of it is. I don’t need to know what someone is up to for most of their day everyday.

When people “like” a page on Facebook, updates from that page will show up in a format more likely to be read than email. I have a number of Church-related blogs, candidate pages, etc, that I easily keep up with through Facebook.

All these things are nice but they only occasionally, imho, give real substance.

You have to go to a website or blog to see interesting comments or news. Facebook brings them to you, if you’ve previously “liked” it. So, if you believe that “the Vatican website is great, podcasts are great, blogs can be useful,” then you should agree that Facebook can be useful as a vehicle to get people to those sources.

Yes and no. I think having to go to a site actually makes it more likely someone is going to pay attention to what’s on it. Otherwise it gets mixed in with the dozens of other “feeds” and “streams” they’ve signed up for.
You clearly already have an interest and desire to keep up with these things, thus the social media has merely made is easier for you to do so but that’s a far cry from evangelization. Afterall, do most people really have 2,000 “friends”?

 

[rlg94086]

I didn’t say it was all self-absorption but much of it is. I don’t need to know what someone is up to for most of their day everyday.

All these things are nice but they only occasionally, imho, give real substance.

Yes and no. I think having to go to a site actually makes it more likely someone is going to pay attention to what’s on it. Otherwise it gets mixed in with the dozens of other “feeds” and “streams” they’ve signed up for.
You clearly already have an interest and desire to keep up with these things, thus the social media has merely made is easier for you to do so but that’s a far cry from
evangelization. Afterall, do most people really have 2,000 “friends”?

I don’t think you’re familiar with how Facebook works. Some of those update pages were new to me. A friend posted something on their wall that looked interesting. I clicked it; read it; and, liked the page. That, my friend, is a form of evangelization.

I don’t have 2,000 friends…not even 200…, but not all my friends are Catholic. In fact, none of my family are. My posts are read by those folks.

 

[OrdinaryMelkite]

Protestants ae good at making conversions but not necessarily at keeping them. The Church has been using the media available for decades, and Catholics were very involved in a Catholic way (not like that guy who does South Park) before the mid-sixties. Being Catholic is hard; being Protestant seems easy, so of course it will be easier for them.

True------
I still think, though, that the CC has not fully explained and clarified its positions in a way that reaches young people and makes them “stand out” from Protestant ones.

For example, there is a stereotype among many non-Catholics that the Catholic position on SSA is the same as many Protestant Evangelical denominations----basically “turn” the people around to heterosexuality and “pray the gay away.”

Just saying the CC needs to be much more agressive and “out there” than many Evangelical Protestants.

 

[NewEnglandPriest]

I don’t think you’re familiar with how Facebook works. Some of those update pages were new to me.

I am somewhat familiar with it and not impressed. However, new features are added all the time (to steal your info and pictures to sell to advertisers).

A friend posted something on their wall that looked interesting. I clicked it; read it; and, liked the page. That, my friend, is a form of evangelization.

Yes and no. The same could have happened through email or any countless number of ways people pass along interesting articles and such.

I don’t have 2,000 friends…not even 200…, but not all my friends are Catholic. In fact, none of my family are. My posts are read by those folks.

When dealing with people that are indeed your family and friends then anything you do or say in any context they are “present” in will be faith sharing. However, the idea that Church leaders will be able truly evangelize on facebook/twitter/etc. I find rather unlikely. Most people under 30 have an insane amount of “friends” that makes the future of social networking less intimate and more generic.
I’ve yet to hear anyone join RCIA because of a generic facebook page or social media app.

I’m not saying these things are bad in and of themselves, but I do think their usefulness has been exaggerated. Thankfully the Vatican didn’t establish a MySpace page, it would have been obsolete by the time it was finished…

 

[rlg94086]

I am somewhat familiar with it and not impressed. However, new features are added all the time (to steal your info and pictures to sell to advertisers).

Yes and no. The same could have happened through email or any countless number of ways people pass along interesting articles and such.

When dealing with people that are indeed your family and friends then anything you do or say in any context they are “present” in will be faith sharing. However, the idea that Church leaders will be able truly evangelize on facebook/twitter/etc. I find rather unlikely. Most people under 30 have an insane amount of “friends” that makes the future of social networking less intimate and more generic.
I’ve yet to hear anyone join RCIA because of a generic facebook page or social media app.

I’m not saying these things are bad in and of themselves, but I do think their usefulness has been exaggerated. Thankfully the Vatican didn’t establish a MySpace page, it would have been obsolete by the time it was finished…

Well, I guess the Vatican is thankfully more aware of the usefulness of the new media than you are, since the Pope has already tweeted (something I haven’t even done yet…I still don’t get Twitter ). You can feel free to evangelize by fax.

You remind me of a friend who bemoaned the decline of printed books to the ascendence of e-books. I let him know that it is the content, not the media, which is important. I’m sure there were people who bemoaned the printing presses replacing the beautiful, hand-written woos by monks.

Feel free to resist change, but it will happen nonetheless - with or without you.