Social+Networking+-+What+Does+the+Church+Have+to+Say

Expected time to complete reading and the written assignment: 15 - 45 minutes

Your assignment for this segment is to post a SHORT reflection paragraph about what you learned from reading ONE of the church publications listed below. Your reflection can be about anything you found interesting or relevant to your ministry in your reading. For example, you could reflect on your role as a catechist in maintaining a safe online environment in compliance with the diocesan guidelines. Or you could reflect on the themes related to moral responsibility that you read about in Inter Mirifica. Choose something that is interesting and relevant to you.
 * [|World Communications Day Message 2013]
 * [|USCCB Guidelines for Use of Social Media]
 * [|Diocese of St. Petersburg, Guidelines for Social Networking, 2011]
 * [|Inter Mirifica]

// Remember to select the "Edit" button, and add your name, the document you read, and your reflection below. When you are done, be sure to click on "Save." //

// Post your reflection paragraph below using the following format: // ===** Susan Noble - USCCB Guidelines for Use of Social Media. As a Youth Minister, I feel it is time to bring our parish into the 21st century of using social media to be able to connect to the youth and their parents. I feel the use of these tools will enhance the visibility of our parish and build a better community with better communication. We must do everything we can do to ensure safety all everyone who uses these media tools from the youth, adults and employees. This document and guideline from my Diocese will be great tools into creating a handbook for safety on the media. **===

(Susan, yes - when these tools are used, they assist with better communication. S. Caroline)
Darryl Dziedzic World Communications Day Message 2013 - (Yes, there is a good message here to reflect on).

// Reflection // Benedict wrote: "The exchange of information can become true communication, links ripen into friendships, and connections facilitate communion. If the networks are called to realize this great potential, the people involved in them must make an effort to be authentic since, in these spaces, it is not only ideas and information that are shared, but ultimately our very selves."

I like that fact that Benedict XVI explained that we are sharing "our very selves" via media communications. This notion can be lost, as we sometimes think of online as another reality, and possibly an "alter ego" of which there are little consequences. I think that if we keep the Pope's words on our mind as we engage in social media, then we will naturally be more responsible, attentive, and intentional in cyberspace.

Rose Mary Saraiva Inter Mirifica (Dec. 4, 1963)

//Reflection//
Pope Paul VI Decree states in Paragraph 2, //" The Church recognizes that these media, if properly utilized, can be of great service to mankind, since they greatly contribute to men's entertainment and instruction as well as to the spread and support of the Kingdom of God." //

Interestingly, this decree was written in 1963, just at the cusp of many of the social media networks we know today. The Church not only recognized the need to reach out to the masses where they are, but to also use all means at our disposal. The idea that the media can help promote the //Good News// and help to spread it to ever corner of our globe. The decree not only addresses the need for us to be connected, but also reminds us to **use it for good**. Those using the media to spread the //Good News// should do so with moral, ethical behavior, following the teachings of the Church as well as abiding to laws and ordinances governing social networks. We are to remember that this is a means to build up the //Kingdom of God. (Rose Mary - a good insight here! -S. Caroline)//

Tom Harrmann-USCCB guidelines. Our parish does not have a website. It is like we don't exist. Our Diocese has written policies and procedures in place. I as a DRE want to be able to communicate quickly by being able to use the various tools available to us. I see it so very important to be able to reach the youth by the means that they are most familiar with. This can be an excellent teaching tool. I see the value of having several adults to take the responsibility of keeping up with the postings and maintenance of the site. Follow the rules, expand the vision, use the tools necessary to reach the young (and not so young) where they are. (Tom, since you are in a small parish, what is on the USCCB or your diocesan website regarding guidelines is probably all that you need to refer to. - S. Caroline)

Dee Lopez - Reflection on World Communications Day Message 2013 // Reflection // It is not a coincidence that those of us taking the DDBC boot camp have been born at this time ... and have been led to ponder the use of technology in our individual ministries, parishes, schools, etc. When you consider the theme of the 2013 World Communications Day Message - "Social Networks: portals of truth and faith; new spaces for evangelization" - I have no doubt that the Holy Spirit is leading all of us to discover how to embrace and use these tools to reach our various audiences. Pope Benedict states in this message: "In social networks, believers show their authenticity by sharing the profound source of their hope and joy: faith in the merciful and loving God revealed in Christ Jesus." Ironically, students from the FSU Catholic Student Union spoke at all our Masses this past weekend. The girl who spoke at the Mass I attended shared that there are many college students on campus today who are broken or lonely spirits, seeking someone (or something) that can touch their very souls and lead them to wholeness (and healing and friendship). She explained that friendship can come in many forms. I sat there thinking of our assignments this week and how social media has the ability to reach through the internet and into the hearts of so many - not only these college students, but our youth/teen/families/elderly, etc. And Pope Benedict affirmed this notion in his conclusion: // "In the digital world there are social networks which offer our contemporaries opportunities for prayer, meditation and sharing the word of God. But these networks can also open the door to other dimensions of faith. Many people are actually discovering, precisely thanks to a contact initially made online, the importance of direct encounters, experiences of community and even pilgrimage, elements which are always important in the journey of faith." // It is exciting to think that we have these tools now available to use which can certainly be used to hurt - but also have the huge potential to bring Christ's light into the darkness.

Angela Jackson - World Communications Day Message 2013 //**The challenge facing social networks is how to be truly inclusive: thus they will benefit from the full participation of believers who desire to share the message of Jesus**//... How do we truly allow everyone to be inclusive? Various segments of the church population seem to be apprehensive of Facebook, Twitter etc… or another part of the population does not have the equipment (smartphone, tablet or even a computer) to be connected and then there is the older population that simply needs a little instruction on how to join and what to do once they have joined. One way for parishes to ensure inclusive with social media would be to pair a youth/young adult with an older person to help them become more comfortable with the process of social networking.

Tanya LeSane - World Communication Day Message 2013 There are many things I found interesting in this article. Here are a few of them. Pope Benedict sees how social networking can bring people together. It can promote dialogue between cultures that might not have been able to share their faith. It is important that we try to be enriched by the sharing. We also need to add the beauty of our own culture in this sharing. Pope Benedict feels that it is very important that people be true and honest in their communication. But the most important insight that sometimes forgotten is that if the Gospel bring forth fruit, it is because of the word of God that touches our hearts. We are only the channel being used.

Lois Locey - USCCB Guidelines for Use of Social Media & Diocese of St. Petersburg, Guidelines for Social Networking, 2011

As an administrator of a parish, I appreciate such guidelines. While it is an incredible way to connect with numerous parishioners (and non-parishioners as part of the parish’s evangelization efforts), how we, as ministers and we as entities conduct ourselves has implications. Many people think social media is quite innocent and can’t understand why the Church would have restrictions on what is posted. Yet I have personally witnessed the damage done to the community by people who think they have the right to post anything about anyone on the site. Our parish was a victim of this in 2007, when the Orlando Sentinel ran a negative story on the parish and people (not our parishioners) from around the world said disparaging and uneducated remarks on their comments page about the parish, the priests, the staff, the people and the Catholic Church. – and there was no taking it back. I have learned to really appreciate the guidelines of the Orlando Diocese (which are similar in nature to St. Petersburg’s guidelines) as they help to facilitate the message without letting things take us off of that message.

Claire McManus-World Communications Day Message- 2013 Social networks, as well as being a means of evangelization, can also be a factor in human development. As an example, in some geographical and cultural contexts where Christians feel isolated, social networks can reinforce their sense of real unity with the worldwide community of believers. The networks facilitate the sharing of spiritual and liturgical resources, helping people to pray with a greater sense of closeness to those who share the same faith. Reflection: I can attest to this from my own experience. I posted a picture of a page from the Bible on Ash Wednesday from Phillipians 4 telling people not worry but to turn to God. I got comments from many whom I expected to appreciate it, but also a heartfelt comment from a woman who never reveals her inner Spirituality in her posts. I have many FB friends from many of my life connections; some of whom are parents of kids I had in my parish peer ministry program years ago. This woman is one of those parents, and she often posts crazy and ribald comments and I'm tempted to unfriend her (except she is often hilarious so I keep her) I had her children in my program almost ten years ago. Today, after finding old letters (palankas) she had written to her daughter she publicly posted a comment on my timeline thanking me for the impact I had on her kids lives. What is even more remarkable is that my sister in NJ read the post. This to me is an example of how we are in this community of believers, but also how we can break through the layer of nonsense that gets posted everyday and can touch a life.

In reading through the Inter Mirifica, the section “On the Pastoral Activity of the Church” caught my attention. This section reflects on the sense of urgency to make effective use of the media of social communication in various apostolic endeavors. Examples include: “All the children of the Church should join, without delay and with the greatest effort…Pastors should hasten, therefore, to fulfill their duty in this respect, one which is intimately linked with their ordinary preaching responsibility … It is quite unbecoming for the Church's children idly to permit the message of salvation to be thwarted or impeded by the technical delays or expenses, however vast, which are encountered by the very nature of these media…” It is very interesting to see the Church who was behind the times in terms of evangelizing through technology now grasp social media with such zeal. (Melissa Findley)

Return to Class Blog
