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By Karen A. Walker
New media, as defined in Wikipedia (itself the result of new media), "encompasses the emergence of digital, computerized, or networked information and communication technologies in the later part of the 20th century." Important components include two-way (or multi-party) interaction and digital technology. Web 2.0, iPhone, Blackberry, smart phones, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Second Life, LinkedIN, Texting, Hulu, hyperlinking, social networking, hypercasting, and iPad—all are part of the new media.
For the Church, the guardian on earth of the timeless teachings of Christ, is this rapidly evolving technology a change to reckon with, or merely a passing fad? And, if it is to be reckoned with, how?
Permanence and pace of development
Consider this. Forty-five years ago computers were enormous "main frames," requiring large, air-cooled rooms. Now those technological masterpieces are called dinosaurs.
Only 13 years ago "Google" was a word that didn't make sense! Now it's a verb.
And, in an age of texting and tweets, who remembers pay phones? Yet mobile phones have only become commonplace over the past 10 years or so.
Not only is new technology here to stay, its pace of development over the last few years has been phenomenal. And the number of people affected is enormous. According to Apple, the first two and half years of the iPhone spawned more than 195,000 applications ("apps") created by developers worldwide, and generated more than 4 billion downloads!
Apple's iTunes alone has more than 100 million registered users (and their names, credit card numbers and music choices). More than 8.5 billion songs have been sold, in 23 countries, making iTunes the largest music retailer in the world. Amazon.com is the largest "bookstore" in the world.
Think about it. Anyone over age 35 learned about cell phones as an adult. Students in elementary school today can't imagine life without them!
"My dad is 73; he still takes a newspaper and reads it cover to cover every day," notes Scott Turicchi, CEO of j2Global, an international digital communications firm. "I'm 40, and I rarely read a newspaper these days because I have alternative ways of getting my information. My daughter is 9. She probably won't even know what a newspaper is."
What was unimaginable five years ago is taken for granted today. New media is the "Wild West" of the Third Millennium.
Does it really matter to the Church?
Certainly the Church, its mission and Magisterium has outlived, unphased, more profound social upheavals and cultural revolutions than this technological one. Consider the Roman persecution, the Plague, the Reformation, wars of every sort, even violent godless regimes such as Marxism and Communism. What is texting compared to these?
At first blush, even the juxtaposition of Church and new media seems absurd. Timeless truth, the Holy Trinity, God-made-Man, eternal salvation and each individual's inestimable dignity and value in the eyes of God on the one hand vs. Twitter, texting, Facebook and blogging on the other.
Yet while Church doctrine and mission are linked inexorably to its unchanging, unchangeable founder, Our Lord Jesus Christ, its communication and evangelical outreach can't help but include the technological tools of the era.
Pope John Paul II recognized this, often exhorting the faithful to use every means available to communicate the gospel message. In his Apostolic Letter to those responsible for communications, John Paul II wrote: "...the Church is not only called upon to use the mass media to spread the Gospel but, today more than ever, to integrate the message of salvation into the "new culture" that these powerful means of communication create and amplify. It tells us that the use of the techniques and the technologies of contemporary communications is an integral part of its mission in the third millennium."
Even before Pope John Paul II, other individuals have recognized the power of the "new media" of their era and became early adapters. Archbishop Fulton Sheen, Fr. Patrick Peyton, St. Maximilian Kolbe, even Mother Angelica with her early foray into cable television and satellite broadcasting, were all early adapters for their day and age. But these were individuals who saw and seized the moment, not the Church as a whole.
Reach people where they are
Regardless of whether one "tweets" or uses Facebook, nearly everyone in the U.S. owns at least one computer or smart phone and uses it to search for information. Twenty years ago people used the Yellow Pages and the newspaper. Today they use the Internet.
Newspapers are nearly dead. Why place a classified ad or read the paper, when you can place an ad for free on craigslist? Why page through a newspaper with yesterday's headlines when you can scan the Web for local, regional, state, national and international news. Not only does a reader get news in "real time," the news is delivered in a more engaging, interactive manner (often referred to as "Web 2.0").
Online, a reader can peruse a video, respond immediately with a comment, search for counter opinions and more.... All in a span of 10 minutes.
New media affects even journalism, and journalistic standards. FoxNews, CNN, ABC, NBC, and CBS report a story. But hundreds of thousands of bloggers, so-called "citizen journalists," may tell the same story a different way, reveal another side of the story, show video clips that expose more details and so forth.
In 2009, a dramatic example of the impact of this unfettered access to information took place as the world watched YouTube videos and Twitter posts by Iranians, protesting in massive numbers against presidential election results. The videos and news feeds were posted by citizens on the streets, in the midst of the action, and they revealed a vastly different reality than official Iranian news accounts.
New media users choose what streams and sources of information are important to them, and those sources are available at their fingertips. They are actively engaged in their information gathering and communication process, not passive TV viewers. "Google Wave" is the newest and most robust in a string of new, evolving, free technologies that enable a user to "communicate and collaborate in real time," as Google Wave describes itself.
Put simply: If most people today get their secular news and information online, in an interactive way, then this is how they will search for—and expect to find—news about the Church, especially about their local parish, mass times, Catholic school news and events.
Yet how many parishes and Catholic schools in the U.S. don't have a website, don't have a useful one, or don't keep it current?
Video explosion
Tom Loarie, chairman of Mercador MedSystems, chairman of Silicon BioDevices and a columnist for the Catholic Business Journal, recently attended a trade show featuring the latest in digital advances.
"The use of video and 4G [bandwidth] is increasing dramatically," he reports. "Smart phones are getting smarter, and over the next two to three years video will see exponential growth."
At the time of this article, Apple's iPad was just made public. By next year, it could easily have spawned other digital advances, tools and uses. "The iPad has all kinds of new possibilities," says Mr. Loarie. "People could be going into mass with the readings on their iPad. I don't think we've thought creatively about that yet."
Mr. Turicchi agrees. "We're moving more and more into the video realm, to attract younger crowds... Now there's hypercasting, sending and receiving mini-video messages. Hypercasts can be organized by subject matter, time of year, different ways... What we're seeing is that the next generation is very video-focused. That's how they're used to getting and sending information."
Relevance, Perceived Value and Trust
Mr. Turicchi raises more important concerns: relevance, perceived value and trust.
"The difference between ages past and future ages is that the method of delivery has become as important as the content," says Mr. Turicchi. "So if your message is not visually appealing, it's not going to be heard! People are already getting their information this new way. People are used to getting information – secular information – in this new way.....This generation will give ‘packaging' priority."
It is an important point for the Church. Those who can't imagine life without smart phones and video messaging will evaluate and judge the importance and value of all information, including the content and message itself, on the basis of the "package" in which they receive it.
"The Church has content. It has doctrine, teachings, the fullness of truth. That's the advantage," says Mr. Turicchi. "The game going forward, the challenge, is how to present this content in an attractive manner to a visual generation, and, how to make it accessible through varied means of connecting."
Stunted thinking process
The accessibility, speed and immediacy of digital communications does more than deliver content in an interactive way; it affects habits of rumination and critical thinking.
"In this age of new media, there is less critical thinking and more emotional, more reactionary thinking," Mr. Turicchi explains. "In 30 seconds you're told to donate, to buy this or that... It's a tiny window, measured in seconds, to elicit a response from you. It's impulse-driven. You can't do a lot of processing in 35 seconds! You have to make a fast, cursory evaluation and decision."
"You can't fight it" says Mr. Turicchi. "That's a loser. Maybe there are pockets of society that can stem the tide, but it's as much to their detriment as their benefit....so, how can the Church use this tool to disseminate its message? It has to take the core truths, the catechism, and break it down into 35 second messages...You might generate a better understanding of the catechism by pushing out 35-second messages—1,000 of them, delivered once a day, for 3 years—little drops each day!"
Information overload, where's the Church?
"People now expect to get information in real time," says Alan Napleton, CEO of Catholic Marketing Network, a trade association for Catholic retailers and suppliers. During the final days and hours of the national healthcare vote in Congress, Mr. Napleton set his Google Alert to pick up any news related to the issue at hand. In the heat of the final hours of battle, he hoped to get some real time perspective or analysis from a bishop. None came. Even though the final vote took place over a weekend and into late Sunday night—a time when most bishops and priests are especially busy—it was disappointing.
Mr. Napleton's disappointment was not for his own understanding of the issue. Rather, it was a disappointment at not seeing the wisdom of the Church injected into the real time moment of decision, so to speak.
"I wanted the Church to be there, at that moment," he says, even as he acknowledges that the bishops had already been clear and outspoken about their concerns with the proposed legislation. For Mr. Napleton, their statements weren't enough. He says simply: "They needed to have a real time presence."
This points to another serious concern for the Church. Authority.
There are, literally, millions of bloggers and citizen journalists posting opinions, analysis and more. A healthy number of these are commenting on Catholic issues and teachings. But where is the Church, speaking with her wisdom and authority? It creates a vacuum.
"If you have someone of authority blogging on a diocesan site," notes Mr. Turicchi, "then for example, instead of bloggers fueling rumors and speculation about who the next bishop might be, you can have a person of authority quell the rumors with a post that directs them to stop all the nonsense because the new bishop will be appointed and named in due time and it will happen when Rome decides. That's it."
The same holds true for matters of more eternal consequence. Anyone can get people to buy into their views with slick packaging, but many do not have informed consciences that enable them to accurately discern whether something is true or not.
"We're moving out of an age where Imprimatur works, that requires review," says Mr. Turicchi. "We're moving into real time. The Church's challenge is to make very clear what content is officially provided by the church and what is not approved. It's time for the bishops, the Church, to get in the game and be the authority, the leaders and shepherds, within this new media."
The Church has not been entirely out of the loop though. Kevin Perkins, CEO and co-founder of Skweezer, Inc., a company that provides mobile search and advertising solutions to network operators and publishers, points out that the entire Lectionary and Bible are online and that a site called "www.Ebreviary.com" has an online version of the Liturgy of the Hours and common prayers. Even the Vatican has its own iPhone app, giving people access to the Vatican library and resource. "It gives Catholics a way to reacquaint themselves with the gospel while waiting in a long Starbucks line," Mr. Perkins quips. "It's the world we live in—any moments of divine inspiration are positive."
 iPhone Photo: courtesy of Apple, Inc.
Twitter logo: courtesy of Twitter.
RSS logo: courtesy of RSS.
Facebook logo: Facebook is a registered trademark of Facebook, Inc.®
Consequences of denial
On a local level, if potential and existing parishioners, or even out of town visitors, can't find accurate local parish information on the Internet, where will they go to find this information? The Yellow Pages are practically obsolete.
"Where am I getting local diocesan information? Where is it? What about my local parish? I'm still getting printed bulletins!" exclaims Mr. Turicchi. "All this information should be digital. A website is now considered standard operating procedure for business, yet a lot of parishes don't even have a website – that's shocking to me. If I'm traveling around and I want to find parish somewhere, I can't. MassTimes.org is helpful, but it doesn't have all the information I seek, and it's not likely to be as accurate as a local parish would be."
What is the likelihood that someone accustomed to searching for local businesses and citizen referrals (on sites such as Yelp.com) is going to take extra time to call a parish, wait for the receptionist or listen to a recorded message, in order to quickly find mass or confession times? Even more absurd, what is the likelihood that people will drive to every local parish within a 20-mile radius in order to retrieve this information?
Will these seekers miss mass, go elsewhere, or eventually lose interest all together because they consciously or sub-consciously come to expect that anything of value – anything worth knowing – is on the Internet. If it's not there, if church leadership isn't posting it there, then maybe it's not that important.
"There's a growing disconnect between what's expected and what is there," notes Mr. Turicchi. "It's ironic that the Vatican has a YouTube channel and Twitter accounts, while the local parish doesn't even have a website...What do most people care about more? The local level."
Citing Holy Week as a good example, Mr. Turicchi points out that if the schedule isn't posted on a parish website, and posted in a manner so that it can be easily viewed without having to download it, then a faithful Catholic has to drive by the local parishes to pick up a bulletin. In the age of real time communication, that puts parishes in the Stone Age.
"The Church at all levels has to find ways to embrace and adopt new communication technologies because it is the standard by which people will judge the relevancy of the local church and its content." says Mr. Turicchi.
The Pope Tweets...
Pope Benedict XVI has been at the forefront to further the banner of his predecessor, emphasizing and encouraging the ready embrace of the new tools of digital mass communications, and using these tools to win souls for Christ.
In March, the Vatican opened six Twitter accounts, one in each of six different languages. Vatican Radio and other Vatican media outlets will "tweet" important news.
Pope Benedict's chosen theme for the 44th World Communications Day, held on May 16, 2010, made the point unmistakably clear: "The Priest and Pastoral Ministry in a Digital World: New Media at the Service of the Word." It was a theme purposefully chosen to coincide with the Church's celebration of the Year for Priest.
In his message, the pope exhorted priests in particular to bring Christ into "cyberspace" likening it to the Lord walking the streets of our cities, knocking on the doors of our homes and hearts, inviting us to open the door and let Him in.
"All priests have as their primary duty the proclamation of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word of God, and the communication of his saving grace in the sacraments...," the pope exhorts priests. "But how can they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach? And how can people preach unless they are sent?" (Rom 10:11, 13-15).
He continues: "Responding adequately to this challenge amid today's cultural shifts, to which young people are especially sensitive, necessarily involves using new communications technologies...Who better than a priest, as a man of God, can develop and put into practice, by his competence in current digital technology, a pastoral outreach capable of making God concretely present in today's world and presenting the religious wisdom of the past as a treasure which can inspire our efforts to live in the present with dignity while building a better future? ...To priests in particular the new media offer ever new and far-reaching pastoral possibilities..."
The USCCB announced radical communications changes in March, acknowledging: "We are in a paradigm shift in how people receive information, as profound as when the printing press was invented. It is important that the Church not only provide its wisdom regarding the primary dignity of the human person in this information evolution, but also take advantage of the opportunities this new media ecology provides."
"It's a wonderful time for ministry," exudes Mr. Perkins, himself a convert to the faith. "The scale of people to which the gospel can evangelize through new media tools would make Saint Paul marvel. One email, text message, Facebook post can literally be read by millions—all within a few nanoseconds. That's simply amazing!"
Don't do it alone
Perhaps the most important perspective for clergy to keep in mind as they venture into uncharted digital realms, is to lean on digital experts within their own parish and diocese, especially the young.
"I have people daily telling me they want to put their skills to work for the Church," says Mr. Napleton. "Faithful Catholic laity want to help their bishops and pastors get the message out, prudently analyze and respond in real time. There's a goldmine of these individuals in every diocese and parish across the country…They just need to have the door opened to help."
In a phrase immortalized by Nike and used frequently by Mr. Loarie in his work with multi-million dollar venture start-ups in the life sciences field, himself a tireless leader in his parish and diocese, "Just do it!"
KAREN A. WALKER is Editor and Publisher of the Catholic Business Journal and Producer of The Catholic Business Hour radio show.
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