Mobile+Devices+and+Ministry+-+Is+My+Parish+Ready?

Assignment #1
#|Mobile Devices and Ministry - Is My Parish Ready?

Expected time to complete assignment: 10 minutes

Is my parish ready to embrace and use these tools in learning environments or ministry? Why or Why not?

Please respond with the following information - name, parish, city, state and your response.

Name: Susan St. Lucy Parish, Anytown, MO
 * EXAMPLE: **

Response: As a parish we are just beginning to realize that this mobile technology is more available to us. We have a youth minister that really understands and uses technology with our youth ministry group. Our RCIA coordinator knows about Poll Everywhere, and is using this service which allows a respondent to use a cell phone in polls. But overall, we are still trying to figure out what to do. A majority of our #|ministers and catechists are hesitant to use technology in their teaching or ministry. --

--- Please post your examples here:

Susan Bellotti Parish: St. Paul the Apostle, Westerville, Ohio My parish is in the process of finding ways to embrace technology though the use of a better designed webpage, inviting parishioners to attend educational webcasts, having a Parish Facebook presence and in my own area of responsibility to use more types of media in the weekly RCIA process. This year I plan to make a short video from the Rite of Welcoming to post on our parish website and have found other great ideas from this course. In attempting to put more digital recordings on our website we have encountered obstacles with our network service provider. Technology is great but finding the resources to match your new needs/requests can be frustrating and costly.

Name: Pat Ruthemeyer Parish: St. Veronica, Cincinnati As a parish, we are making progress in the area of social media implementation. We are working on upgrading our technology. It is already being used successfully in the school and in a more limited way in the parish office. I agree with most of the comments already posted that it is somewhat of a mixed bag and that a combination of media is still definitely needed. We have used Constant Contact for a number of years which parishioners are able to get directly on their phones, etc. However, what we are finding is that, like screening one's phone calls, messages to phones, ipads, etc., are also being screened. We are still trying to figure out ways to enable catechists to utilize media to a greater extent. Making progress, but still have work to be done to enhance use and acceptance of the use of mobile devices in a ministerial application.

**Name: Mary Pat Austing**
What is exciting is that St. Julie Billiart is ready for the Gospel. They want to hear the word of God and act on it. So we have that captive audience which I feel is the first hurdle and most important one. I believe that the new technology is a patience game. We need to work bit by bit to spread the Good News using the new tools of this age. When calculating the best use of time for our staff and volunteer, I feel we need to keep including efforts to try and to learn about new technology. Time and effort spend on learning about new technology and practicing it is well spent. Like Terry Kerley writes,"I don't think we are ready to totally use social media but I think we will always need to use a combination of both!" I am grateful that our previous CRE, Alison Smith, had the foresight and conviction to advocate for making our educational building accessible to wireless connection. We have a few catechists using this tool and a smart board. My goal is to increase the useage of the tools and training for use in the classrooms each year.
 * Parish: St. Julie Billiart, Hamilton ,Ohio**

Name: Claire Hamilton Parish: St. John the Baptist Catholic Community, Dunnellon, FL Response: As a parish we have dipped our toe in the water of technology. Our campus has access to WiFi. Our website allows parishioners to access monthly ministry schedules, links to other websites, information about coming events, and about services offered. They can register their children for Faith Formation online and we communicate with the parents via email. I currently am working on redesigning the Faith Formation website to include separate wiki pages for catechists, parents, and students. Our catechists have indicated willingness to learn how to incorporate technology into our classrooms.

Name; Patti Gehred Parish: QAC, Dayon, OH Response: We are definitely ready to use mobile devices in our parish. We have an active youth group and lots of families that use technology at #|school and work. We are still adapting to "inviting' people to use their devices rather than asking them to turn them off. But, we are definitely aware of our dependence on these tools and the necessity of becoming a part of this world. Name: Terri Kerley Parish: St. Columban, Loveland, Ohio As a large middle class parish with a lot of young families, I feel they are ready to embrace it. Registration and payments are online, we communicate through email and facebook, and we send out e-news twice a month. But out of 2000 families we only have about 30 who want to receive our newsletter electronically. They still want a paper bulletin after mass. I get a lot of families who would rather send me a check than go online to pay. So I don't think we are ready to totally use social media but I think we will always need to use a combination of both! Name: Alison Smith Parish: St. Henry City and State: Dayton, Ohio My response: I think our parish is moving slowly in this direction. Last year the parish purchased WiFi for the whole campus. Our parish community members have cell phones but we lack the technology leadership and vision on how to utilize them in our ministries. We just purchased a media cart equipped with projector and lap top and had the first of two training sessions for our catechists on how to physically use them. We looked at several sites that they could use in the classroom. We are trying to get them to use this tool in their lessons. As we learn more about how to implement the cell phones that will be our next goal. I think a big concern is technology safety. Name: Elizabeth Girton My parish: Basilica of St. Lawrence City and state: Asheville, NC My response: Demographically my parish is 70% age 65 and older. There is a large number of the parish that has resisted using our parish website as a contact for information such as requesting Masses and donating online. They prefer calling the office and filling out paper forms to register. Therefore, from my perspective I would say they are not ready yet but I know the young generation is beginning to come to our parish because of its tradition and they use their cell phones as a natural part of life. However, our youth do not have cell phones as the video showed. High school youth have them but the younger students do not have cell phones.

Name: Anne Marie Prangley My parish: St. Peter's City and state: Olney, MD

Response: Our parish is a large, active parish. We utilize Facebook in several different ways, however, I would have to say we are not really ready to embrace these new tools. The main problem is that we are not addressing these changes and new opportunities - the pluses and minuses - as a team. We really should be in dialogue about how these new tools would be helpful to our parish ministries and how we should best respond. Unfortunately, we are all very busy and it is difficult to carve out the time.

Name: Ed Reising My parish: St. Joseph City and state: North Bend, OH

My response: My parish is 75% age 65 and older and mostly farmers or retired postal workers. We have a parish website that is very much underutilized. I tried to email out minister schedules but most parishioners do not even use computers or Smart phones. I ran a poll to see how the parishioners utilized the internet and social media. The biggest response was they prefer to get information via bulletin or snail mail. In the Summer I interviewed our students during their 2 week religious ed program and found out that most of them did not even have computers or any other type of media equipment. They had some ideas of social media through their schools, but that was all.

Name: Mary Ellen Singer My parish: St. Francis of Assisi City and state: Centerville, OH

My response: My parish is using mobile devices for everything else. I don't know how adults middle aged or older will respond, but I am sure young adults are wondering why we haven't gone there long ago. As staff people I think we are being challenged to move forward with the new communication styles, while continuing to serve those who are not willing or able to use new communication technology.

Name: Deanna Bartalini Parish, St. Edward City and State: Palm Beach, FL I would say for the most part no. Though most people have mobile devices and use them frequently, there is a disconnect between using them in everyday life and Church. We just obtained a credit card machine for the office! I am working to slowly change the idea so that people will connect with the parish using technology. It is a slow process.

Name: Barb SchwabKlaco School: Bishop Ready High School, Columbus OH I think our students are ready to use mobile technology. Most have smart phones and use them without difficulty. In fact, they prefer using technology to the detriment of 'real time, in person' communication. The vast majority of our faculty are not ready to use mobile devices. Many faculty members are just now beginning to use iPads for their own classroom use. Technology such as the response clickers were purchased but seldom used. Given time, and an openness by the administration, we might move to mobile technology but I am not holding my breath.

Name: Kim Adamson Parish: San Marco City / State: Marco Island, FL We are limited. When I told them that I needed internet in the hall where I have youth group they did not want to have wifi - they said it wouldn't work in the concrete building. I finally got them to agree on the powerline which plugs into the facility manager's office and then I can at least plug in and have internet where ever I plug the other end in the building. It is time consuming for set up but at least it is something. I use email quite a bit with parents but have found that quite a few don't bother to read them - even though they are brief. I am working on finding the best communication tool with them and it may be mass texting. We do use email with other ministries, prayer chains and have a website. I don't know that I'm ready to tackle having kids use their cell phones for assignments just yet!

Name: Michelle Tomshack Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston State of WV In our office, we have been trying to move toward more technology. We've always used email to contact DREs, youth ministers and parishes, but we still follow-up with "snail mail." We have several facebook pages (one for DREs, one for Youth Ministry, one for Marriage and Family Life). However, we still revert to using "older" forms of communication as well. From my perspective, I have many DREs and catechists who are over 60. I think they could learn to use social media and mobile devices but they don't put themselves "out there" to learn. No matter how many times I say that it is the best way to communicate with their families and students, they revert to same old ways. If anyone has any brilliant ideas as to how to initiate some change, no matter how small, let me know! On the positive side though, I oversee 9 campus ministers who all use social media and mobile devices to communicate with their college students. They inform students (and remind them) of events at the campus centers, they send periodic texts to wish them luck on tests, let them know they are thinking of them, and if they haven't seen someone in awhile, they check up on them. I believe many students also keep in contact with their campus minister through text messages. The campus ministers actively use facebook. A few use twitter, but not all.

Name: Terri Moser Parish: St. Catherine of Siena, Diocese of Austin, TX As Family Ministry Director, the meetings we hold are attended by young parents, with the phones dinging away with Facebook, Twitter and Texts, even with the phone on vibrate. We are utilizing QR codes (eg. on the outdoor stations of the cross), Facebook, Twitter, Vimeo, YouTube, and Texting,more and more as alternatives to emails and the paper bulletin. Podcast and video of the homily, with blogs by the priests are available. The WebPage is the Central Depository of Content and all staff members have access to their own dept. pages so that they can update content and point the Social Media to the content. Our Android App and iOS APP will go live next week, we hope, with messaging capability to let people who have downloaded the APP become aware when the bulletin has been uploaded to the web page or if something like weather cancels an event. Austin is a high tech city, most folks have access to technology, devices and instruction on utilizing them. Online registration forms, Survey Monkey, and online payment options for registrations have been well-received to the generation that doesn't carry checkbooks. We are looking into texting $10 donations like they do for Red Cross, which isn't so tough to set up. All buildings except the worship space have wifi. Austin is a bit different than other cities, I guess, after reading the posts above.

Name: Joan Fye Parish: St. Gregory Thaumaturgus City/State: North East, PA

Response: I hope someday soon my parish will be ready to use these technology tools in ministry. I have been sharing these tools with the staff and with our team of catechists. In fact, this past week the new catechists participated in a webinar and I have one scheduled for this week with everyone. I have made up an online registration form on Google and constructing a blog for our Faith Formation program. Our youth ministry is preparing to launch a Facebook and/or Twitter account to contact our youth. I wish our parish website, even though it is great and done by a professional, was more user friendly to staff. Also, we do not have internet access in our parish center. It has taken me most of the summer to work on these projects. Anyway, I believe we have the capability, it is going to take time, instruction, and find the people to help implement these technology tools in our ministry. I am grateful for this course and am excited that in the near future St. Gregory parish will be using technology tools in all of our ministries.

Karen Burford St. Matthew Gahanna, Ohio As a parish, we are aware of mobile technology, but we have a long way to go. Many of our teens and adults use smart phones or tablets to take notes, access information, reference the Catechism, the Bible, prayers, and more. However, wireless access is extremely limited, and even the staff has to fight for the passwords. Many devices using 3G/4G (including my own smartphone) don’t work in the basement of the church building, where most of our meetings take place. The parish has two new committees – one specifically on the use of technology and one on evangelization – both are doing great things to educate the and help us learn how we can use all technology as an asset to our ministry. We are open, but we are also behind!

Julie Scott St. Antoninus Parish, Cincinnati, OH I am at the bottom of a digital mountain, looking skyward at the Promised Land. My pastor doesn’t trust “those machines” (computers, etc.), does not have his own email (too busy), or a cell phone (doesn’t need it), and has disbanded the Parish Council Technology Committee (no interest and too expensive) in June 2013. He is very suspicious of using technology for Ministry. Before disbanding, our parish website was hacked and dismantled by the “Technology Committee” and reduced to an ominous scorched earth black A … I’m not kidding … see for yourself… [|www.saintantoninus.org]. What remained after the apocalypse is .... a very unwelcoming and empty website. One renegade member of the disbanded Technology Committee has a contraband Twitter account (@SaintAntoninus), posting random tweets about the parish. Father had no idea who this person is, and I’m trying to find out who it is. BUT THANKS BE TO GOD FOR DDBC 2013 … READY TO FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT (aka Don Quixote) I met with Father two weeks ago in response to my gruesome discovery of my parish’s online presence. We used to have a somewhat amateur but positive website ... what happened? Who is @saintantoninus and by what authority is he/she representing St. Antoninus Parish? PRAY FOR ME DIGITAL DISCIPLES BROTHERS AND SISTERS .... I gave Father a copy of // The Social Media Gospel // by Meredith Gould for his birthday present. Hee-Hee. Gotta start climbing.

Laura Sams

St. Joan of Arc Parish

Powell, OH

In my opinion, our parishioners would embrace using more technology at our parish. 25% of our parishioners are under the age of 12. I’m guessing the average age of our parishioners is in there thirties. Our parish’s “technological know how” and use of technology is limited by our staff. The majority of our staff knows little about social media and technology.

Sarah Pascual Basilica of the Immaculate Conception Jacksonville, FL I do not believe we as a parish are ready. We are an urban parish with a very diverse ethnic and economic population. We don't even have classrooms for our CCD kids so I'm not sure how we're going to integrate technology in the majority of the lessons. Most of our classes meet in the chapel, the hallway, or the main hall behind a flimsy divider. Due to our diverse population, we have kids whose families don't own a computer or mobile device so we can't even send them home with things to do online. It is going to be a challenge. Only recently did we start a CCD website for the parish, so we are making some progress at least.

Name: Bob Wurzelbacher Archdiocese of Cincinnati

Response: I couldn't watch the 2 videos. I tried 5 times and they kept freezing until I realoaded the page. I never got past the picture of Steve Jobs introducing the I-phone in 2007. As a secondary note I found that video moved slightly too fast at times to read what it was saying and absorb it in any way. On a tertiary note, I have some doubts about the "fact" that 70% of the world population has a mobile phone (that was 2010, and today it is supposedly 75%). Just because there are about 6 billion mobile phone accounts compared to 7 billion people in the population, does not mean that 6 billion people have mobile phones. Other reports tell us that at least 20% of the world's population live in destitute, abject poverty. How can 75% of us own mobile phones when 20% live in abject poverty? (Not just poverty, abject poverty). Apparently, many people must have multiple subscriptions. I read what is probably a much more accurate article, that acknowledged that the number of mobile phone suscriptions may soon surpass the population, thus proving that many people must have multiple subscriptions. This article did a slightly more accurate study it seems and, rather than saying 75% of the population has a phone, it said 75% //**have access**// to a phone (which presumes that if one person in a household of 5 in Iran has a phone, then all 5 have access to it...which certainly gets much closer to reality, but is also probably not true, because I doubt the owner is giving access to his wife and kids). But, I'm not saying that we shouldn't utilize a resource that most people are using, we just don't need to exaggerate the world reality by jumping to conclusions based on certain statstics. Still, on to the real question... Is my archdiocese ready to embrace mobile devices as learning tools in ministry? Not entirely certain how to answer that question. Certainly there are a few people around here who could have some ideas about how to do that, and many others who are open to hearing their ideas. But as to actively putting out resources that help parishes learn how to use mobile devices in catechesis, we're a ways off of that. DDBC is probably the most we have done in that area.

Loretta Nazario St. Paul the Apostle Westerville, OH I believe that the parishioners are ready to embrace and use technology. Our demographics are such that most adults and almost all kids 12+ have at least a smart phone. Each household most probably has at least one tablet - in fact, the co-ed Catholic high schools lend tablets to every student so they can be used in the classroom. This is part of the reason I am taking this class - to figure out how to use these tools to enhance and expand the faith formation of adults, both young and "seasoned". We are very lucky that we have a resident computer guru who we can go to for advice.

Jan Von Handorf Response to Bob Wurzelbacher's post I, too, have had difficulties viewing some of the videos in DDBC. Try changing browsers. I have had trouble with Internet Explorer and found Chrome to be more reliable.

Name: Jan Von Handorf Athenaeum of Ohio Lay Pastoral Ministry Program Cincinnati, Ohio As with everything new, there is a mixed readiness to embrace using mobile devices in ministry. It’s across the board. Young adult students tend to be tech-savvy although not all are. Among students in the older cohorts – some do and some do not. Members of the LPMP staff are committed to learning more effective use of digital technology and hope to use these skills to publicize the LPMP; and recruit, retain, and communicate more effectively with students in a timely manner.

Cara Stolarczyk St. Anastasia Parish, Newtown Square, PA It is my belief that there is opportunity for leveraging mobile & Web 2.0 technologies in my parish and parish school for ministry purposes. My gut says that we'd need to focus first on adults with school aged children vs. whole parish at large, i.e. start with those who are more likely to be early adopters to garner interest and momentum. It will not work out of the gate with the larger notable older segment of our parishoners. These technologies could be used as part of a larger blended approach to engagement, community building & learning. They are only mediums though, and we need to be sure we are providing content, experiences etc... that our target audiences want & need vs. tossing great programs at them as often happens. Using these technologies can be a way to re-engage the lost & fallen away by meeting them where they are at vs. them always having to come to the parish for a retreat or faith formation opportunity, for example. Also, by utilizing them to do some of the "do" around this to implement it is another way to foster engagement in these individuals by using their talents.

Teresa Phillips Diocesan Mission Office, Cincinnati, OH The simple answer to this question is absolulty not! Why not? We have little knowledge, no strategy, no connections and no hardware provided by the office. (There would need to be some pretty fancy talking with the powers that be to make that happen!) I think more training in how to stategize for this would be necessary before it could go anywhere.

Fr. Joe Hannon St Petersburg (FL) Catholic High School Our high school had planned to introduce iPads to all students this school year but admin decided to delay and to use this year for training the faculty and also designing the connectivity we want or don't want on the school use iPads. We are reviewing a rel text series that has sought to provide the teacher with resources to use online and strategies for harnessing the learning power in mobile devices. I'm in the process of trying to learn how to use iPad effectively in a classroom environment. But, the clock is ticking!

Name: Patti Kamper St. Michael the Archangel, Glen Allen, VA Response: We are a large parish that I believe NEEDS to embrace technology. We have a website, a Facebook page, large monitors in our Commons area and little use of any of it. In the final phase of our latest building renovation, short range projectors (which act as smart boards) have been installed in all of our classrooms. I worry that we have put all this technology in and it will be underutilized. In an effort to help us reach our population in the most user friendly manner, I encouraged leadership to look at Flocknote. For the past two months, I have been trying to get the staff up to speed on it so that we could do a large parish launch in time for faith formation classes to begin. Half the staff won’t respond to my numerous requests, pleas at staff meetings or emails. I haven’t attended any of the training sessions I have offered. Without the staff support, there is little hope for moving forward in my opinion.

Name: Susan McGurgan Parish: The Cathedral, Cincinnati Ministry Site: The Athenaeum of Ohio Lay Pastoral Ministry Program

Response: The videos should probably be updated, since they appear to be from 2009. I agree with Bob that some of the stats seem open for interpretation. In my ministry site, many faculty members, students and staff embrace the use of new technology in education, communications, PR and formation. Others do not, and in my experience, this stance doesn't necessarily have a direct correlation with age, since many older people do embrace social media and new technology. What I do see is that some students who work with technology or in busy and distracting environments during the work day, don't necessarily want to explore theology, ministry formation and spiritual development in any setting other than face to face and in person. Most of our students and faculty do appreciate electronic communications and the elimination of a lot of paper. We use FB and social media to keep in touch, have eliminated most hard copy communications in favor of electronic, and have made manuals, guidelines and forms accessible online. Our students who have experienced online learning tend to either love or hate it. We currently offer some online learning and continue to explore that option. We have added required courses in Social Media and Mission to all of our programs so that our graduates will all be exposed to this important topic.

Name: Marty McClain Parish: St. Francis of Assisi, Centerville, Ohio Response: Youth Ministry seems to be the logical place for our parish to tackle and break ground with technology and digital media. Our youth ministy made use of student cell phones during last year's Scavenger Hunt as well as making a video on our Spring Retreat that was then posted on our Youth Ministry Facebook group page. We are only scratching the surface, but we are making headway.

Name: Tara Dibble Parish: St. Stephen, Valrico, FL Response: Our high school youth minister gave up the battle against cell phones over the summer. He now posts polls for the kids and encourages them to vote during his Life Nights. He's also very active with Facebook and Twitter. For my K-5 program I have partnered with our middle school youth minister in an attempt to rech our parents through Facebook. We piloted a Facebook page with VBS and had a lot of success with it so we've now partnered to create a page to communicate with parents. When it comes to mobile devices we've moved much slower. With the K-5 program not many kids have the devices. I'm finding more and more fifth graders do. We promote responsible use and our catechists have introduced the kids to safe applications to help them in their faith life (Divine Mercy, Rosary, Pope App, etc.) but don't do much in class. As a team our Faith Formation Office is following the lead of our parish school and integrating more technology - slow and steady.

Name: Barb Blanco Parish: St. John the Baptist, Maria Stein, OH Response: Our parish is open to the digital opportunites available in regards to religious education. However, our parish has a long way to go in order to catch up with the current technology demands both inside the classroom and in the office. This past month our parish established a facebook page. Adult use of technology is a challenge and most are weiry of allowing it in the classroom. However, new opportunities, education and dialogue are opening the doors to the digital world.