Blogging+-+What+Does+the+Church+Have+to+Say+About+Blogging?

Assignment # 2

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

Your assignment for this segment is to post a SHORT reflection about what you learned from the [|RomeReports.com]video. Review the list of [|150 bloggers]invited to the blogger's summit in Rome. The posts would be made in May 2011. Notice the varied languages of the blogs. Pick a blog and look for posts that these bloggers added to their blogs regarding the conference.

What are you learning about the Vatican's first-ever conference in Rome for bloggers from the blogger perspective? From the RomeReport.com perspective? Please use the table below to share your answers.

Susan used humor, irony, and a great deal of description to recount her experience at the meeting in Rome for bloggers. She said that the Vatican welcomed all who attended and made them feel at home. || From the ROMEREPORT.COM Perspective the Vatican was very excited to encounter these digital pilgrims and share ideas with them in this new generation of conmmunication. They looked forward to learning from one another. || #|Bad breath, mints, ipod malfunctions, awesome wonder of being invited to the Rome Reports || Excited about providing this topic and opportunity for participation. || Sams || Brandon Vogt, http://brandonvogt.com/ presented the meeting information through a blog from Our Sunday Visitor. Brandon wrote in a rather matter-of-fact style. He joined the Catholic Church in 2008 and was invited to the Vatican Blogging Meeting. Brandon said that at the meeting the Vatican shared their new website and it was very impressive to it. With the prevalent usage of technology, the Vatican has “embraced the digital age "and it committed to it. || Rome was very enthusiastic about getting on board with digital technology. || Since I have read a lot of her posts, I found it interesting to see her spin on it. There actually was 750 who applied and they randomly selected 150. She was so excited to be selected and took the time to enjoy Rome, meet other bloggers who she had followed but never met in person, and was excited about the Vatican's dedication to technology! || I think it shows that the church really is trying to stay current and up with the times when they hold this huge conference in order to dialogue between bloggers and the church representatives! || [] The Crescat by Katrina Fernandez commented on her experience in Rome for the conference. Predominately it was in response to her interviews that were publicized in which she acknowledges being critical...but in the appropriate sense. My thoughts about her piece include the following: 1. She is slightly irreverent to begin with but a deep thinker. “Blog administration accepts no responsibility, whole or in part, for souls put in mortal peril by reading said material.” is as piece on her page. . 2. She has a healthy idea of what some blogging can become if one is not careful. 3. She differs with the 10 Myths of Blogging in that she remarked that bloggers are self-centered by nature. Unfortunately the 35+ comments section would not come up for me. I would have loved to see the responses! She did compliment the Vatican on bringing people together and the launching of the new Vatican news website. || Interesting that the Vatican chose bloggers and blogging for this conference. Two years ago this was a newer idea so they were ahead of the game a little. Nice interview and visuals. || Anna is a professional journalist and give these observations. The Conference was not aimed at Catholic bloggers but at a wider picture of how the Church could fit into the world of blogging. Anna doesn't think that the bloggers world will be open to the institutional Church seeking to be a magisterial or official policy voice in the blogosphere. Some indication from France that individual Catholic bloggers whether liberal or conservative dominate Catholic blogging rather than Diocesan or institutional sponsored blogs. Article was well written and thoughtful. || Glad to see that the official social communications organizations of the Church are seeking to lead and learn in this new and exciting medium. || [] A professional journalist herself, Anna noted what she considered to be a problem hampering the discussion between the Church's professional journalists who led the second half of the conference: "blog" seemed to be defined only as an alternative news source. She maintained it was more complex than that and pointed to the speeches made during the first half of the conference which featured the personal aspects of blogging. She cited one of the bloggers, Fr. Federico Lombardi, who made the observation that "the personal side of the blog is both its strength and its weakness in terms of the Church's ability to harness the energy of the bloggers who write about their personal lives, their thoughts, and their faith". She agreed that for the institutional church to use the blog effectively was probably impossible because of its magisterial nature, yet felt that blogging has a definite role to play in the Church's ability to communicate with "people on the outside". As an example she used the Pontifical Council for Social Communication, a Vatican website which gathers information from its various sources of communication into one place, making it easier for bloggers to access that information and communicate about the Church better. || As one who works with youth, I was gratified to note that, along with their other considerations, the Vatican saw blogging as a means of approaching youth, bringing the Christian dimension to youth, through a medium they already have so enthusiastically embraced, the blog. Because the Church is willing to explore and move into a new mode of communication, I think youth may understand more easily and be more receptive to Her message. || Again I am impressed to learn what is happening in real time (May 2, 2011) and grow in my own appreciation of the magnitude of the social media world. I am also aware that I have tended to grumble aloud to others about being behind in DDBC assignments, I am very grateful for talking this course. I have been awakened. I chose to read digitalnun (Benedictine Monastery in the UK) and learned about her experience of the bloggers meeting in May 2011. The meeting had an emphasis on the quality, clarity and charity in using blogs for communication as Catholic Church users. This blogger perceived a desire from the institutional Church to pursue set standards for blogging aimed at the professional journalists who blog so as to guide them as they represent Church teaching. However some participants attending herself included were not journalists nor thought of themselves as journalists per se but who simply wish to blog about the intersection of faith and life. || Overall I was impressed that a gathering of 150 bloggers came together to share experiences and to find support and encouragement at the Vatican. What a wonderful event. Blogging is popular and clearly a vehicle for communicating and enhancing the mission of Jesus. || With this meeting, I see the Church making an effort to grow in the modern world and to meet people where they are. As Mr. Tucker indicated in his blog, the Church is reaching out into an arena that is always changing; so its first attempt needs to be met with patients and understanding. He offers some good criticisms and hopes for further developments in the area of blogging. || When I reflect on this meeting and the blogs I read relating to this meeting, I am very encouraged by the Church's efforts to use new media as a catechatical and evangelical tool. ||
 * YOUR NAME || BLOGGER PERSPECTIVE || ROMEREPORT.COM PERSPECTIVE ||
 * Elizabeth Girton || **Susan Windley-Daoust **[]
 * Brenda Tibbits || ** Carol Glatz ** [] This blogger had an insight into how Vatican communication moves from itself out, but “really” doesn’t look for, or likely even be helped by feedback. With blogs the Vatican has discovered a sort of “backdoor” to finding out how it’s communication has been understood and also where some incorrect thinking has begun and how a clarification from the Holy See might be provided. || It is exciting that the Vatican is actively looking at current trends to allow the Gospel to be spread in a manner in which many will be better able to receive it. ||
 * Mary Pat Austing || **SUE** Desperate Irish Housewife []
 * Michelle Tomshack || James Tucker @http://fireofthylove.com/ James had an extensive post to his blog about the meeting at the Vatican. Several thoughts he wrote about was the Vatican not seeing bloggers as using their gifts as members of the Body of Christ - an attitude that he felt needs changed. Perhaps it will change as they get used to the idea. A presenter mentioned that the freedom of bloggers was both a blessing and a curse and that it can be difficult to determine what is good, true and authentic on blogs. He also did not feel that the purpose of the meeting was accomplished - to dialogue. He felt there were too many presentations and when questions were asked, many went unanswered. However, he offered the criticism as constructive, saying that this was a first meeting and things could improve. A positive from the meeting he felt was the web-portal that the Vatican will begin using to have a stronger web presence. Also, how WYD 2011 was present on the web and much information about it was disseminated through the web was a good example of the Vatican using the web in a positive manner. He thought the meeting was a good first step and hopes for more meetings. He said that bloggers will begin filling the void on issues and statements by the Vatican if the Vatican does not become part of the blogosphere to explain and clarify their actions and statements. || From the ROMEREPORT site, I was intrigued by the idea that bloggers who wanted to attend could submit their blog to be chosen. It was a breath of fresh air that the Vatican didn't start out with hand-picked bloggers. Realizing that they still chose from those submitted, It was still interesting to note that the initiative of wanting to attend came from the bloggers themselves. ||
 * Tara Dibble || I checked out Alison Girone's [|Totus Tuus Family] and was unable to find any blog posts. However, she did have two pictures on her #|home page - one of her at the conference and one that I thought would be a link but didn't work. Since I didn't have success here I did go to susan Vigilante's [|Desperate Irish Housewife] and read her post. I found her awestruck and social (she discussed meeting other bloggers, her need to tweet rather than blog, and how her lack of speaking/understanding foreign languages frustrated her. || In my profession I found myself often confronted with individuals who cite the church's lack of progression into modern times a major turnoff; however, this clearly shows how forward moving the Vatican is to openly invite bloggers for discussion on how to best use this media. ||
 * Laura
 * Terri kerley || Lisa Hendey: @http://catholicmom.com/
 * Karen Burford || Irish Dominican Vocations - [] This blogger did an excellent, thorough job of reporting on his experience at the meeting in Rome. He includes videos, screen shots from different websites, and more, including live updates (at the time, of course). Although he expresses disappointment that the meeting had “run out of steam” by the time it was the bloggers’ turn to speak, he complements the Vatican for reaching out to them, and sees this meeting as only the first of more collaboration to come. || How exciting that Rome brought Catholic bloggers from all walks of life and from different parts of the world to share their ideas. What an honor for the chosen 150 bloggers who were able to collaborate with those in charge of communication for the Church. ||
 * Ann Andriacco || Katrina Fernandez:
 * Joe Hannon || Anna Arco @http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/author/anna/
 * Claire Hamilton || Anna Arco
 * Kim Adamson || [] by Mary O'Regan, I found this quote of her's from the seminar. Fr. Roderick Vonhogen answered; "I've learned, primarily from Pope John Paul II, that more information doesn't necessarily correlate to more wisdom. We shouldn't enter the rat-race of 'who has the scoop first.'" This forces us to get out more information, more updates, and more posts with increasing speed. But the Church should be the one - slow as she is - telling the world to slow down, to process and absorb only the information we need to grow in virtue. She also noted that the Vatican was not looking to control the bloggers but wanted to get their perspective. She notes that there was alot of talk about the ego and the blogger and that her experience has been that you cannot have a brittle ego and survive. There are those in the sphere who want to cut the blogger down but then there are those who can bring you closer to the faith. There was also discussion about the bloggers online personalities vs. their real life personality. She posted 3 blogs during the meetings. || The biggest point that stood out for me from the Rome Reports was that the church "needs more witnesses than teachers" I have not been able to get this out of my head yet.... ||
 * Susan Bellotti || D. Catherine Wybourne @http://www.ibenedictines.org/
 * Marty McClain || James Tucker; http://fireofthylove.com/