Social+Networking+-+Examples

===My dream project would be to have a spirit-filled, up-to-date parish facebook page with as many likes as we have families! We have a great page, communicate events and acknowledge personal milestones, but don't have as many likes as we would prefer. The parish staff is working on ideas as we speak.===

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm2SaPVpHUI Great mission trips to NOLA!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm2SaPVpHUI

Expected time to complete: 30 minutes. Please note that this assignment has two parts.

Part 1

Find and post at least one example of how Facebook, Twitter, or any other social networking platform can be used to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ, promote social justice, bring relief to the suffering, or in some way built up the Body of Christ. Your example can be a link to a relevant article, a copy of a post you found on a SN site, an event you discovered, or a link to a video. The object here is to create a list of positive uses of social networking media. Remember - no cheating! You are NOT allowed to use Google for this assignment; search only through Facebook, Twitter or Digital Catechesis.

Part of this assignment is also to learn how to post a link on our wiki. Please follow the instructions in red (below) to post your homework and create a live link.

For this assignment, you will need to create live links using the "Link" button above. Here are the steps to do this: Please sign in, select the "Edit" button, and add your example below. When you are done, be sure to click on "SAVE."
 * Find the article you want to link to and __COPY the URL to your clipboard__
 * __ Post __ a Facebook status update, Retweet, or post on Digital Catechesis, sharing the resource you found.
 * Go back to this page and __in "Edit" mode__, type in some descriptive text.
 * Highlight the text you want to link, and click on "Link" in the edit navigation bar.
 * In the #|dialog box that opens, click on "Web Address."
 * Enter the URL of the article to which you are linking.
 * Click on "Add Link"
 * Be sure to SAVE your work__!__

Here's an example:

I found a great video on Digital Catechesis. It's entitled "Sacred Earth" [|Take a look]. - Claudia []


 * __Post your examples here__**

Claire Hamilton The information shown on this site, [] (Resources for Catholic Educators), covers many topics of interest to those working day to day in Catholic Education. It also contains a link to a blog for educators and one to a sister blog.

Dave Gruber Through Facebook and Twitter on the CBS News Religion and Culture Pages, and through Fr Jim Martin, SJ of America Magazine, I wanted to share with the group the following video entitled "What's So Funny About Religion?" featuring Fr. Jim, Lewis Black and others representing a multi-faith outlook in using humor in celebrating our faith. Especially interesting is the Southern Baptist Minister in NYC and former attorney: [] I also posted on Twitter.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Karen Burford <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">On Twitter, I found a link to a blog (I love the name of the blog – Liturgy and Catechesis Shall Kiss) that shows how Pope Francis’ new encyclical is very accessible – as a pdf that can be read online or printed, and with buttons to share it via facebook, twitter, google plus, and email. [|Click here to link to the blog Liturgy and Catechesis Shall Kiss]

Susan Bellotti [|As RCIA director and leading our parish Returning Catholics program, I found this very short video clip on forgiveness (son to father) to underscore the truth in finding peace and freedom. Since we all fall short in our human attempts to be in authentic relationships this video provides an example of compassionate love.] []

Pat Ruthemeyer:

I found this site for Adult Faith Formation ideas via a Facebook search:

[]

This particular site is titled "Adult Faith Formation" and is curated by Hugh N. Blair. Included are several full-length articles dealing with such topics as "Moving Online for Formation," "Report on Congregations and their use of Internet Technologies," "Why churches Need to Embrace Technology," and a description of an E-Course on "Becoming a Wise Elder." These are all collected by the curator from other sources and are available at this one site.

Susan McGurgan: I found this twitter feed "Inspired Preaching" @ipreaching, which features what they call, "The world's most potent preachers in clips of 3-minutes or less, mostly. Be empowered. Be inspired. Be blessed." It is the traditional line up of Evangelical and well known Protestant preachers. How wonderful it would be to have some of our best Catholic preachers featured in readily accessible short clips. I would love to hear Pope Francis, Archbishop Kurtz from Louisville, Cardinals O'Malley and Dolan, and some of our local pastors. inspiredpreaching.com [|ttps://twitter.com/iPreaching]

[]
 * From Patti Gehred: I found this link on my twitter page (@nacms1)**

[|I wish I was a princess a video on the lives of children in the inner city.http://digitalcatechesis.ning.com/video/i-wish-i-were-a-princess]

Best[| WEB 2.0 Free APPS for education.]These lists lead me to great free resources for developing stories, safe interaction with students and sharing of media. - Terri Moser "Stillhvehope" Here is a great resource and website for [|teens] - Kim Adamson

Here are some easy ways to share Catholic Social Teaching this summer - Anne Marie []

I found this article on Facebook that would make Pope Francis happy! - Anne Marie __http://thejustsayingblog.wordpress.com/2013/06/12/16-free-or-inexpensive-ways-to-make-a-difference-now__

I found this link on Facebook that has free daily devotionals online-Michelle Lemiesz
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #3b5998; display: block; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">@http://pbwu.org/dw ===Here's a link to a 6 min video that shows the glory of outer space and is entitled "Creation." Was found in Digital Catechesis site and I can use it in a number of ways: Creation story in Genesis, awareness of God's presence and power, nature as a 'sacred space' where I can experience God's presence to and for me. Fr. Joe=== http://www.andiesisle.com/creation/magnificent.html

Here is a link to a short article on why it behooves parishes to be present on Facebook, Twitter, etc Elizabeth Girton [|http://blog.ourchurch.com/2011/03/14/5-reasons-churches-should-use-social-medi]

The Pope has a Fiesta on Twitter as his Spanish speaking tweets pass up his English ones - Celebrating his 3 month anniversary. Ed Reising []

I opened this link because the Pope reminds people not to replace Jesus with the little "nothings" of our lives...MESinger []

Link: try adding Busted Halo to your facebook friends. They are having Summer School ([]) Q & A right now as well as micro challenges daily. ([|https://www.facebook.com/#!/hashtag/microchallenge]) Ann

This video is a wonderful perspective on the 5 Loaves & 2 Fish story - from the giver's perspective. I love the simple anime and captions. Beautiful. It has a modern feel, great for teens. http://digitalcatechesis.ning.com/video/what-is-your-5-loaves-2-fishes :) Julie Scott

I truly love Loyola's 3 Minute Retreat. I subscribe by email, and also "liked" it on Facebook, so it shows up in my feed and I can share https://www.facebook.com/3MinuteRetreat?ref=ts&fref=ts. They offer insightful questions, opportunities for prayer, and sometimes it's just the quiet break that I need to bring God back into the banalities of my day.

I have a facebook page for the DREs of our diocese. I often post lesson ideas, links to publishers and happenings within our diocese. The page is called DWC DREs (the DWC stands for Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston). This summer I have been posting resources to encourage them to take time for themselves to rest and spiritually renew. One resource that I found that I really like is this [|E-Retreat] I've gotten some good feedback from this resource. Many seem to like it - and they are using technology!!

Since Marriage and Family Life fall under my office in the diocese, I found this resource that I re-tweeted on [|"unplugging"] and spending more time with your spouse.

Sr. Angela Zukowski, MHSH, 2012 NCCL Catechetical Award Winner, discusses reimaging catechesis in the 21st C and the challenges/potentials it holds. [] Jan Von Handorf

[|I thought this YouTube Video would complement the poem, "Creation," by James Weldon Johnson. The poem appears in our 4th Grade textbooks,]__[|Call to Faith.]__

Here's a thought provoking video for teaching modesty to our young girls. [|The Godly Truth About Bikinis] - Patti Kamper

I love the almost daily tweets from the Pope:[| Pope's Tweet from June 24] - Tara Dibble

I am grateful to have Archbishop Chaput as our leader & shepherd in Philadelphia. Found this link following Thomas Smith on Twitter and Retweeted it. It is from the Catholic News Agency. [|Archbishop Chaput: Catholics Should Live their Faith 'All In'] Cara Stolarczyk

Here is an example of using Facebook to expand a parish social justice ministry. [|St. Susanna Organic Garden] Chris Kreger

I can't believe all the great videos on Digital Catechesis. This will be a great resource for my catechists. For example:[|Why should I go to mass?] Terri Kerley

Here is an **amazing** 4 minute summary of the Gospel! I hope you enjoy it, if you like **slam poetry**, you will love it!! [] I also posted it on my twitter page, you can find the link there, too! [] follow me @khanfstcharles Kristen Ricker

One of my Facebook friends (a deacon) shared this on his page. I think the student was brave and we should all do something like this when the separation of church and state tells us to be quiet. Sarah Pascual @http://www.patheos.com/blogs/deaconsbench/2013/06/defying-rules-student-rips-up-graduation-speech-and-says-the-lords-prayer-instead/

[] I attended the Digital Church Conference in February of this year and met Brandon Vogt, one of the presenters. I've since started following a couple of his blogs One of these is StrangeNotions.com. It's an online avenue for atheists and Catholics to share life's, "Big Questions. Reason. Faith. Dialogue." (Barb Blanco)

From Bob Wurzelbacher: Catholic News Agency tweeted this report to me, a call from Pope Francis to exercise more patience in our lives and our relationship with God. God does not always work on our timetable. See it here.

Mary Pat Austing I have always appreciated the NOOMA series. It strongly encourages the listener to do more than listen to God's Message. Here is a short vimeo on Nooma and what it aspires to do in spreading the Good News. https://www.facebook.com/ajax/sharer/?s=99&appid=2309869772&p%5B0%5D=21600640369&p%5B1%5D=10152889985745370&profile_id=21600640369&share_source_type=unknown

KayK Our students in 4th & 5th grade classes do a living saints project and dress up as their saint around Halloween. I found a site that has classroom activity on saints. This could be used in the classroom as the students research the saint they want to be. []

Deanna Bartalini, Director of Faith Formation St. Edward, Palm Beach, FL I tweeted this link I found on facebook: <span style="background-color: #f5f5f5; color: #0084b4; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">[|#__DDBC__] <span style="background-color: #f5f5f5; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> Video Catechism for Middle School on up! <span style="background-color: #f5f5f5; color: #0084b4; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none;">http://www.vcat.org/

Joan Fye A friend introduced me to this TWITTER site @Gods_Graces. Check it out and enjoy the abundant tweets!

Marty McClain I'm not sure how I stumbled on to Potifex, but I follow him on Twitter and Facebook. His real name is Fr. Claude Burns. You will be amazed at his talent and my high school students can't get enough of his videos. His style meets them right where they are at. We have used much of his stuff in our high school youth group and on retreats to get some really wonderful conversations going. Here is a video he made addressing atheism. []

Pam Neumann I added a link to this app on an ignation site that gathers a great many resources on our culture as seen through the Jesuit lens. It provides links to articles, columns and videos of contemporary interest.You can also find it on our Facebook page. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/in-network/id58

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BSK- I found this commentary by Fr. Baron on Lumen Fidei. It will be interesting viewing for my students- easy to understand. [|L:umen Fidei Commentay.] In addition, this cartoon is a fun introduction of Pope Francis. [|Meet Pope Francis Cartoon]

Teresa Phillips I like to post a [|Photo of the Week]the Mission Office Facebook page. It highlights our diocese's connection to the world.

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;">Part 2 <span style="color: #f11e1e; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 4.5pt;">Now that you have some experience in three social networking sites, we would like to know how you are planning to integrate some kind of networking media into your classroom, professional development, or other catechetical setting. Please write a brief paragraph below about your "dream plan" to integrate social networking in your ministry. It can be a visionary paragraph, or it can be practical steps with bullet points. Be sure to include your name.

Claire Hamilton, DRE, St. John the Baptist Catholic Community, Dunnellon, FL Our parish is small and spread over a large geographic area. It consists of a predominately retired-aged population. Many of our young families with school-aged children are not active in parish life; those that are have difficulty making meetings or participating in events because both parents work. Because they are unavailable to transport their children, the children also have problems participating. In addition, we need to access and draw into our parish life those fallen-away Catholics (both youth and adult) living within our parish boundaries. I'm hoping that I can develop a multi-faceted social networking package that will help to deliver services to address these areas. I also need to add networking components to our Faith Formation Program that will allow our students to use modern day tools to better explore, form and define their faith; their parents to stay in touch with what their young people are doing and to grown in their own faith; and our catechists to interact with each other and me more easily and to access the vast array of information and resources to make their work easier and their product more effective.
 * __Post your plan here__**

Dave Gruber, Director of Religious Education, St Elizabeth Church, Columbus The dream plan I am envisioning for St Elizabeth is a way to reach out to all the sub-communities of the parish community in a unified way. Utilizing web based tools to encourage parents to follow up on what their students are learning about in religious education classes continuing the discussion at home. Providing a dialogue opportunity with parents to embrace and actively engage their faith life in daily life. Utilize webinars and other tools to enhance parental preparation for their role in sacramental preparation. Discussion boards for RCIA, AFF, Youth Ministry, and Small Church Communities. The possibilities are endless, and with my role as the designated PCL (parish catechetical leader) and responsible for all these areas as well as some liturgical minister training (scripture readers) and coordinating between various groups within the parish, it is my dream that the Holy Spirit will lead me to more effectively administer all the programs and be a more effective communicator across multiple media channels.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">I would love to see social networking, probably along with webinars, used in our programs as an effective alternative to traditional classroom-based catechesis. Parents and children could work together at home, but have more guidance and support from the parish and from each other than using only a textbook. These tools can also provide an option for parent meetings and catechist training/collaboration. My short-term dream would be that //every// family and every catechist would become engaged when given a variety of options. -Karen Burford

My dream plan is to reach out to returning Catholic parents- perhaps using a closed online community for teaching and blogging. I would also like to create short videos for this process however I am now finding other video links that are excellent. Susan Bellotti

My dream plan for using social media in my ministry is to create a blog where people who are interested in learning more about the Marianist Family can feel connected. One idea is to have a blog called “That’s So Marianist.” I would invite people to post pictures or articles or essays sharing what they have witnessed in their daily lives that remind them of their faith and their experience with “things Marianist.” I would like this blog to be very visual and attractive. I’m hoping, particularly, that this will attract younger people to the services we offer here at NACMS. (Patti Gehred, assignment #5)

My first dream is to get as comforatble witht he blogs, twitter, and other social media tools as I am with emails. Secondly, I want to help our catechists, who are very willing to learn more about Social media, to become more tech savy and to open their eyes to all the resources that are available and ways to incororaet it into their classes. Thridly, I'd like to really look at ways to use these tools in sacramental prepapration, parent meetings, and working with my older students grades 6-8. I think they would really become more involved and engaged if you used phones and computers to help learn about our faith. However, a huge obstacle is that even though our school is wireless, has a smart board, laptop and projector in every room, and there is a cart of lab tops and a computer lab, we are not entitled to use it! How do we get tech savy with the amount of money you need for equipment? Are there ways around this I wonder? Terri Kerley

This is a "dream plan" for an ISTE based classroom environment where the __students__ have the hardware, such as an iPad, and the school or parish has the IT resources to support a teacher and his/her students at the NET-S and NET-T levels of learning. Individual classes (e.g., period 1, period 3, etc.) would have both a class blog and class wiki. The wiki's content, both written and embedded, are based on the chapters of the textbook being used and draw from the resources provided by the publisher and by the teacher. The wiki is designed to support a Journal (for sharing between individual students and their teacher) and a group page which is accessible to all members of the class. The wiki lays out the homework and project assignments and also records the turned in work by individual students or groups of students. For general and social sharing per class, a Facebook page could be set up per class. Fr. Joe Hannon
 * //My dream plan would be to feel comfortable and confident using this technology-to be able to share ideas, activities and techniques that could bring faith alive to my students and catechists.//**
 * //We are getting a laptop, projector and wifi for our faith formation program and I want to be able to be able to use the technology to excite learning about the Lord and for them to see how//**
 * //the gospel is lived throughout the world. I think that this could also be a valuable tool for the dissemination of information to my parents. A. Smith//**

It would be a dream plan to have opportunities for educational resources available for the continual formation of our lay liturgical ministers in the diocese that could promote dialogue, esp amongst those in specialized ministeries (EG Ministry to the Sick). Michelle Lemiesz

A dream plan for me is to be able to use this\\e technology that I am learning to get my catechists certified by the diocese for their catechetical ministry. My efforts up to this point have been met with resistance about classes for certification. I believe that use of a blog, wikispaces, GotoMeetings, and other internet resources will give my catechists the opportunity to do their certification online and I will have the materials to back up their work for the diocese to see. Elizabeth Girton

My dream and goal is to eventually bring the parish into a communication lifestyle. By using the different media available, helping teach those who are leery, and utilizing the youth and their experiences, this dream can become a reality. Part of this dream would include looking at ways to get devices at least into the homes of those who do not have anything. Since we do not have a school, this may bring about the gifts of others who know how to write grants and look to community assistance.Ed Reising

I am a big believer that we, as a parish, must be pro-active in utilizing new technology for catechetical and evangelization purposes. We do not have an individual or team for communications at this time (though part of the dream in the future). Since I am the Director of Adult Faith Formation, I am assuming the responsibility to push our parish towards modernization because technology isTHE new language for ministry. My immediate goal, my Phase 1, is to become more knowledgeable about Facebook and website technologies. Our associate pastor was just reassigned - and he managed our Facebook presence! One(me) or more of our senior staff must accept the challenge and take over when he leaves so as not to lose the momentum he has established on our Facebook page. (It would be a great disservice to him if we let it slip away.) Our website is a "text-only" version and must be updated. Phase 2 of my dream is to become proficient in Facebook administration and get a new tech-savvy website in place. Phase 3 will include implementing a blog, utilizing Twitter and wordpress to increase the participatory nature of faith formation. At the end of Phase 3, or maybe Phase 4, I am hoping to develop a closed online retreat experience which I understand can be accomplished through using Ning. Somewhere along the way, we will need to promote professional development for staff and volunteers in the new technologies and develop a communications team. As the English language is/was the great unifier for our nation of immigrants, we must encourage literacy in "tech talk" for all new immigrants to technology in order to become a unitive force. Anne Marie

My dream plan would be to enable varied groups to employ technology for differentiated learning, information and dialogue. The two major groups would be the current regular Catholic school teachers who have access to the technologies, but may not use them effectively and the Parish catechists who have no access to the same technologies.● Offer resources, practice and possibilities for the regular teachers to expand their use of technology in Religion with their students, including a strong Faith Formation component. ● Assess what technology MAY be available to Parish catechists and adapt a program of use for them in working with their students. It would include a strong program of looking at exactly what is available and how they may adapt it in their ministry. Their access to the school’s technology will be minimal. ●Investigate outside resources that don’t rely on in-school technology to be use by student and catechist. Ann Andriacco

My dream plan for Bereavement Ministry is for every family and individual to know that God loves them and that they are never alone in the darkness and chaos that surrounds the death of a loved one. As Jesus taught in Matthew 5:4, "Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted." My dream is to communicate the Truth, the good news of Jesus Christ whenever and wherever needed at the end of a life. My dream is that when the time comes to face death, there is true comfort, the real presence of love and the compassion of the Body of Christ. In many situations, the "harvest is great, but the laborers few". Bereavement Ministers are often the face of the Church community for that family, providing evangelization through action and deed, using words when necessary. With the guidance of the Holy Spirit and extensive preparation, the Bereavement Minister must be ready to answer tough questions, yet be fully present and sensitive to the needs of a family in great distress. My dream is to harness the promise of social media to prepare to serve the needs of grieving individuals in the 21st century. Social Media can help Bereavement Ministers to connect with families geographically dispersed, yet still need to be loved and consoled. Digital & social media technology can offer exponentially a real presence, provide vast, personalized resources, yet fully complement the comfort, care and concern of a "real, live Bereavement Minister".

1. My short-term goal or dream is to help the DREs and catechists in our diocese to use technology in their ministry. I think if they did so, they would have better communication with the youth and young adults from their parishes. This would result in keeping them engaged and interested in their faith. It would also give them more contact time with those they teach, extending beyond an hour a week. I want to help get them out of the 1960s schoolhouse model of catechesis and help them better engage those they teach. 2. A mid-term goal or dream would be to get the catechists certified through __#|online courses__ and perhaps some online presentations and meetings. 3. A longer-term goal or dream would be to find ways to reach those we are not reaching. What can we do to reach those who do not attend Church but still see themselves as Catholics? Can we reach them and help them build a relationship with Christ (and hopefully the Church) by providing resources and links that they can explore and (hopefully) find something that interests them and something that will bring them closer to Christ? Things like the 3-minute retreat, links to prayers, links to Q&A about the church that may change misconceptions, spiritual book suggestions, etc can be provided through social media such as websites, facebook and twitter. (Michelle Tomshack)

Teachers and students in the Athenaeum of Ohio’s Lay Pastoral Ministry Program are able to Jan Von Handorf My goal is to improve my communication with the parents and teens of our parish. I have parents who don't have a computer but I know they have __#|cell phones__ and use them constantly. I want to find ways to get the children excited about using technology to learn more about their faith and not just socializing. I need to find ways that I can educate the parents in their faith but in a non-threatening and timely manner. This may be possible through short video presentations on subjects their children are currently studying in their faith formation class. I may try and develop a place where they can anonymously post questions and we can provide answers on the faith. I am open to many possibilities that this course can lead me to. - Kim Adamson
 * Articulate the Church’s teaching on the use of digital communication to evangelize in the modern world;
 * Express a working knowledge of the language, culture and basic skills of social media;
 * Demonstrate strategies that integrate social media and traditional modes of communication to further the mission and ministry of the Church;
 * Model appropriate use of social media in service to the Church; and
 * Collaborate in learning/formation for ministry using a wide array of tools including social media.

Where do I begin? For the families I minister to through my faith formation program I'd like to have different avenues for communicating what is going on with our programs and how to take care of requirements rather than sending home __#|paper flyers__ that end up all over the parking lot. I'd like to also create a community of parents that will engage in our programs and take ownership of what is rightfully theirs. For my catechists I would like platforms to provide training as well as a method of sharing ideas and resources. For the children in my program I'd like to make learning more engaging. Our volunteers do a great job but many are from the generation of stand-and-deliver style classes. I'd love to integrate technology and add a kinesthetic component to learning. - Tara Dibble

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">My dream is to get the whole parish connected via social media. I never want to hear another parishioner say, “I didn’t know that was happening”. My current task is setting up a network for our parish on Flocknote.com and my desire is to make a clean launch and get everyone connected. Flocknote’s versatility, posting to Facebook or Tweeting messages in addition to email and texting should be easy. Since people can select how they want to receive messages from us there’s no excuse for not getting the word. Now I just need to work with some of our staff to be sure everyone is on board and has the skills necessary to make it all work. DDBC is definitely helping me get comfortable so that I can share the Good News!

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">I also look forward to connecting our catechists on Digital Catechesis or Facebook. Often people have asked for the opportunity to collaborate with other catechists without “meeting” and hopefully these resources will fill that void.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">Finally, while Twitter is probably my least favorite, I know I need to figure it out and utilize it. Particularly to share information with parents and the youth! <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">//Patti Kamper//

God is revealing to me the plan He has for me in supporting His Church in the areas of faith formation & evangelization. I have been praying that I will be open to the movement of the Holy Spirit to do what God wants me to do and when He wants me to do it. I believe a part of this plan involves being competent and comfortable with social media. While I don't have to be the technology expert, I do need to bolster my capabilities and learn how to best reach and engage people with these media so I can maximize the gifts I have been given, such as in the areas of collaboration, leadership and learning & development.

Just as there was the Areopagus - public square - in Athens in the time of St. Paul, the Internet and social media now provide that square for us with a reach that St. Paul could only dream about. It is certainly not an ends, only a means to proclaim the Good News of Christ to others. We are called to make disciples of ALL - not just those currently in the pews. Social media will help us break down the walls of our parish boundaries, working together vs. in silos to set out into the deep for a catch. The way we engage must be customized to where people are at vs. one size fits all. We have not done a good job as a Church with our succession plan and I see not only using social media to help with this, leveraging both the push and pull social media provides, but to engage young people to use their gifts in these areas and by doing so, hopefully lead them to discover Christ and heed Jesus' words, "I have come to set fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already burning!" (Luke 12:49) Cara Stolarczyk

My dream plan would be setting up a regional,and eventually diocesan-wide network of catechetical leaders for training and resource sharing in the use of technology for faith formation and evangelization. Two important features of this network would be the use of technology for ministerial/catechetical skill development (possibly to include certification) and in the area of adult faith formation. Chris Kreger

As an Elementary Coordinator, my goal is to slowly integrate technology into our curriculum and program. As we learn more about ways to use technology for our classrooms and program we will increase our usage. Our immediate enhancements will be using twitter and various sites for visual resources. Realistically, there are a few challenges our PSR department must overcome. They are: our staff’s lack of knowledge, resistance from staff outside of the PSR department and the size of our PSR program. Currently, we have 1800 students that we serve. We need to promote Pope Benedict’s vision to our parish and staff that he so beautifully stated in his 2013 World Day of Communications message, “I wish to consider the development of digital social networks which are helping to create a new “agora,” an open public square in which people share ideas, information an opinions and in which new relationships and forms of community can come into being.” For the coming PSR year, we plan to add more visuals to enhance our lessons. Three sites we have already identified as great resources are YouTube, Digital Catechesis and Busted Halo. We look forward to having the skills to create our own visuals. We believe that using technology with our special learners is an enormous opportunity. This year we plan to investigate ways to better meet the needs of our special learners. With the increased usage of twitter, we plan to couple this form of communication with the methods we currently use. We send a monthly newsletter and a weekly e-mail. We plan to use twitter to remind parents about important events and changes to our program. As we become more comfortable with using twitter, we plan to evangelize our parents with faith-based “tweets.” //Laura Sams//

My dream plan for social networking for the parish would be to create a facebook page for the parish, and one for the school. This would be helpful to include events, invites, take recommendations, communicate news, upload photos of recent events or speakers. This will build community and draw in a new group of members. We know that some people do not make it a priority to come to Mass on the weekend, but they do make it a priority to check their facebook once, or several, times a day. I feel that it is important for people to meet you in a comfortable setting and it will be easier to draw them in online than to just sit and wait for them to want to start coming to Mass or other parish activities. I also think that this will help us when we are asking for volunteers, or trying to make information more readily available to our parishioners. We are thinking of adding an online book if Intentions, for family members who have no way of coming to the Church to write in their prayer requests. Kristen Ricker

My personal dream is to use social media more effectively for connecting with the students in the Lay Pastoral Ministry Program, to incorporate digital resources more fully into the courses that I teach and facilitate, and to help our faculty members become familiar with the rich resources that social media can bring to their teaching and formation work. I want our students to be challenged and inspired by the ways that social media can enhance parish and non-profit ministry, administration and evangelization efforts. Susan McGurgan

I work in the diocesan youth and young adult office. We have a Facebook page for the young adults in our diocese and I would like to help make it the "go to" place for our young adults for information on topics that concern them and use it as a means to inform them of diocesan events. I would also like to integrate it more into our website and possibly start pages for other areas like youth ministry, scouts, etc. In terms of something I would like to do on the parish level (since I teach 7th grade CCD) is start a group for the student's parents where they can interact with each other and get little inspirational messages to help them in their role of catechizing their children when they are not in CCD. Sarah Pascual

My dream plan is to first become familiar with social media, competent in using it myself, and aware of the advantages and limits of each; second, begin to integrate one or more of these media into adult faith formation and the RCIA process in ways that are beneficial to adults in my parish. Third, to use these media to attract young adults into parish life. Pat Ruthemeyer

Youth Ministry volunteers are typically very dedicated but very busy people .They already have full time jobs and families, and choose to take on ministry on a part-time basis that would be considered full-time if it were a paid position. May office has tried to provide basic training for them to help them do their job better, but getting them to come to anything is asking a lot, so we created a complex system where they can get it online. My dream would be that, instead of creating complex systems that rely on computer programmers, just utilize existing social media platforms to get the training out so we can just focus on the training content rather than the technology. (Bob Wurzelbacher)

My dream plan is hoping to not have nightmares when thinking about using technology. Each step is painful right now. I will hope to use technology to make our classes come alive to students and their parents. I hope to have catechists and myself use the various modes of communication to enliven the message of the Gospel. It may first come in simple steps as emailing invitations and reminders to special events. Blogging about sacrament preparations with families, catechists sharing Gospel reflections in a private group wiki or blog. My dream is to keep practicing and learning from mistakes, benefitting from the patience of those who have mastered the various digital steps. Mary Pat Austing

My hope for our parish is to build a community online that grows the community in a face-to-face contexts. We know each other not only as the person in the pew next to us, the familiar face, but that we also have an understanding of our backgrounds and what brings us back to mass together each week. -- Heidi Murray

My dream plan would begin with communication. One of the challenges I face at our parish, as many of us do, is resources. Communicating and convincing parishioners of the importance of technology in the religious education setting is a first step. All too often I find that one of my responsibilities as a CRE is to "sell" the idea or the need. Once the need and benefit is established, I would explore the most effective ways of incorporating technology and train and/or help catechists feel at ease using these tools (not an easy task, I'm learning myself!). Finally, I would invite students, parents, and parishioners in general, to get involved in this new exciting digital world. I would collaborate with staff members to create ministry-specific wikis, Facebook groups, twitter accounts and the like. Each group would then begin to become invested and no doubt see the fruits come to light. It is an obtainable dream, I believe, but one that will take, prayer, time and effort (Barb Blanco).

Deanna Bartalini Currently I have Facebook and Google+ pages for my parish. I would like to expand the usefulness of the pages by having more people 'like' us to keep them up to date on what is happening in the parish as well as providing spiritual 'sound bites' to think about. Eventually, I'd like to set up twitter as a means to get people's attention quickly.

Joan Fye My dream plan for the Diocesan Media Resource Library is to make it user friendly, exciting, and a place all parishes can come to learn more about their faith, enhance their programs with technology, show off the wonderful resources that are waiting to be used. And at my parish I would love to connect easier with my catechists, i.e. a blog or some other way we can more effectively communicate between one another, share our faith and use effective tools to put people in touch with the God who loves them so much.

My dream plan is to connect the RCIA participants outside of our session time with further learning and resources. I look forward to learning the best way to do this. Mary Ellen Singer

Marty McClain I have been using social media and the internet in my youth ministry for a few years now. The teens really seem to enjoy it. My dream is to use social media to reach the non-gathered teens in our parish and to provide valuable resource to parents.

Terri Moser: Dream Plan: To have direction, focus, vison with team members of the staff and ministry heads of the goals of the social media we are already using. Currently it is a bit unfocused, without a target population or rather, exclusively towards a population of people who already belong - no outreach to the unchurched. We are supposedly working towards a model of unity such as outlined in the book by Father MIchael White called "Rebuilt." I will be more proactive to get people together for a "social media content vision board"

Pam Neumann Our parish is facing an immense building project which will effectively eradicate our physical gatherine space for two years. Can we somehow find a way to create a virtual gathering space to continue building community? We will need to find creative ways of using what little space we will have left, our liturgies and our digital reality to keep people connected to each other as well as to the larger community. Blogs for sharing information, wikispaces for planning and communications, online learning - all of these tools and more can surely give us opportunities to do this.

Barb SchwabKlaco My dream plan for using social media is to be comfortable with its use in my personal and professional life. While I do not plan to use social media to communicate with students it will be very handy for communicating with faculty and others in high school ministry. I would like to spend as little time as possible exploring the possibilities. One aspect that I will need to clarify is the time element and accessing quickly that which is most useful. I would like to integrate wikispaces into my classroom for the ease of group work.

Teresa Phillips My dream would be to connect all those who have gone on immersion trips in the Archdiocese - youth and adult - to our Facebook Page. Often, people are changed by the experience of an immersion trip, but if they do not have a place to talk about it, the expereince fades. In my view, if that happens, the money spent on the trip is wasted. Perhaps a second FB page, just for these folks, would be a better forum... now I'm thinking.


 * turn to Social Networking **