The Vatican’s Social Media Intiatives, Insights and Reflections

November 12, 2013Sr. Susan Wolf, SND

Monsignor Paul Tighe, the secretary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, was the keynote speaker at the Catholic New Media Conference in Boston on October 19, 2013. Since his appointment by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007, Monsignor Tighe has been involved in all the major new media initiatives of the Vatican. His presentation was excellent and you can view it below. Please share your thoughts in the comments. Feel free to share this post on your own social networks as well.

Here is one of my convictions that was reinforced in the presentation:

It is very important for those of us in ministry to learn and adapt to this new digital world, realizing that digital technology is not just a means to an end, but it is creating a new environment. Pope Benedict called it the digital continent. Pope Francis calls it the digital arena. [I call it a mission field.] It is where many people are spending a sizable amount of time. If the Church is not present there with them, it is likely that the Church will not be part of the rest of their lives either.

Please share yours.

Comments (5)

Peter Hager Sr

November 12, 2013 at 7:10 am

A very nice presentation on how to present Ideas on How JESUS can be a part of my life today Thanks for sharing!
Caroline Cerveny, SSJ-TOSF

November 12, 2013 at 3:25 pm

It is exciting to hear someone from the Vatican speak about the importance of social media in today’s church. However, we need to remember that in the ICT triangle, this is just a focus on “Communications Technology”. We’re still missing the area of the “T” which represents the area of Learning or Educational Technology.
Sr. Susan Wolf, SND

November 12, 2013 at 4:03 pm

Caroline, could you say more about the “T.” I am not quite sure what you are getting at here. Do you mean using technology for learning or learning technology or something else? Thank you.
Marie Manning, SND

November 14, 2013 at 2:04 pm

Thank you for sharing this presentation. It will motivate me to sign up for Pontifex and check out news.va, as well as try to enable Notre Dame Global Missions to make greater use of social media.
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