The following comes from a Feb. 25 release from ReligionNews.com.
“Churches must adapt to the new realities of “mobile Catholicism” or be left to question whether it makes sense to even have a website,” said Wally Arida, publisher of ParishWorld, the Simi Valley-based developer of the new app, ParishWorld for Catholics….
The newly-released app is now ready to use by any Catholic parish around the world. Each unique parish app features a non-stop stream of feeds from hundreds of online sources that cover a wide range of both secular and Catholic news and features. People can follow their favorite Catholic writers, bloggers and websites as well as keep pace with the Pope’s daily messages and activities. The parish app becomes a very attractive online magazine that updates itself with the most interesting and freshest content in real time. It is also simply and truly Catholic.
“Our app becomes one’s portable reminder of our calling as Catholics to live every day as Christ did in today’s modern, secular world,” Arida said.
“ParishWorld provides smart, innovative and dynamic assistance to a lot of parish websites that, like Lazarus, were too long in the tomb,” said Fr. Willy Raymond, CSC, national director of the Family Theater Productions in Hollywood.
And the Most Rev. Bishop Rutilio del Riego, auxiliary bishop of the diocese of San Bernardino, said “ParishWorld offers our parishes real opportunities for true faith formation using this rapidly growing medium.”
Parishes can download a free copy of their app and start using it today. For those that subscribe to ParishWorld’s content management system, the subscription fee is $95.00.
ParishWorld’s Mobile App is available for download from Apple’s App Store and Android’s Google Play.
To read original release, click here.
At last, someone in the Church understands modern communications. If we want to attract and keep young people to the church, we must communicate with them the way they communicate today. Think of Facebook! It is loosing young people by the hundreds of thousands because it has become an “old people’s” form of social networking. Kids have moved on to other forms of communications. Communications today must be short and quick. Think snapchat. Instant messaging. When was the last time your grand-kids answered an email, or even checked an email. A marketing manager recently told me he never answers his phone, because he doesn’t know anyone who would call him unless they had told him ahead of time by text-message that s/he was going to call. Nearly every diocese spends huge amounts of money to publish a newspaper. Yet, surveys show that only people over 60 read it on a regular basis. More importantly, fewer than 10% of people under 25 read it. What young person subscribes to a newspaper anymore? What was effective twenty years ago may not be effective today. Does your parish have a minister of social communications?
“Parishes can download a free copy of their app and start using it today. For those that subscribe to ParishWorld’s content management system, the subscription fee is $95.00.”
Hmmm… Seems like a bit much for ‘content management’ – whatever that truly means. I wonder just where the money does go (too much is spent on ‘Catholic’ Education goes to enemies of the Faith & Magisterium already) and whether it is better for the Parish to keep the $ at home and find another way to get the Good Word Out.
What Use to Tweet Bible Versus or short exhortations – will that bring the Younger Demographic in to Church?
Perhaps it is time to look at Why the Trends are occurring, before a shotgun internet approach that may not produce any result of value.
Formation Of Catholics is a Lifelong Process, and to expect the Young to be beguiled by gadgets that will make them ‘Holy’ is a bit of a stretch methinks.
Better – to Make the Reading of Newsletters Interesting in Current Terms, as it is Content and Not Forum that is the recurring draw, once any novelty has worn off, as with Facebunk – although a Catholic Network provided for Free might make some inroads in to the pagan e-world.
And let’s keep on using smoke signals because those telephones will never catch on. Seriously, Michael, is there even one part of your person that has a good word for anything? Every post you make is denigrating to someone or something, uses malicious made-up words and is always negative. Christianity is a religion of the positive. We are to be a happy people because we know Christ who saved us with his crucifixion. What you propose is of the past. When one billion people participate in something it is not a novelty, until something better comes along. That something use to take generations, then ten years, then two years until now a couple of days is a generation of change. We can’t go back, we must go forward.