Social+Networking+-+Examples

Assignment #4
===Examples of How Social Networking Can Be Used Effectively to Create Connections Among People of Faith ===

Expected time to complete: 30 minutes

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." Here's an example:
 * 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 dialog box that opens, click on the "External Link" tab.
 * Enter the URL of the article to which you are linking.
 * Click on "Add Link"
 * <span style="color: #f11e1e; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Be sure to SAVE your work!

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.25in;">// I found this great webinar on DC. My friend, Joyce, posts the most amazing resources! Take a look - it's a webinar //// about the changes in the Roman Missal. Claudia // <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.25in;">[]

I found this [|video] on DC. Entitled "Traditional Catholic Prayers," it combines music and Catholic imagery with traditional Catholic prayers. It is both beautiful and inspiring. Madeleine
 * __Post your example below__**

Lorraine: Hi all! I found this great link to an online retreat for Young Adults on Forgiveness: [] It is being offered by the Saint John’s School of Theology-Seminary, Youth in Theology and Ministry (YTM) School of Disciples. I found it through the Adult Faith Formation Professionals Group from Linkedin. This is definitely one way to reach out to online young adults and includes face-to-face gatherings. It is a five week online course that meets for an hour each week with additional reflection and prayer expected which is meant to explore the challenge of what it means to forgive in one's life. I think this is appropriate for the upcoming Lenten Season. I looked at it an it looks like a blog on topics of interest to youth. Thanks so much for sharing this link, and also for the reference of your connection with Linkedin. - Claudia From Paul: The first thing that comes to my mind is Richard Rohr's Center for Action and Contemplation (__[|http://www.cacradicalgrace.org]__). He is using both twitter (CAC@RadicalGrace) and Facebook to post great daily reflections that challenge complacency and promote a true gospel perspective. He emphasizes both contemplation, to deepen our awareness of God's presence, and action based on a consciousness developed from the insights that are a fruit of contemplation. I have been receiving his daily reflections through my inbox for many years but just a couple years back "friended" CAC on Facebook as well. In my opinion, he is a visionary who seemed to latch onto the potential of spreading the gospel through social media very early on. I love his contemporary spirituality and I think the presence of his organization and reflections in social media are an incredibly meaningful way to reach people on a daily basis. **Richard Rohr is one of my favorite authors and speakers, as well. //The Holy Longing// was life changing for me! Thank you for sharing this information about him. I will definitely check out his FB presence! - Claudia**

Joanna here. I want you to give you all the link to the Liturgical Press site: //Seeing the Word//. Among other things it has daily reflections and retreats using the - what I think is incredibly beautiful - art work of their just completed St. John's Bible. The //Seeing Lent// section sounds particularily apt for Lenten prayer. [] A friend from the Southwest Liturgical Conference, Timothy, had it posted on Facebook. He also posted sales information about another book published by Liturgical Press on the history and implications of the song of the Entrance Procession. I am wondering if such a topic is only of interest to us, as he put it, "liturgy nerds?" Anyway, praying with the illustrations of the St. John's Bible could be quite lovely. I hope you find it so as well.

Joanna, again. In checking out the possibilities through Digital Catechesis I found this article "5 Social Media Trends That Are Shaping Religion." [] It fits right into what we are learning and experiencing, and the author is a professor at my alma mater, Santa Clara University! BTW, nice site, Sr. Caroline.

Sheila: Sorry I'm answering this so late, but I overlooked it at the time. I found some good spirituality blogs (e.g. [|www.anamchara.com]) and some good You Tube videos that I shared with the Secular Franciscans whom I work with as a spiitual assistant. I also invited some Secular Franciscans to be m Friends on Facebook, so I can share with them that way as well as by E mail.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;">Part 2

<span style="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.

__Post your plan below__


 * Last year, I co-facilitated with two other women a 30-week JustFaith program in my parish, Immaculate Heart of Mary Cathedral. The process of moving through JustFaith helped participants become more aware of the plight of the poor and created a desire in them to find a way to serve the poor in our area. Our hope was that after the program finished, participants would remain connected, continue to grow in compassion, and to imagine concrete ways we could make a real difference in not only the parish, but also the diocese. Unfortunately, once the program ended, we lost our classroom and, eventually, the ability to continue to meet on a regular basis. This caused our good intentions to unravel. I am thinking that an ongoing Facebook group might have kept our group together. It could have been a place where we could meet asynchronously, receive regular news feeds on various issues, and continue to receive feedback on our ideas and help on proposed projects. Recently, our bishop asked parishes to brainstorm ideas that might help the diocese better serve the poor on the cheap (we don't have any money). I think creating a social justice Facebook group might be one thing we could do on the cheap to resurrect our group and look to the future. Madeleine**

Andy's Entry: I opened a group on the Shroud of Turin (http://digitalcatechesis.ning.com/group/shroud-of-turin) to disseminate information and find out if anyone there is interested in the subject. Being the webmaster for http://ShroudNM.com, that is an area of interest I have. I have not spent enough time in the ning to invite people to it because, well, I have a real life outside the eWorld with papers for the Deaconate and a 4-week class I am required to take at work that is quite similar to what you are doing here without the use of open social networking sites such as FB or Twitter.

Good for you, Andy, for all the good work you do and for allocating some of your time to developing your technology skills. I look forward to learning from you in this course! - Claudia

Lorraine: I really would like to create a blog that our PCLs would use to stay in touch with each other and use as a "Virtual Round-Table" I tried that about 5 years ago and no one used it. That is part of the reason I am taking this course, so that eventually I can teach it to our PCLs and they will be more inclined to connect in that manner and begin using the social media with their catechists as well. We are presently doing "Into the Fields" in each parish and the catechists are building community that can continue after the three years are complete if the have blogs they can go to. This is where I would like to begin. The explosion of popularity of social media in the last few years has got to mean something! It seems like a no-brainer that people would jump aboard with a chance to share their faith. You might want to take a look at some bloggers that have been extremely succesful - what was their approach, or their formula? Why does Rocco Palmo, for example, have over a half a million folowers to //Whispers in the Loggia//? - Claudia From Paul: I would like to develop my blog to include reflections on social justice, developing conscience, and music. These are areas that interest me very much and I think having a blog that reflects the integration of these parts of myself may be able to speak to some who are turned off by "churchy" stuff. I think one of the limitations we have to be careful of is boxing in our faith with only overtly religious dialogue. St Paul comments on how he was able to fashion his message to the diverse people he interacted with. I think our social media platform gives us a unique opportunity to continue the mission of Jesus' work in subtle ways that are non intrusive and non threatening. God loves and reaches people where they are at, and I don't see any reason why we can't do the same. I agree with you that the world needs Catholic evangelizers who can articulate faith in a way that ordinary, unchurched people can understand. Do you have a blog yet? If you do, be sure to share it with us on our DDBC Facebook page! - Claudia

My, Joanna's, dream plan would include: 1) Inviting (a) liturgical and music ministers and (b) RCIA team members from around the diocese to get on one of these sites or join me in a wiki so that we could share information and ideas just like we had to do for the first part of this assignment.tim 2) Creating a blog, and a link to whatever is chosen above, on the diocesan website for the same purpose. 3) Updating all of these at least weekly, probably on Wednesdays to coincide with the mailing of information out from the Pastoral Center to all of the parishes/clergy. 4) Posting all of the diocesan ministry training materials - which have to be created/updated as part of our Ministry Formation Program - and liturgy preparation forms - registration for Adult Confirmation and the Rite of Election, for example - on the diocesan website. 5) Creating and posting "how to videos" that go along with the training materials.

I think wikis are a great tool for brainstorming (your #1 point above). Sometimes in my committee work in the parish, the introverts just need more time to think through an issue before expressing an opinion. Having a place to post thoughts (brainstorm) really can help! Thanks for your creative ideas, Joanna. - Claudia

Sheila: Sorry to reply to this again so late, but the first time around I must have overlooked this assignment and was also having trouble finding the "Save" botton. My community college students are switching over to a new Learning Management System (Canvas Instructure) in May 2012, so then I can send them notifications, videos, PowerPoints, etc. via Facebook--something that was not possible with the former LMS they were using.

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