"Are we still a Church capable of warming hearts? A Church capable of leading people back to Jerusalem? Of bringing them home?" - Pope Francis, Meeting with the Bishops of Brazil, 28 July 2013. Pope Francis, like his predecessors Benedict XVI and John Paul II, is calling for Catholics to embrace the new evangelization. But there has been ongoing confusion about who is responsible, what it really means and what it looks like in practical application. How can we respond to the Holy Father's call, creating evangelization opportunities that help bring people back to the Church? By transforming Catholics into digital missionaries - ready and able to take the joy and warmth of the Gospel online via social media to infrequent, inactive, or ex-Catholics around the corner or across the globe. Consider this: 1. Nearly every "lost" Catholic in the U.S. is most likely connected with at least one engaged Catholic - or is one "retweet" or "like" away from them 2. On the whole, Catholics have not been taught to see social media as a way to live out their faith 3. Motivating parishes to put a priority on evangelization has been a challenge 4. Catholics are more likely to be comfortable as digital missionaries than to participate in other forms of evangelization 5. Parishes can offer "digital missionary training" to parishioners - who would welcome it! In Transforming Parish Communications: Growing the Church Through New Media, you'll discover: How to embrace the Church's vision of evangelization in new media How entire parishes can become hubs of digital evangelization - and how to overcome obstacles Specific strategies for implementation How to create a consistent digital identity online Best practices for parish websites The nuts and bolts of Facebook, Twitter, email, blogging and more Consider this book your entry into an important - and urgent - call to each of us as Catholics. To bring the warmth of the Gospel to the "lost" and bring them back to the Church.
