Mobile+Devices+and+Ministry+-+Is+My+Parish+Ready?

Assignment #1 Mobile Devices and Ministry - Is My Parish Ready?

Expected time to complete assignment: 10 minutes

Is my parish ready to embrace and use these tools in learning environments or ministry? Why or Why not?

Please respond with the following information - name, parish, city, state and your response.

Name: Susan St. Lucy Parish, Anytown, MO
 * EXAMPLE: **

Response: As a parish we are just beginning to realize that this mobile technology is more available to us. We have a youth minister that really understands and uses technology with our youth ministry group. Our RCIA coordinator knows about Poll Everywhere, and is using this service which allows a respondent to use a cell phone in polls. But overall, we are still trying to figure out what to do. A majority of our ministers and catechists are hesitant to use technology in their teaching or ministry. - Diane Clark Deaf and Blind Ministry, St. Augustine, Fl.

As a ministry I know we are ready to start using these tools. In the Deaf culture they already use their sidekicks to communicate and I know I can introduce them to expand on their faith and increase their vision. At their school they are very familiar with the latest technology so it is really up to me to join their world.

Ruth Appel, St. Ignatius, Tarpon Springs FL Yes, our parish is already embracing all types of technology. Our Pastor is a techno-geek along with my husband who is the Business Manager. They have installed projection screens in the church and project song lyrics during the Lifeteen Mass. This has done away with the song sheets and expense of copying them. (All licensing approved, of course!) The pastor also has a Facebook presence and often checks in with the young people who have gone away to college. We could probably do a better job at trying to connect with older groups.

Mary Miller St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, New Port Richey, Fl I think parts of the parish are ready and overall more people will be receptive than not, we just have to show them the possibilities in a well thought out and deliberate manner. I know in previous assignments I've referred to our parish installing a projection system for use during all parish liturgies - our demographics are more older than younger, yet we were amazed at the positive response on the part of the parishioners - they had it all paid for within months! So, people can change, especially if they can see the benefits and we're not just changing for the sake of change. Barbara Cathedral Parish, St. Augustine, Florida

Response: As a parish I would say no I do not think as a whole that we are ready for the digital world. I think some ministries do a better job than others to use technology. I try to model technology when I teach a class, but I am limited with the amount of technology that is available. I think for us to become better in the digital world we would need to get a grant for more equipment.

Susan A. St. Joseph, St. Petersburg, FL Response: I agree with Barbara - as a parish I would also say no. St. Joseph is a small parish; as coordinator of liturgical ministries, I have difficulty getting responses via e-mail for scheduling (e.g. I don't look at my e-mail often, I don't have e-mail). Certain ministries would be more receptive to use of technology because they (children) are familiar with or currently use. I think parishioners would be open to the inclusion of technology provided it was part of a presentation or session but may not be as willing to participate on their own outside the classroom.

Ann Ferguson St. Peter the Apostle Parish, Naples, FL

We are just beginning to look into this. We have many families who don’t have computers or use internet at home but who always seem to have cell phones. After seeing the statistics of Hispanic children who have cell phones, I believe last night’s presentation stated 88%, I was encouraged. I can think of several ways we can incorporate mobile technology especially with our older students that will bring more excitement into their projects. As I can see it, we’ll need to do a quick survey to id the capabilities of each family, educate both parents and catechists to get them on board. I do think we will be able to implement the technology at some level this year.

Ginny Nolan St. Peter the Apostle Church/Naples, FL I work with Ann Ferguson (above). She is in Faith Formation and I coordinate ministries and our website and social media. I set up our FB page, helped to redevelop our website and brought the idea of the TV screens in the narthex of our church where we share parish happenings, etc. Not bragging, just showing that we are on our way with the full support of our pastor. I am in the process of setting up a tech team (need a good name) to cover all areas of reaching out through Web 2.0 technology. So excited about it! Is my parish ready? I don’t know, but because of all Ann and I have learned here, ready or not – here we come!!

Janet Mitchell Saint William Parish, Naples, Fl Our parishis not using mobile technology as well as it could. I am hoping with what I am learning it will encourage others to take a change with technology. We do send out our schedules via email and also by our wiki pages but getting people used to them is going to be a challenge. Sherry Foecking Sacred Heart Parish Tampa Fl Our Pastor is very technically adept and has a beautiful and up to date website for Sacred Heart, but I don't think that mobile technology has gotten in to the various ministries. I am sure most of them have email communication, but I doubt that even the ministries for the younger parishioners use mobile devices as a part of their program. I know the older ministries do not use and this I hope to rectify by taking this class. I can see so much more communication possibilities. Loved the facts in those videos. Sacred Heart School got I pads for the primary students and a new Mac lab for the older students last year. Unfortunately, the school shut down in May. What might have been!

Ruth E Manlandro Cathedral Parish of St Augustine, FL I would love to say yes but in reality no my parish is not ready. We have people that don't use technology or think that email and Document processing is using technology. As a result there is not technology available for use in Ministries. Some of the classrooms don't have technology available for use. My parish needs to realize that Technology is not just for the school but for other ministries as well.

Rachele Deering St Mark the Evangelist, Tampa Fl Since coming into this parish I've seen many changes revolving the internet enviornment. I was amazed when it started joining facebook, twitter and having memebers give their imput and share ideas. Yes, this class and learning about the additional tools can only bring the chuch in the direction of reaching out to more parishioners and involving the parents and students in sharing and bring them together in their faith.

Dale Brown St. Peter Claver Parish, Tampa My parish is not ready. We have only just recently gotten wireless connectivity in our parish hall, and that information was guarded like the Hope Diamond. For my part, I continue to use technology and encourage others to do so as well. So I remain hopeful. I will leave it at that, because if I go on I will be venting.

Amy Acker Mobley St. Thomas Aquinas New Port Richey, Fl Our Parish is making strides and the staff seem to be embracing the ideas more. We have been using most of this already with our teens but it has given me ideas to use with the adult population. Our Pastor is a total tech geek so that was not a hard sell so now we just need to get the people in the pews. I like that we will be reaching more people out in the world who don't grace our pews.

Mary Jane Spirk St William, Naples, FL Our staff is very divided on their use of technology. We have one staff member who refuses to touch the computer and on the other end is classmate Janet Mitchell who is unafraid of surging forward and trying anything and everything. Our pastor is very open to using diferent means of communicating and encouraged us to take this class to explore new avenues of reaching our parish family. It will be up to us to USE what we have learned and encourage and teach others to do the same.

Kathleen Kirkpatrick Holy Family Catholic Church, St Petersburg, Florida I feel that my parish is ready. I belong to several ministries and each one is excited about using technology. Claudia McIvor is from Holy Family and she has done a marvelous job promoting technology in our parish. I attended a class at our parish on digital technology and I was pleasantly suprised how many people attended. When I sent my Animoto video to the director of the Twinning minstry who is on vacation she was very impressed and asked me to teach her how to use this technology when she returns. Our parish is very fortunate because our pastor, Fr. John Tapp, encourages technology, In fact, I just heard that new youth minister hired has a background in technology.

Karen Heaphy Espiritu Santo Catholic Church Our parish has wifi in the Church, parish office, and community center. We use the phone in limited fashion, for example - if we need to contact the priest for sick call visit we send the request via email and they can pick up anywhere. If we send out a staff email, staff, there are responses from a person's iphone. But as far as texting goes, don't see that yet. In regards to ministry, I don't see this as a tool with the older population at this time, but of course the youth use their phone. Summing it up, as parish wide, no, but there are "pockets" of use.

Kevin Hansut St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church, Trinity, Fl Fortunately our Parish is open and ready to embrace new technolgy in our ministries. Many of our parishioners are learning from their children and grandchildren. With Florida being largely a transient population tools such as skpe are used by families to communicate over many miles. I find it easier to communicate with our younger familes using facebook and twitter rather than e-mails. Our students follow the norms with regard to texting. I received a mailer today from a new day care featuring Smartboards for 2 year olds. I can't imagine not integrating technolgy into our ptograms. Our new bulding will be 100 % wi-fi and many of our parishioners will bring tablets to meetings.

Sybil J. Steuart I agree with Mary Jane. some of my fellow staff members welcome and use new technologywhile others are refusing to move ahead. It is up to us to encourage and teach the usefulness of new technology to the others and to help our parishes move forward. Thanksfully my pastor is young and will support this as much as he can.

Lori Crawford DRE Our Lady of Light, Ft Myers, FL I don't know the first thing about mobile ministry except what rubs off on me from watching others. I do not have this kind of tool for myself (i carry a dinosaur that only mostly works) and am hesitant to upgrade to one with data because of the extra monthly cost. I imagine there are other users like me out there, so I focus on the media that is more accessible to everyone. BUT I am fully willing to make live more "app-cessible" to my parishioners via mobile ministry; perhaps I'll learn something from this module. :)

Ana L. Munoz St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church, Tampa, FL Yes, I do believe we are ready! I have witness how the parish is doing a great effort trying to catch up to technology. We have a nice group of volunteers putting their time and talents to work by helping the parish to maintain its on-line presence and to integrate more web 2.0 tools, which requires a lot of time. As a parish, we are trying hard to keep updated in terms of technology and we invite others to get involved. We are getting there ...

Sue Sharlow Transfiguration-St. Pete The videos in this section are eye openers. It's just crazy how far behind we are. While I would say that Transfig. is seriously technologically challenged, I feel strongly that having learned what we have in this course, there is a whole lot we can do, with the little we have, and I plan to get the ball rolling this school year.

Kelli Bonner St. Cecilia, Fort Myers, FL We all have our strenghts, right? Some of us are ready, some not. As far as the staff is concerned, more have taken the plunge than not. Most all of us have our own smart phones and/or tablets and are learning how to use them as tools. A few of these are VERY recent acquisitions, so we help each other with our new hardware. As for the parish, not so much. For example: One member of a ministry team suggested showing videos for catechesis. The others were apparently too "chicken" to disagree, thus nodded politely and shared their apprehension later. Video is too high-tech? Really? Our Facebook page is active, but the traffic is pretty low, compared to the size of the parish. Not to worry, though. First up, reminders by text...Devotions by text!! (How I will do that, I'm uncertain, but I'm looking! Not sure how to use mailbliss with getting everyone to sign up, but I digress.) The possibilities are endless.

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