The CatholicTechTalk website has a cautionary article underlining the importance of balance in the use of social media.

“Update your website!” “Create a Facebook page!” “Post videos online!” “Engage your members during Mass!” Amid the commotion surrounding New Media, we hear from our Holy Father this year’s World Communications Day message: “Silence is an integral element of communication; in its absence, words rich in content cannot exist.” Finally, a refreshing reminder to take a step back and appreciate the value in silent contemplation before we speak out loud or post content online.

A message I keep hearing at Catholic technology conferences goes something like this: “You need to have a great website with social media integration because younger generations grew up with this technology and its second nature to them. This is how they communicate.” (And then they throw in an arbitrary fact about teenagers and smart phone usage.) Basically, what this is telling churches is that younger generations will not be interested in their faith unless they can somehow participate with the church online. And I don’t believe this to be entirely true. Facebook, for example, is old news to my generation. (20-25 year olds)

A message I’m not hearing at these conferences reflects what the Pope is telling us, “Let’s spend some time in prayer and then discuss what kind of content will remind people about the sacramental importance of Holy Eucharist. What messaging can we post on our sites that will invite people to come celebrate with us?” Sure you can post videos and podcasts of last week’s homily, but does that draw people in to the sacrament? If you give your visitors too much content to look at online, they may feel like there’s no reason to show up on Sunday.

A few weeks ago there was a post on CTT about a parish that made some conscious efforts to make Mass more “engaging.” The thought being, this is where technology is taking us. If churches continue with traditional forms of communication, Catholics will leave the church in droves because they find it “boring.” On one hand, I love when priests are accessible and open to conversation. On the other hand, I’ve seen priests conforming to today’s overly-engaged society by sitting with the congregation rather than near the altar, and allowing Eucharistic Ministers to overstep their bounds and “help out” more than they should during the consecration. What’s the problem?

The illusion here is that the priest is “just one of us,” but which one of us could walk up to the altar and take his place? The Catholic faith is extremely engaging as is—the altar and tabernacle are in plain view, and we all surround one, participatory and communal table. Technology is changing our world, and the church can’t ignore that. Then again, we can’t downplay the sacrament of Holy Orders just so parishioners “feel less left out.” If your members seem bored during Mass, maybe it’s time to simply ask them why they feel that way.

Pope Benedict also tells us, “Learning to communicate is learning to listen and contemplate as well as speak.” Instead of pushing out blog posts and tweets just for the sake of pushing out content, let’s listen to our communities first, and then put together a strategic plan to appropriately speak to them in the digital realm. If they’re looking for place to talk about last week’s homily or an upcoming election, let’s give them a safe environment online to facilitate that conversation. There are various private online solutions, as well as public.

It’s absolutely true that your parish should be open to where the Internet is taking us. But I think we need to find a better balance when integrating technology into our faith communities, and I love that the Pope is reminding us to appreciate silence in a world full of meaningless banter. If we conform to technology trends too much, I think we start to lose sight of why we should be evangelizing online in the first place. There may be over 800 million users on Facebook, but there are 1.1 billion Catholics. We’re already a part of the most engaged social network in the world.

The author, Clare Zajicek, is the Interactive Media Marketing Specialist for Liturgical Publications, where she specializes in creating marketing campaigns and materials to help parishes engage parishioners and build their communities online. She lives in Sussex, Wisconsin, and is a published poet in Relief: A Christian Literary Expression.

View all posts by Clare Zajicek →

Frederic never visited New South Wales, Australia. But his spirit has definitely taken root there.

Vincent wrote long before Frederic, “The community is not now what it once was nor is it what it will be.”

Ray Reynolds, President, NSW Provisional Board, introduces a new Strategic Planning (pdf) process to ensure the Frederic’s spirit continues to flourish.

He first summarizes the amazing accomplishments during its 131 year history in New South Wales.

“The St. Vincent de Paul Society (Vinnies) has been established in NSW for 131 years. In this time, the Society has worked to meet the needs of the poor and marginalised in our communities, and has adapted to meet new challenges in ensuring that someone advocatesfor those who are voiceless or powerless.

In NSW we have 23,922 dedicated people consisting of 8,801 members and 15,121 volunteers endeavouring to meet the needs of those people in need. In the last financial year, we assisted 682,029 people through 202,344 home visitations, 15,134 visitations to hospitals, prisons, nursing homes, and through our Special Works. We spent over $58 million in accomplishing this crucial work.

This large organisation is co-ordinated by 418 conferences, 215 Youth & Young Adult Conferences, 59 Regional Councils, 10 Diocesan Central Councils and the NSW State Council.

We have 103 Special Works catering for the disadvantaged, disabled and homeless. Vinnies also operate 253 Centres which not only help fund these works through the sale of clothes and other goods, but also provide direct assistance to those struggling to make ends meet.

All of these activities are supported by a number employees throughout the state.

He states what  is obvious from the above, that Vinnies is a significant and important entity.

But he continues to the challenges.

With the advent of the Australian Charities and Not for Profits Commission (ACNC) in July this year, all charities will come under closer scrutiny by the Federal Government. The main aim of this  Commission is to improve public trust and confidence in the sector, through promoting good governance, accountability and transparency.

To meet these requirements, the NSW State Council has seen the need to incorporate as a company limited by guarantee. It is also imperative that we have a map for the future. This will be accomplished by developing a Strategic Plan that will identify future goals and the resources needed to accomplish them. Our Rule states, “The Society constantly strives for renewal, adapting to changing world conditions. It seeks to be ever aware of the changes that occur in human society and the new types of poverty that may be identified or anticipated. It gives priority to the poorest of the poor and to those most rejected by the society”. This statement is a huge challenge to all of us in the Society to stop and take a look at what we are doing in order to meet the current needs of the poor.

He continues… “Our last plan was issued in 1994 and titled “Vision 2000”. Seventeen years later, it is now time to reassess the situation.

One

of the key ingredients in any Strategic Plan is to ensure sufficient resources are available to maintain existing services and cover any new initiatives to be undertaken. The majority of our current Members are in the 61 to 80+ years of age group with a median age of 68.57 years. It is o

bvious that if this trend continues, our total Member numbers will dwindle over the next ten years. The Society is making inroads with young children and young adults through its Mini Vinnies programs in primary schools across the state and in secondary schools, where there are
some excellent people involved in Youth Conferences undertaking fundraising and other initiatives. Universities too, see a relatively large number of people helping the Society carry out its various activities.

However, people in the 25 to 55 years age group are very scarce in the Society. In years past, this was the strongest cohort within Vinnies. There are a multitude of reasons for the downturn in this age group; a problem also shared by the Church. Our challenge then is,  ‘How can we revitalise ourselves sufficiently to encourage new members in this age group to join the Society?’

Extended periods of participation in education and increased involvement, especially of women, in paid employment, have contributed to shaping family relationships and circumstances, which today differ substantially from the patterns of the 20th century. The average family size has become smaller and many women now become mothers much later than in previous generations. Many children also live with one parent. Current trends indicate that one in three marriages will end in divorce and just under half of these divorces occur among couples with children under 18 years of age. This means that each year, around 50,000 children experience the divorce of their parents. This can impact on youthIn answering this question, we must firstly consider the changing environment in which the Society now functions, the challenges and opportunities for our organisation, as well as our strengths in order to mark a clear way forward.

homelessness and the need more youth services.

Vinnies also now moves in a much more competitive environment, with over 600,000 charities operating within Australia. Vinnies is providing services in a diverse range of areas which means that it is competing with a number of other charities for funding, donations, members and volunteers.

Some of the challenges we face is the recruitment of new members and volunteers in order to address long term sustainability, meeting the increasing demands of government in order to secure funding, and adapting our service provision to meet the changing family relationships and the new face of the poor and disadvantaged. These are just a few of the challenges we face, and there are many more that we will have to consider.

What strengths and opportunities are there?

The Society has many strengths such as a strong commitment to our faith and helping people in need, a dedicated group of members, volunteers and support staff, and a strong income source from our Vinnies Centres, which means that we are not as heavily reliant on government funding or donations as other charities.

Vinnies also has some opportunities including using our asset portfolio to invest in improving existing services and delivering new services. With an increased demand on our services, we also have a great opportunity to build stronger relationships with businesses and other charities.

The planning process

In order to establish a Strategic Plan, we have engaged consultants called Noetic Solutions. They have an excellent track record in assisting organisations in preparing Strategic Plans. The NSW Provisional Board has appointed a Strategic Planning Committee to work with Noetic.

It is important for any Strategic Plan, to have ownership. Experience has shown that to achieve this ownership, the genesis of the plan should begin at the grass roots.

Noetic will soon begin consultations with the membership, volunteers, staff, clients, government representatives, the church, benefactors, sponsors and community sector partners. These consultations will gather a broad range of information about Vinnies including but not limited to what we are doing now, what we should be doing and the general perception of Vinnies. These consultations will provide the research and evidence base for the development of a Strategic Plan which will set out the future direction of the Society.

It will ensure that we have a strong understanding of where the Society fits into the external
environment and what its major internal drivers are before developing a future strategic
direction.

It will ensure that the Strategic Plan is not just a collection of good ideas but a plan that
provides clear strategic direction and objectives, and most importantly tangible outcomes.

Ray Reynolds
President, NSW Provisional Board

Sr. Ellen Lacy, DC writes.. On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This is a federal statute that provides for comprehensive health insurance reforms that will unfold in the next 4 years. Most deadlines for implementation of benefits are slated for 2014. The law was designed to meet the needs of the 30 million presently underinsured or uninsured citizens.

Specifically, the law

• reforms the most negative parts of the private health insurance industry;
• corrects numerous deficits in public health insurance programs;
• extends healthcare for young adults;
• ensures continued care for children regardless of long term or prior illnesses;
• balances the national medical spending against anticipated Medicare spending;
• gives broad choices to healthcare insurance consumers;
• mandates individual coverage for all Americans by 2014.

Finally, and presently the cause of much public strife, the ACA requires all employers, who choose to provide insurance for their employees, to provide insurance that covers a mandated minimum list of essential services. Under the ACA, Congress delegated the identification of the specific services to be included in the list of mandated coverage to Kathleen Sebellius and the Department of Health and Human Services.

On January 20, 2012, Kathleen Sebellius, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, announced that the insurance plans provided for women by most employers must cover the cost of all FDA approved contraceptive devices with no co-pay. This includes coverage for the IUD, sterilization procedures and ella, “the morning after pill”. Churches and other places of worship would be exempt from having to cover contraception for their employees if they morally object to the practice. However, all other organizations will have to comply with the new requirement by August 2013, even if they are religiously affiliated. While the right of conscience afforded the direct care providers remains intact, the right of conscience of the sponsors of religiously affiliated organizations is categorically denied.

Pursuant to the ACA and the DHHS’ Final Rule, no healthcare institution is required to offer any medical procedures that they have previously refused to do. No form of surgical abortion must be provided or insured. That is not the concern here.
The issue is solely a right of conscience violation because it pertains to mandated insurance coverage that violates the conscience of those being forced to pay for the insurance. To bring other issues into play merely dilutes the valid argument. The “right to choose” should include the right to say no to objectionable practices. Otherwise, it is not a matter of choice.

Sr. Carol Keehan and NETWORK have strenuously called upon the Administration to reconsider this rule and its implications. We have not heard of any meetings.

The President stated at the dedication ceremony of the new statue of Martin Luther King that, “Progress did not happen with oratory alone”. He called upon the nation to promote further progress with action. In this, he was correct.
Our responsibility to the poor includes deliver y of service in a moral, life giving manner. The conversation at the water fountain or the grocery store will not cause change. No, progress will not happen with oratory alone. Own it. Everyone needs to tell /write President Obama and Kathleen Sebellius that we oppose this. I implore all readers to write the President, The Secretary of DHHS as well as your legislators. Write of your opposition to your local newspapers. Get your college kids to light up the internet and e-blast the White House with their objections to this regulation.

Ask the DHHS to engage in an open discourse regarding the seemingly unanticipated consequences of this deprivation of the right of conscience of religious persons who own, operate and/or sponsor institutions of higher education, healthcare and social work.

This is not about abortion – it is about eviscerating our right to conscience. It is a slippery slope – today we pay for abortifacients and sterilizations, tomorrow we may pay for other procedures that are a little further down this bad path. The ACA is a fabulous piece of legislation for the poor …..until it crosses this line.

The line in the sand must be drawn here and now.

Sr. Ellen, DC works with Network which provides further resources.

Awarded the French Legion of Honor Medal, mysteriously still has fresh flowers put on her grave in Paris, stood at the barricades ministering and calling for peace in time of war, mentor to a group of young collegians who work continues today in almost every country in the world… just some of the things that can be said about Sister Rosalie. VinFormationdraws attention to some of the resources that tell her story in greater detail.

For further reading, we recommend the beautifully written biography
Sister Rosalie Rendu: A Daughter of Charity On Fire with Love for the Poor by Louise Sullivan, D.C.

In particular, read the following chapters on two key aspects of Bl. Rosalie’s service of the poor of the Mouffetard District of Paris:

• Education (Download PDF format, 14 pages)
• Care of the Sick Poor in Their Homes (Download PDF format, 17 pages)

The various branches of the Vincentian Family are deeply involved with hospitals, universities and service organizations.

According to the website of the United States Catholic Bishops “The HHS has issued a rule forcing nearly all private health plans to include coverage for all FDA-approved prescription contraceptive drugs and devices, as well as surgical sterilization. These are listed among “preventive services for women” that all health plans will have to cover without co-pays or other cost-sharing — regardless of whether the insurer, the employer or other plan sponsor, or even the woman herself objects to such coverage.”

“The exemption provided for “religious employers” is so narrow that it fails to cover the vast majority of faith-based organizations, including Catholic hospitals, universities, and service organizations that help millions every year. Ironically, not even Jesus & his disciples would have qualified.”

The US Catholic Bishops have taken a very strong stand and set up a section of their website devoted to its response.

The Catholic Health Association has issued a statement which has been reprinted in America Magazine.

The Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU) 

President of the University of Notre Dame

A wide range of non-Catholic groups have spoken out. Among them

The Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America (formerly known as the Episcopal Assembly of North and Central America)

Sixty leaders of faith-based organizations or who work with faith-based organizations representing more than 40 non-Catholic religious organizations including Protestant-affiliated colleges, National Association of Evangelicals, Focus on the Family, Assemblies of God, Northwest Nazarene University, and Eastern Mennonite University.

FAMVIN was unavailable for the past couple of days due to a grave error on the part of the techie who is supposed to keep this site up and running like a clock.

In an effort to speed up our response time, compression was enabled. The theory was that this would make pages load faster and more efficiently when you came to view the site. The reality was that the pages didn’t even open in the browser. The compression setting has now been disabled, and it seems that the website is now working as it should be.

It’s that law of unintended consequences…

Apologies to those of you who encountered problems. I broke one of my own rules: never make changes, no matter how great the idea seems, if I (the technical person) will be unavailable to fix things for a couple of days.

Thanks to those who communicated with us and helped to uncover the nature of the problem so that it could be corrected.

The Spanish language site Somos has posted an article “Elizabeth Seton’s way of loving” which was originally found on the site of the New York Sisters of Charity. Much has been written and said about the many deep relationships that St. Elizabeth Seton had with family, husband, children, and dear friends. Her letters are filled with her affection for them.

The Spanish language site Somos has published the English-language biography Life of the Very Rev. Felix De Andreis, C.M., first Superior of the Congregation of the Mission in the United States, and Vicar General of Upper Louisiana. The biography was written by Joseph Rosati, C.M. (1789-1843). Pioneer American Bishop

Introduction • Chapter 01 • Chapter 02 •

See also the Vincentian Encyclopedia biography of Felix de ANdreis, CM

Felix DeAndreis, C.M., and Life on the American Frontier 1816-1820

Frontier Missionary: Felix De Andreis, 1778-1820: Correspondence and Historical Writings

The Spanish site Somos has posted a 1958  biography “The Brave Never Die: A Story of Frederick Ozanam” by Brother Roberto (Muller), C.S.C.

Chapter 1 • Chapter 2 • Chapter 3 • Chapter 4 • Chapter 5 • Chapter 6 •