Vatican Goes YouTube – A Digital “95 Theses” Expected?
Reuters today announced that the Vatican is going YouTube, which could mean a number of different things.
Most likely though is that they’ll be getting their own official YouTube Channel and/or portal.
This is a pretty interesting move, but not all that surprising.
What I’m more interested is how “engaged” they are going to be when they jump in the pool:
Are they going to open comments? Are they going to allow video responses? How about ratings and reviews? Are they hiring some “community managers”?
Perhaps they won’t need any of the latter if they keep the doors closed, but I’d love to see what happens.
Perhaps a Digital 95 Theses revolt would occur…? As people pour into the channel and demand this and that and … who knows?
If anything, I’m hoping that they’ve done their research. History has proven that if the “old guard” doesn’t provide a voice for the masses things can get kinda ugly.
What do you think?
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21 Responses to “Vatican Goes YouTube – A Digital “95 Theses” Expected?”
Tech Tips for Catholics » Vatican Going YouTube?
[...] just posted a comment over at ChurchCrunch on an a post titled “Vatican Goes YouTube – A Digital “95 Theses” Expected?” The author brings up some good points. There are many Churches who are using YouTube. I think [...]
Tech Tips for Catholics » Vatican going YouTube?
[...] just posted a comment over at ChurchCrunch on a post titled “Vatican Goes YouTube – A Digital “95 Theses” Expected?” The author brings up some good points. Read the article and previous comments before you read my [...]
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I liken it to my grandparents getting into youtube. Seems like an old vibe trying to be hip with a slight chance of success and a huge change of it blowing up in their face.
I know a lot of churches are youtubing, but it seems like a much more personal level of interaction is possible.
If they don't allow interaction and negativity, they will get it somewhere else. Angry bloggers, start your engines.
haha. the engines have started…
Either way, it will be interesting to see how the Vatican uses Youtube. Will it be used simply for Papal updates or for catholic teachings and community? It's hard to imagine organization that resists change embracing it…but stranger things have happened.
haha. stranger things have happened. we'll see what the masses say. pun intended.
i think it's a fascinating move. the new wave of autonomous protestant churches creating "campuses" is nothing new in my opinion, but…at some level borrowing the Catholic model. Lead Pastor oversees the campuses and Campus pastors…like the Pope oversees all of the parishes and cardinals, priests, etc… Protestant multi-campuses have been using technology in ways that if the Catholic church would also use, could really change their organization.
Will Catholic parishes pipe in sermons from the Pope? Does this open up space for protestant multi-campus churches to have productive conversations with the Catholic Church?
Surely there are some organizational lessons Protestant multi-campus churches can learn from the Catholic Church…and vice versa. Surely there are some technological lessons the Catholic Church can learn from Protestant multi-campus churches.
I'm seeing a conference now…loswhit leading worship, groeschel and pope benedict co leading a keynote.
darn. that would be the hotness.
i'm sure there's some “tech-progressive” catholic churches out there.. right? i don't know of any though…
What? No Godtube?
Always a sign that the cutting edge has dulled for a particular topic/service when the very old mainline establishment takes it up. Time for something new.
haha. i wonder if godtube would rock that stuff…? i suppose, right?
They should. Can't let YouTube corner the Vatican.
Hilarity!! Great post.
entertaining. yes…!
There are many Churches who are using YouTube. I think you do bring up some really great points though. Should a Vatican channel allow comments, video responses, and the such? This is something that needs to be discussed prior to.
I think people tend to see the Catholic Church as "old fashion" or say that she needs to "get with the times." These same people don't understand, let alone respect liturgy. These same people want to live their lives according to the world's standards and the only way to rationalize it is to try and change the Church.
John Paul II spoke often of a “New Evangelization.” Should Christians use the tools of today to spread the Gospel message? Of course! Should the Church replace the liturgy with videos, skits, and the latest style of music? Most certainly NOT! This would be a cheapening of the mass. I would not expect non-liturgical Christians to understand this, nor am I blaming them for their ignorance.
G.K. Chesterton wrote that "the New Religions are suited to the new world; and this is their most damning defect." He writes, "The Catholic Church is the only thing which saves a man from the degrading slavery of being a child of his age… The New Religions are in many ways suited to the new conditions; but they are only suited to the new conditions… If the [Catholic] Faith has all the freshness of a new religion, it has all the richness of an old religion." Now even though Chesterton was a writer of the early 20th century — prior to the internet age — his words are quite relevant today. God Bless †
you know, some of us non-caths do appreciate liturgy. i actually never brought this up, but since you did, i'll address it. i appreciate it and love it just as much as you do. some of us are not as ignorant as you may believe (but some of us are, just like on your side too).
thanks!
The pope doesn't need digg, he has PickAFig! lol
you mean “pligg”? nice copycat.
I'll respond with a Dietrich Bonhoeffer quote that I speaks to CatholicTechTipsJosh's concerns. Bonhoeffer also is challenging "us" Protestants and what we think when we hear the word CHURCH.
"There is a word that, when a Catholic hears it, kindles all his feeling of love and bliss; that stirs all the depths of his religious sensibilities, from dread and awe of the Last Judgment to the sweetness of God's presence; and that certainly awakens in him the feeling of home; the feeling that only a child has in relation to its mother, made up of gratitude, reverence, and devoted love; the feeling that overcomes one when, after a long absence, one returns to one's home, the home of one's childhood.
And there is a word that to Protestants has the sound of something infinitely commonplace, more or less indifferent and superfluous, that does not make their heart beat faster; something with which a sense of boredom is so often associated, or which at any rate does not lend wings to our religious feelings – and yet our fate is sealed, if we are unable again to attach a new, or perhaps a very old, meaning to it. Woe to us if that word does not become important to us soon again, does not become important in our lives.
Yes, the word to which I am referring is 'Church,' the meaning of which we propose to look at today."
-from a sermon by a young Dietrich Bonhoeffer, July 1928
thanks for chiming in chris! great quote. bonhoeffer is the man.
I like what Javier said over at his blog, "While I want this to be a success, I’m afraid that the pool of dregs that YouTube seems to attract nowadays will simply make the Vatican’s pages a cesspool of profane comments, with a sprinkling of meager well wishes and half-witted responses."
This is why the Vatican should not allow comments or video responses. Sure some people will think that the Church is being oppressive, but these people already think this about the Church.
that's a good point josh. i think we all need to remember humility as we approach the use of technology and when we see others do it in ways that may not make sense or may not be the way that we would do it. thanks for chiming back in! love what you're doing over at catholictechtips!