According to a lecture by Dr. Heidi Campbell at the University of Perugia, the Catholic Church is becoming more widely accepting of media and Internet use through the introduction of religious digital creatives, or “content producers and entrepreneurs whose media work grant them unique status and influence within their religious communities” (Campbell, 2019). There are several different categories of said RDCs, and in this blog, they will be explored as well as compared to contemporary media disseminated through the Catholic religion.
In the arena of RDCs, there are three main categories that will be discussed: digital entrepreneurs, digital spokespersons, and digital strategists. These can be described as tech pioneers, spokesperson-activists, and reformer critics, respectively. An example of a tech pioneer can be seen through fields such as web developers and blogger/theologians who share their “digital gifts with the community… living as unintentional authorities” in the media arena (Campbell, 2019). As for spokespersons, webmasters and channels such as the Vatican media display the digital voice that puts “the best Church’s face forward… and focus on making traditional messages and beliefs of the church clear, simple, and public-friendly” (Campbell, 2019). Finally, digital strategists can be seen in media such as blogging nuns and media-driven missions. These include media prosumers who both consume and produce media for the Catholic Church, and connect Online-Offline through a hybrid authority (Campbell, 2019). It is this RDC, digital strategists, that will now be explored in a tangible setting: a nun’s blog.
An example of this church-centered media can be found in the site “Our Franciscan Fiat,” a blog run exclusively by the Franciscan Sisters of Dilligen. On this blog, Sr. Christina Marie Neumann, OSF, shares “on a day to day basis what it means to be a Franciscan nun” and how to lead her best Catholic life (Marie Neumann, n.d., p. 7). This blog is an obvious true-life example of a digital strategist. Says Sr. Julie Vieira, co-founder of A Nun’s Life Ministry, “By sharing our life online, we are opening what it means to pursue a spiritual vocation for the Church, its integrating and bridging ministry in this Internet era” (Campbell, 2019). By sharing her life and spiritual journey with the world, Sister Christina Marie Neumann exemplifies the role of a digital strategists, allowing those on the outside to hear ministry in an ordinary and typical setting.
The Catholic Church has pioneered creators, prosumers, and curators who had little-to-no authority and through the Internet, gave them a platform on which to share their messages to the general public. In this way, the positive relationship between the Catholic Church and media can be seen.
Campbell, Heidi. (2019). Catholic Digital Creatives as Emerging Religious Authorities in Digital Culture [PowerPoint Slides]. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
Marie Neumann, C. (n.d.). About Our Franciscan Fiat [Web blog post]. Retrieved April 19, 2019, from https://ourfranciscanfiat.wordpress.com/about/
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