Catholic Tech Talk

One of the things that bothers me nowadays is when I hear an announcement, or read one, that says “Visit our website for more information.”  That’s great, but where on the website?  In fact, have you ever asked the person who says it or wrote it where to go on the website?  In almost all [...]

The all-to-often mistake is to think of the print bulletin and the web things (i.e. website, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) as totally separate in your parish.  The truth is that they both serve much of the same purposes for communication.  They should compliment one another and always be “on the same page” (no pun intended – [...]

If you’ve ever talked to anyone about a website for your parish, you’ve probably heard the term ‘Search Engine Optimization’ or just SEO come up.  You may have even had people call you to tell you they can “get you on the front page of Google” . . . for a fee.  I am often [...]

Since Google+’s launch, I’ve been a big fan of it.  It’s often misunderstood as “just another social network” in my opinion, because it’s actually far more than that.  And it’s not at all a simple “apples to apples” comparison with Facebook.  Facebook definitely has benefits to opening up new communication avenues for parishes and the Church [...]

For those who has gotten involved in integrating tech within your parish, you probably know all too well that it can be easy to get overwhelmed and get distracted.  I know for one that I can tend to want to do it all . . . right away.  And my plans at times have been [...]

So you’re venturing into a new project at your parish, or you’re getting a bit lost in the tech stuff for your parish . . . what do you do?  The simple answer . . . ask another parish or ask another Catholic involved in tech for our unique environments.  We’re becoming an ever-growing sub-culture [...]

One of my favorite Catholic rituals is the candle lighting at the Easter Vigil.  A few years ago I witnessed this event in a somewhat large parish from a balcony.  The whole worship space was pitch black.  In comes the newly lit Pascal Candle down the main aisle.  Candles of those in the pews on [...]

I have really missed writing here.  A couple of projects, news of a coming grandchild, and just life in general has made it tough to find the time.  One of the projects I began working on is a new parish website for my parish.  I am not the greatest designer in the world and had [...]

I truly have become a big fan of social networks such as Facebook and Google+ for parishes.  These systems allow for our faith communities to become connected and a part of everyday lives like never before.  One of the things I love about them is event sharing and keeping photos of events for everyone to [...]

For years backups have always been a challenge.  For anyone else who has lost a hard drive or had a computer crash you know the importance of backing up your files and data.  The solution has often been a local external hard drive connected to the computer and or a local network.  This is ok [...]

It’s been about 9 months since Google+ has launched, and many of us have gotten a good idea of what it’s all about and how it can best  be used.   The biggest misconception I’ve found is the tendency to try and understand the service through a simple “apples to apples” comparison with Facebook.  The [...]

When it comes to plans to create parish websites or enter into online social media I almost always hear one response when the question is asked “Why are you doing that?”.  The response is mostly, “To evangelize.”  Then the conversation goes into mind-numbing conversations about search engines and rankings.  Don’t get me wrong, evangelizing and [...]

You’ve probably heard about the potential benefits for your parish.  You’ve read about it here.  You’ve heard me say it.  Even some Bishops are tweeting.  The Facebook thing looks great.  Google+ looks interesting.  So you and the Pastor decide to give it a go.  You set up all the accounts, do your customization, you tweet, you [...]

The new Facebook Timeline for Pages has a lot of great benefits for a much richer visitor experience.  One the things I like with the change especially is the more prominent “tabs” display at the top and some really good apps that have been coming out.  For example, as I was recently ramping up our [...]

The other day a friend of mine posted a link to an article where a Pinterest user had come to some point where she felt uncomfortable with using the service and violating copyrights.  The writer was a not only a photographer, but a lawyer.  After reading the article, my friend (who has been an artist [...]

The other morning I opened up my email to a friend letting me know that Facebook Pages were changing to the new Timeline layout.  I  immediately thought,  ”Darn you Facebook! We just got it tweaked to how we wanted it.  Our visitors are going to hate it.”  Yes, I was one of those that was [...]

So you’ve taken the time to set up your parish Facebook Page.  You’ve got some “likes” and are posting away.  It’s been fun and exciting, and now you might be wondering what the “pay offs” are and how to actually gauge the performance.  I was thinking this myself the other night.  I’ve been very pleased with [...]

When I initially came across QR Codes (Quick Response Codes) I started seeing a lot of great possibilities for our parishes  (Click here to see my previous post explaining QR Codes and how you can use them in parishes today).  Lately there has been a slew of QR Code “bashing” and many saying they “won’t ever [...]