Original scientific paper
New media and its role in evangelization and in the life of parish communities – Application in parishes of the Archdiocese of Zagreb
Božo Skoko
orcid.org/0000-0002-4028-7128
Valentina Gusić
Abstract
This article is analyzing the role and importance of new media in the life of the Church focusing on the possibilities that new media offer to evangelization. The Holy See encourages the use of new media as evangelization tool for years. In this context, this article analyses qualitative and quantitative level of usage of new media in the parishes of the Archdiocese of Zagreb. Applying the scientific method of content analysis, the authors reveal that 40% of parishes in the Archdiocese of Zagreb have their own website. However, majority of websites are not being updated regularly, and 26% of websites don’t include any type of news – neither parish news, nor archdiocesan news. The possibility of interaction with the community, as one of the greatest advantages of digital communication, is not recognized – 65% of websites do not offer any kind of interaction tool, and almost 80% of all parishes in the Archdiocese of Zagreb don’t have an account on the most popular social network site – Facebook. While majority of websites offer basic parish information, the presence of evangelization and formation content is minimum. The authors conclude that the usage of the immense possibilities that new media offer to evangelization is insufficient and encourage intensifying proactivity in the digital world so Church could follow modern communication trends and social habits.
Keywords
new media; internet; parishes; Archdiocese of Zagreb; Public relations; Church; evangelization
Hrčak ID:
106392
URI
Publication date:
19.7.2013.
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