Informatologia, Vol. 46 No. 3, 2013.
Preliminary communication
THE USE OF NEW MEDIA IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
Imrich Gazda
; Department of Journalism, Faculty of Arts and Letters, The Catholic University in Ružomberok, Ružomberok, Slovakia
Albert Kulla
; Department of Journalism, Faculty of Arts and Letters, The Catholic University in Ružomberok, Ružomberok, Slovakia
Abstract
A driving engine these days is not manual work, steam power or electricity, but information. Social and economic life is especially based on formation, searching for and classification of information. New information and communication technologies enable a man to get it everytime, everywhere and via the simplest way, regardless whether he or she is at work or relaxing. Web pages, social networks, QR and AR codes help companies to target all potential customers and to persuade them of their need of offered products and services. This description may be applied not only to financial markets, but also to „market of religions“. One of the results of religious pluralism together with secularism is a wide range of spiritual offers and religiously clear societies are on the decrease. Particular religious societies active within information society must actively try to keep old and gain new “customers“. Besides that, the instruction to spread religion, termed in Christian context as evangelisation is a constitutional element of particular religions and, as a rule, it comes directly from their founders. In our paper we would like to describe activities of the Catholic Church in use of new media. Only recently pope’s twitter account has been covered by media worldwide. Together with efforts of Vatican to keep abreast of the times, we will pay our attention to similar activities of lower levels (diocesan, monastic or parish ones) and we will mention several examples from Slovakia and we will not avoid the theological concept of “evangelisation of the digital continent“.
Keywords
New media; Catholic church; digital content; social media
Hrčak ID:
109176
URI
Publication date:
28.9.2013.
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