Do not be afraid of new technologies! These rank “among the marvelous things” – inter mirifica – which God has placed at our disposal to discover, to use and to make known the truth, also the truth about our dignity and about our destiny as his children, heirs of his eternal Kingdom. (From the Vatican, 24 January 2005, the Feast of Saint Francis de Sales, Patron Saint of Journalists)
One dimension of the New Evangelization is to appropriately utilize the new means of communication available to our education ministry. Although I am a "fountain pen guy in a would of twitter," I think it is important for us to manage and appropriately utilize social media.
Principals in the Archdiocese of Denver Catholic Schools were recently provided a professional development session in the use of social media as a marketing, branding, and communication tool. Three schools--Blessed Sacrament, St. John the Evangelist, and At. Anthony--shared their best practices in the use of social media, providing principals with many good practices and ideas to utilize in their schools.
As a follow up to the development session and to assist our schools choosing to utilize social media, the Office of Catholic Schools is contracting with a resource person to conduct social media training and development to principals, pastors teachers, committees, vendors and other stakeholders as necessary to help schools achieve their goals.
Social Media--fad or revolution? It is neither, but well within the tradition of Catholic schools' engagement in prudent innovation.