Archbishop Timothy Dolan making big push for Twitter, other social media during Rome trip
'We know that the Church has lost some of its pizzazz'
By Joanna Molloy / NEW YORK DAILY NEWSFriday, February 17, 2012
Debbie Egan-Chin/New York Daily News
Archbishop Timothy Dolan takes forkful of ziti from his sister Debbie Williams’ plate at Cecilia Metella restaurant in Rome with his pilgrims. Dolan will be elevated to cardinal by Pope Benedict on Saturday.
ROME — Archbishop Timothy Dolan is giving the Pope advice on how to make the Catholic Church more exciting — and he thinks it can be done in 140 characters or less.
On the eve of a big speech to the pontiff and College of Cardinals, Dolan said Twitter and other social media may be the tools to bring the lapsed back into the fold.
“We know that the Church has lost some of its pizzazz,” he told the Daily News during his whirlwind week in Rome before Saturday’s ceremony to make him a cardinal.
“We have to refresh and rekindle that faith.”
Pope Benedict chose Dolan to give a keynote address on “the new evangelism” — a blueprint for expanding the ranks of the world’s 1.1 billion Catholics, which have thinned in some strongholds.
“This project is the apple of the Pope’s eye,” said journalist John Allen, who wrote a book about the archbishop, “and Tim Dolan is the perfect salesman for it.”
His pitch has a modern ring to it. He thinks the clergy can get out its message the same way teenagers do.
“Some people in the church have thought social communication is bad and evil, but these things can be used in a beautiful way to bring more people to Jesus,” he said on his Sirius Catholic Channel show.
Dolan has a blog on the New York archdiocese website and a Facebook page that he updated from Rome. The Pope is on Facebook, too, and tweeted for the first time last June.
But Dolan said the content is just as important as the medium and he suggests swapping out fire and brimstone for a little, well, fun.
“Instead of the Church being seen as pointing out what’s bad all the time, we should point out what's good,” he said.
“Share the art, the music, the architecture the Church has inspired. I had a man tell me that he became a lapsed Catholic in high school, but he rediscovered his faith while studying the paintings of Caravaggio.”
He gave a shoutout to Chicago priest Robert Barron, who finds messages for Catholics in the songs of Bono, Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones.
“And the Church used to be a place of celebration more than it is today,” Dolan said.
“Baptisms, communions, confirmations, weddings — all are cause for celebrations. The church isn’t just for funerals.”
Dolan has been doing a lot of celebrating in Rome since he arrived last weekend.
He was jubilant on Thursday after learning that the church hehas been assigned to shepherd in Rome is Lady of Guadalupe.
He confessed that he wasn’t supposed to visit until he’s actually a cardinal but couldn’t wait.
“I put on a sweatshirt and went over there, and it’s beautiful and vibrant,” he said.
Later, he table-hopped during lunch at Cecilia Metella, a restaurant on the Appian Way, hugging and joking with pilgrims who have flown in from New York.
“He never looks at his watch. He talks to everyone,” Throgs Neck resident Jeri O’Keefe said. “We have a breath of fresh air in New York now.”
Some might call that pizzazz.
jmolloy@nydailynews.com
On the eve of a big speech to the pontiff and College of Cardinals, Dolan said Twitter and other social media may be the tools to bring the lapsed back into the fold.
“We know that the Church has lost some of its pizzazz,” he told the Daily News during his whirlwind week in Rome before Saturday’s ceremony to make him a cardinal.
“We have to refresh and rekindle that faith.”
Pope Benedict chose Dolan to give a keynote address on “the new evangelism” — a blueprint for expanding the ranks of the world’s 1.1 billion Catholics, which have thinned in some strongholds.
“This project is the apple of the Pope’s eye,” said journalist John Allen, who wrote a book about the archbishop, “and Tim Dolan is the perfect salesman for it.”
His pitch has a modern ring to it. He thinks the clergy can get out its message the same way teenagers do.
“Some people in the church have thought social communication is bad and evil, but these things can be used in a beautiful way to bring more people to Jesus,” he said on his Sirius Catholic Channel show.
Dolan has a blog on the New York archdiocese website and a Facebook page that he updated from Rome. The Pope is on Facebook, too, and tweeted for the first time last June.
But Dolan said the content is just as important as the medium and he suggests swapping out fire and brimstone for a little, well, fun.
“Instead of the Church being seen as pointing out what’s bad all the time, we should point out what's good,” he said.
“Share the art, the music, the architecture the Church has inspired. I had a man tell me that he became a lapsed Catholic in high school, but he rediscovered his faith while studying the paintings of Caravaggio.”
He gave a shoutout to Chicago priest Robert Barron, who finds messages for Catholics in the songs of Bono, Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones.
“And the Church used to be a place of celebration more than it is today,” Dolan said.
“Baptisms, communions, confirmations, weddings — all are cause for celebrations. The church isn’t just for funerals.”
Dolan has been doing a lot of celebrating in Rome since he arrived last weekend.
He was jubilant on Thursday after learning that the church hehas been assigned to shepherd in Rome is Lady of Guadalupe.
He confessed that he wasn’t supposed to visit until he’s actually a cardinal but couldn’t wait.
“I put on a sweatshirt and went over there, and it’s beautiful and vibrant,” he said.
Later, he table-hopped during lunch at Cecilia Metella, a restaurant on the Appian Way, hugging and joking with pilgrims who have flown in from New York.
“He never looks at his watch. He talks to everyone,” Throgs Neck resident Jeri O’Keefe said. “We have a breath of fresh air in New York now.”
Some might call that pizzazz.
jmolloy@nydailynews.com
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/tim-twitter-push-article-1.1024295#ixzz1mf7Tp6cv
I do agree with Archbishop/Cardinal Timothy Dolan that the Catholic Church has to maximize the use of social media to "refresh and rekindle that faith" so that those who became "lapsed" Catholics may be reinvigorated and come back after rediscovering the faith that they have had. I hope and pray that the "new evangelism" of the Catholic Church will spread like wild fire around the globe and, thus, more people will consider becoming Catholics. This is my opinion about this issue. Thank you.
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