Dear Parishioners,
I must admit that I arrived kicking and screaming into the computer age. When I first began teaching in a Catholic
high school many years ago, I can remember quite
forcefully telling the guidance secretary (at St. Joseph High School in Hammonton), “If you think that I’m going
to spend most of my time in front of a computer, it ain’t happening!” We were
using an old Apple computer back then
for scheduling—the one with the green letters on the black screen.
I still unequivocally advocate the importance of personal relationships and interpersonal communication. I (albeit, sometimes hypocritically) get annoyed when people pay more attention to their
phones than to the person(s) in the room.
However, I am resigned to the fact that our advanced technology is here
to stay and we had all become better aware of what our children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews already know.
Can you believe that even our Holy
Father now sends out Tweets on Twitter! Who would have thought!
What does it all mean for this
parish? Our website (www.stjosephsomerspoint.com) has
been updated so that various parish information, parish bulletins, forms,
schedules, etc., are readily available. (Incidentally,
if you have any compliments, constructive criticisms or suggestions about the
site, let me know.) We also have a Facebook
page. If you “like” us on Facebook,
information about St. Joseph’s will
come automatically to your Facebook
page. I have a blog (www.fr-ed-namiotka.com) on which I
post this column each week. To
date, it has been viewed approximately 40,000 times worldwide!
My Smartphone (an Android) is really an unbelievable mini-computer. I have downloaded a few free apps
which have proved quite helpful. Catholic
Droid is a resource library for the Catholic faith with the Bible, prayers, devotions, an examination of conscience, church teachings, etc. all at your
fingertips! iBrieviary allows me to
pray the Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) just about anywhere
without having to carry the actual book around.
Laudate is a similar app to Catholic Droid and also
has numerous Catholic resources. Then
there is ihradio.com (Immaculate Heart Radio) which can be
downloaded to the phone (or viewed/listened to on the computer) to provide 24
hour Catholic radio and information.
If you want to view Catholic information on various computer
websites, start with the Vatican website (www.vatican.va) and
the United
States Conference of Catholic Bishops website (www.usccb.org).
Such official sites sponsored by the Church are the most accurate and
reliable when it comes to official Church teaching as opposed to some
individual’s (sometimes inaccurate) opinion of the matter. Each diocese
usually has a website—including our own (www.camdendiocese.org).
EWTN
(The
Eternal Word Television Network) has been a pioneer in technology for
years now, providing Catholic TV, radio and internet resources (www.ewtn.com) .
I could go on and on about the many places online to find information. It’s best to bookmark particular places because unfiltered surfing the web or “Googling”—even in
search of religious topics—sometimes
leads one to unexpected and unwanted sites.
So if you see me in Church and I’m looking at my phone, don’t
always assume that I’m answering a call, texting, surfing the web, or playing a
game. I might be, in fact, praying my Liturgy of the Hours, reading a Scripture
passage, researching a homily, or sending
a tweet back to the Holy Father!
Maybe I can be the first to invent an app to contact God
directly!
(Oh, we already have something to do that. It's called prayer).
Fr. Ed Namiotka
Pastor
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