DCM Convention partners with Smart

DAVAO CITY, Philippines—The Diocesan Clergy of Mindanao partnered with Smart Communications, Inc., Philippines’ leader in wireless network, to spread massive information about the annual convention of Diocesan Clergy of Mindanao (DCM) which took place in Davao City from February 9 to 11, 2015.

An Infoboard, a web-based messaging tool provided by Smart, lets the social communication committee connect with the DCM members as well as the delegates and volunteers of the said convention through a complete, featured platform. It offers an easy and convenient way of corresponding with others by sending broadcast, getting secure information, and making content available for download, making these all possible with an easy interface and an available help desk feature.

Smart Communications also provided high-speed internet connection to all delegates via wireless mobile broadband, giving all delegates an access to the internet at the St. Francis Xavier Regional Major Seminary (REMASE) of Mindanao, Catalunan Grande, Davao City.

Social Media, Technology and the Church

Pope Francis’ effect on Philippine social media during his state and apostolic visit last January 15 to 19 in the Philippines was an overwhelming wave of positivity. According to the report, from January 8 to 21, over 690,389 mentions on Twitter, an online social networking service, of the event were recorded. Multiple keywords were monitored, including #BlessedByThePope which was used by the TV giant GMA 5 as well as the official government-sanctioned hashtags #PopeFrancisPH, #PapalVisitPH which was used by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), and #MercyAndCompassion.

Recently, Pope Francis joined an online dialogue on Google+ (read as ‘Google Plus’), a social networking and identity service that is owned and operated by Google Inc., last February 5, 2015. The said ‘hangout’ was hosted by Scholas Occurrentes, an educational group launched by the pope that aims to build bridges through technology. The participants were students with disabilities from around the world.

The Holy Father owns the Twitter handle @Pontifex and has gotten 5.4 million followers and still counting. He has delivered a tempered message about technology in the past.

Last January 2014, Pope Francis praised the Internet but expressed concern about the speed and impersonal nature of social media. He also urged families to put aside their smart phones and social media feeds and learn how to talk to one another again. In August, he warned altar servers not to spend too much time “chatting on the Internet or with smartphones, watching TV soap operas, and (using) the products of technological progress, which should simplify and improve the quality of life, but distract attention away from what is really important.”

“The great challenge facing us today is to learn once again how to talk to one another, not simply how to generate and consume information,” Pope Francis said in a statement released on the 48th World Communication Day.

While acknowledging that the Internet can isolate and create barricades between people, Pope Francis says the Church must respond with fresh energy and imagination to the challenges of the ongoing technological revolution. He uses the parable of the Good Samaritan to explain how we must see ourselves as true neighbours, ready to take responsibility for the needs of others. Returning to one of his favorite themes, the Pope says our streets are teeming with people who are often hurting and looking for a sign of hope and salvation. It’s not enough to be passersby on the streets and digital highways of our world: rather we must keep open the doors of our churches and our digital environments so that people can enter and the Gospel message can reach to the ends of the earth.