What’s the

relevance of the
“mission” in this
hyper-connected
world?
Michael P. Canares • March 2021
Let’s start with a few questions.

We will use technology to do this.

Get your
phone.

Open your
internet
browser.
On your
internet
browser, type

menti.com
When this
page
shows, type
the code
1792264
on the box
Thank you for your participation!
J
Quick Facts
4 billion people (51%)
are using the internet
3.5 billion people have
smartphones
3.5 billion people have
social media accounts

1 in every 3 young persons
has internet at home
3 in every 4 young person
with internet connection
has at least 1 social media
account
81 percent of total
Philippine population are
logged in to social media,
more specifically,
Facebook

out of the active social

media users in the country,
65% are teenagers and
young adults, and 81%
access their accounts on a
daily basis
young people use social
media at an average of 4
hours a day.
What does this mean?

• Digital communication has

started to replace F2F
communication
• More visual, less patience for
long narratives
• Attention span is significantly
low, “soundbyte” mentality
prevails
• A piece of information travels
significantly fast – viral spirals
• Truth-seeking and truth-telling
have become significantly
challenging
This is not necessarily bad.
• My daughter learns an average of 2 songs per week thanks
to Youtube

• My son has a Spotify channel, he was already able to

monetize it, people listen to his songs

• My daughter writes stories in Wattpad. She already has

many followers and readers

• My son communicates with his friends via Discord despite

the lockdown, and this establishes connections
The larger question is, have we used technology to
spread the Love of God?
 Or are we still viewing
21st century Catholics
with 16th century lenses?
Let’s be honest about where
we are in this whole process of
technological development
Catholics are members of email lists,
Facebook groups, and online
networks of different topics as dieting,
cooking, dogs, and space travel.
But it’s difficult to find “faith groups”
online.
Young people listen to podcasts
about caring for dogs, painting,
growing succulents, or Anime
But it’s difficult to find “faithcasts”
that propagate the faith.
The internet is awashed with reading
materials on how to become better
persons, leaders, wife, friend
But it’s difficult to find guideposts on
how to become better Catholics that
speaks without being judgmental.
It’s easy to find how to donate to a
sick child, or to a non-profit, or how to
pay bills and purchases online
But it’s difficult to find ways on how to
support their favorite local charity or
donate to their Church.
Truth of the matter is, so many
Catholics have ”appified” their
lives.
I use
Pray As
You Go
to start
my day.
I use
Headspace
to meditate.
I use
WarriorMade
Workout
to exercise.
I use
Waterminder
to track my
daily water
intake.
I use
Peak Brain
Training
to exercise
my mind.
I use
Day One
to write my
reflections on
a daily basis.
The past twenty years have been a dizzying series of breakthroughs
and game-changing advances in communications. Our modern world
is simply not the same.

Twenty years ago, there were fewer than one thousand Internet sites.

Today there are perhaps 650 million of them.

The truth of our faith has not changed. Our Tradition—capital "T"—has
not changed.

But the people of our dioceses are living in a new world.

For the USCCB's Communications Committee, we are wrestling
with these questions and others:

What does the New Evangelization look like in this world of

communications?

How can we help build stronger relationships with our

millions of parishioners?

How can we increase the effectiveness of our work in

sanctifying, teaching, and governing by using the tools of
21st-century communications?
“Go therefore and make
disciples of all the nations,
baptizing them in the name of
the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit.”
“In the vast and complex phenomenon of the
modern means of Social Communications, such as
the press, motion pictures, radio and television,
there lies the unfolding and the realization of a
wonderful plan of God’s providence, which opens
to humanity’s genius ever new ways of achieving
his perfection and of attaining to his final end.”

- Pope Paul VI, World Communications Day 1967

““The Church approaches this new medium with
realism and confidence. Like other communications
media, it is a means, not an end in itself. The Internet
can offer magnificent opportunities for
evangelization if used with competence and a clear
awareness of its strengths and weaknesses.”

- Pope John Paul II, World Communications Day 2002

“The internet, text messages and social networks
are ‘a gift from God.”

…..It is not technology which determines whether

or not communication is authentic, but rather the
human heart and our capacity to use wisely the
means at our disposal.”

- Pope Francis, World Communications Day 2016

Important
Questions We
Need to Ask
Ourselves
Who do we want to reach?
What do we know about them?
We conducted a research among youth in
Mindanao, to know their preferences and how
they use the internet and social media.

We had 2,030 respondents coming largely from

Regions 10, 11, 13 and BARMM.
Young and educated

Interested in entertainment – movies, cooking,

singing, dancing, sports, gardening

Interested in humanities and social sciences

Trusts family members and teachers the most

Majority access the internet regularly, 70%
access them on a daily basis.

English is the preferred language

They use mobile devices, and mobile data the

most

They use Facebook the most.

What do they want to know?
What do they want to hear
from us?
They like online content that are entertaining.

They care about issues affecting their

communities, even transparency issues that are
hounding the current government

They have a strong sense of place – they care

about Mindanao

They have a lot of “life” questions.

When our “audience” need
information, they seek it and find it.

When they need guidance, they look

for it.

When they need community, they

connect to it.
What content do we have that
matches their needs?
They like online content that are entertaining.

They care about issues affecting their

communities, even transparency issues that are
hounding the current government

They have a strong sense of place – they care

about Mindanao

They have a lot of “life” questions.

How do we engage with them?
 Get your audience
interested

Provide them incentives

to access your content

Communicate two-way.
What platforms do we use?
How do we sustain this?
Let’s pause for
a bit and ask
ourselves one
basic question.