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Summit looks at how parishes can use technology to engage Catholics
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VILLANOVA, Pa. (CNS) -- Desktop and laptop computers will be artifacts in the Smithsonian in three years, replaced by mobile computing devices known as "smartphones," a keynote speaker predicted at a technology summit for parishes. Steve Hewitt, editor of Christian Computing Magazine and Christian Video Magazine, called it the "personal computing age" led by those under 40. "They don't care about network TV; they care about what other people have to say," he told the 200 people attending the summit on the campus of Villanova University. "They prefer text messaging to any other type of communication." To connect with this crowd, he suggested Catholic parishes use Webinars, social networking, blogging and texting. He also said "video testimonies" of people's stories of faith can become a powerful presence on YouTube, a video sharing site. Hewitt and another keynote speaker, Sister Susan Wolf, a Sister of Notre Dame who is an Internet and social media strategist and consultant, addressed technology's effect on people's daily lives in separate sessions at an all-day summit sponsored by the Center for the Study of Church Management at Villanova's business school Feb. 25. "Parishes are having a hard time attracting and keeping young people," said Charles Zech, the center's director. "Young people communicate through social networks like Facebook. We need to meet people where they are."
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