Assessment

Essay 100%

Module Aims

This module seeks to help Learners appreciate liturgy in the New Media Environment and to familiarize them with best practices in the area of technology.

Indicative Syllabus

• Parish and Diocesan Websites and Catholic Liturgy
• The New Media Environment
• Webpage Technologies
• The use of Microphones and Audio Equipment in Church settings
• Issues in Broadcasting Liturgy

Learning Outcomes

• — Demonstrate an understanding of the types and uses of computer equipment and software for church management purposes;
• — Develop an understanding of how digital technology, through the function of such interfaces as the world-wide web, social communication, and other emerging technology, enhances the ministry of the local church or Christian-based organization;
• — Employ relevant music, media, and administrative technologies for use in worship ministry.
• — Design a healthy worship ministry administration to facilitate the operations and service planning of a worship department;
• — Appreciate liturgy in the New Media Environment and Integrate best practices in the area of technology.
• — Show a basic appreciation of Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) - explaining the differences between ‘broadcasting’ and ‘narrowcasting’ and how social media impacts our general and personal communications.

Bibliography

• — Robert N. Bellah, et al., Habits of the Heart, Individualism and Commitment in American Life (New York: Harper and Row, 1986).
• — Teresa Berger, ed., Liturgy in Migration: From the Upper Room to Cyberspace (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2012).
• — Teresa Berger, @ Worship: Liturgical Practices in Digital Worlds. Liturgy, Worship and Society Series (London: Routledge, 2017).
• — Richard A. Burridge, Holy Communion in Contagious Times: Celebrating the Eucharist in the Everyday and Online Worlds (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2022).
• — Matthew B. Crawford, The World Beyond Your Head: On Becoming an Individual in an Age of Distraction (New York, NY: Faber, Straus and Giroux, 2015).
• — Shane Crombie, “Preaching in the Pandemic,” Pastoral Review (January/February/March 2022)
• — Shane Crombie, “The Communion of The Saints and The Virtual Space: The Impact of The Pandemic on Ecclesial Communion in The Catholic Church,” forthcoming.
• — Tim Hutchings, Creating Church Online: Ritual, Community and New Media. Routledge Research in Religion, Media and Culture (London: Routledge, 2017).
• — Jean-Claude Larchet, The New Media Epidemic: The Undermining of Society, Family, And Our Own Soul (Jordanville, NY: Holy Trinity Publications, 2019).
• — Parish, Helen. 2020. “The Absence of Presence and the Presence of Absence: Social Distancing, Sacraments, and the Virtual Religious Community during the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Religions 11 (6): 276, 7. doi:10.3390/rel11060276.
• — Dennis C. Smolarski, Eucharist and American Culture: Liturgy, Unity, and Individualism (Mahwah, NJ, Paulist Press, 2010).
• — Sherry Turkle, Alone Together: Why we Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other (New York, NY: Basic Books, 2011).
• — Josiah Way, Producing Worship: A Theology of Church Technical Arts (Lake Forrest, CA: self-published, 2018).