CBCP trains clergy in social media

In addition to memorable sermons, the Catholic Church in the Philippines could soon be hard at work creating communication plans for Facebook and Twitter too.The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has started a workshop on media management and social media for the clergy this week in an attempt to engage an increasingly connected crowd.Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle (pictured) invited Seàn-Patrick Lovett, vice president of the Centre for Research and Education in Communication and director of Vatican Radio’s English Programme, to train the bishops from 21 - 23 January.As marketers have discovered, the continued influence and reach of social media is hard to ignore, even for an institution that has often been conservative and reluctant to embrace new ways.“And if the bishops want to be a true pastor, they really need to smell like a sheep, and if the sheep smell like social media, the bishop should smell like social media too,” Lovett said, paraphrasing the words of Pope Francis.Lovett has high hopes that bishops see social media and new communication media as a positive experience, empowering and “something they need to do.”Religious topics aside, the three-day seminar is very similar to training or enrichment programs that marketers usually have for creatives, PR and media planners.The first day of the seminar this Tuesday talked about communications approaches in the era of Pope Francis, which has been notably very open with the use of social media. Media crisis management and story telling in the age of digital is scheduled to be tackled on the second day.A half day session on the topics of “understanding impact, influence and innuendo” and  “everything you ever wanted to know about Catholic communications” caps the seminar this Thursday.Lovett admits that it's sometimes difficult to convince bishops to engage in social media since it can be intimidating to some people.“One of the ways, perhaps they can be convinced, is to remind them that we do need to connect, and that the new media, social media allow us to connect to the people,” he said.Lovett taught communication courses at the Pontifical Gregorian University for 25 years. Pope Benedict made him a Papal Knight in 2011 in recognition of his 35 years of service to four Popes, beginning with Pope Paul VI.He was named Catholic Communicator of the Year by the University of Dayton in 2012 and awarded the St. Thomas More Medal for Defence of the Faith by the Christendom College.