Vatican’s social media head encourages Catholics to ‘develop imagination’

Pope Francis told the Vatican’s social media to “listen, converse and encourage” when embracing the challenges of the technical revolution, according to Msgr. Paul Tighe, the Pope’s social media expert, who spoke at the Archdiocese’s 3rd Annual Catholic Communication Collaboration (C3)
Technology Conference.

3rd Annual Catholic Communication Collaboration (C3) Technology Conference

Msgr. Paul Tighe, the Vatican’s social media expert, discussed the Catholic Church’s emerging presence in the digital world with teachers, clergy and staff from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Msgr. TIghe, Secretary to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications of the Vatican, was the keynote speaker at the 3rd Annual Catholic Communication Collaboration (C3) Technology Conference on Wednesday, Aug. 13 at Loyola Marymount University. With more than 10 million followers on Twitter, the Vatican’s resident expert on social media hopes to inspire the faithful in new and exciting ways.

The new media and the new evangelization

This week, we held our annual C3 Technology Conference at Loyola Marymount University.

You can read more about the conference elsewhere in the pages of this week’s Tidings and online at Angelusnews.com.

For me, this conference is another sign of how important new technologies are for our mission of the new evangelization.

‘The hidden homeless’

They are the “hidden homeless,” and they are legion.

The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority tries to count the number of homeless individuals each year, but this year they also estimated the number of individuals who live in their cars.

Of an estimated 39,000 homeless persons living in L.A. County, more than 8,000 live in their cars, according to LAHSA’s George McQuade. The city of Los Angeles alone has nearly 5,000 people living in 3,000 cars.

Gobernador Brown promete ayuda de California a niños migrantes

MÉXICO ― El gobernador de California Jerry Brown se comprometió ayer ante obispos y diplomáticos centroamericanos y el arzobispo de Los Ángeles José Gómez a hacer todo lo que esté en sus manos para ayudar a resolver la crisis de los niños migrantes no acompañados.

Venice Beach lightning storm victim was electrocuted, coroner says

A 20-year-old man who died after a freak lightning storm hit while he was in the water at Venice Beach was electrocuted, the Los Angeles County coroner said.

Nick Fagnano, of Los Angeles, was pronounced dead late Sunday afternoon, not long after he was pulled out of the water as thousands of beachgoers scattered for cover.

Praying for the world

As we look around the world during these summer months, we see that there is a lot for us to pray about.

Close to home, of course, we’ve been praying and working to address the humanitarian emergency caused by the thousands of undocumented children crossing our borders from Central America.

‘You gave your children good ground for hope’

The following is adapted from the archbishop’s homily at the annual Mass in Recognition of Immigrants July 20, after which thousands lined up, inside and outside of Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral, to venerate the traveling relic of Santo Toribio Romo.

Priestly formation and the new evangelization: Assessing candidates for the priesthood

Something good is happening in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in the area of priestly vocations. In the Office of Vocations, we are continually receiving inquiries via telephone, email and social media from young men (and sometimes not so young men) every day. There is great reason to be optimistic and hopeful.