Evangelisation through social media in Catholic schools

Abstract

Social media form part of today’s technological world and offer numerous possibilities for online interactive communication and social encounters. Catholic schools, in particular, can even regard them as spaces for evangelisation. Social media enable a Catholic school to establish its presence online and to create a culture of encounter with the school’s online community and beyond. This dissertation thus starts by explaining how a Catholic school is also evangelising entity and how it is called to participate in the evangelising mission of the Church. Then follows a discussion of how throughout the years, the Church has changed its stance towards media communications and the possibilities they generate. Following these two discussions, this dissertation then tackles the similarities between Church teachings and contemporary literature to highlight the fact that social media lends itself well as a powerful place of encounter for Catholic primary schools. Practical suggestions of how the latter could be achieved are also included in this chapter. Finally, propositions for future research include the extension of the ideas suggested in this dissertation to secondary and post-secondary schools as well as to other fields of study such as youth and family ministry.