Since the emersion of the digital age, the Catholic Church has learned to engage with the Internet in a number ways. From the official Vatican website to the countless Christian URLs to house resources online, the authority of those who have a voice in media to represent the Church extends past the official leadership of the church. Today, any member in or outside of an organization can interact with the public by providing religious information online through the means of blogs, self-made websites, apps, and more. Researcher Dr. Heidi Campbell groups these “religious digital creatives” into three groups: digital entrepreneurs, digital spokespersons, and digital strategists. All these individuals work on some level to engage with the world through new media online on Catholic reform, practice, and more. Individuals who utilize this digital platform to speak out of authority on the Church are able to reinforce or juxtapose Catholic leaders in the physical church, depending on their discourse. Their impact on the digital consumer ranges depending on the content of their output.
The website, www.beginningcatholic.com, is a site that offers information for new Catholic believers. Any person online can easily find their link at the top of Google search’s list of Catholic websites. Their main menu provides a list of resources ranging from bible studies and sacraments to instructional guides on how to pray. Users can find a page of Frequently Asked Questions that address common misconceptions about the Church. A site such as this one exists most likely out of the efforts of an individual wishing to educate the public about Catholic practices. As there is not “about” page to be found on this website, it muddles the “authority” source of where this media is coming from. However, for the most part, content shared on this site including the articles, references, and FAQ, align with Catholic practices that can be described on official websites such as the Vatican’s official site. This is an example similar to what is found in Campbell’s research on the impact of online influencers, the digital authority figures exercising their voice online for the Church. As the internet continuously changes, members of the Catholic Church are increasingly able to educate the public in a new way unlike that of their predecessors and modern traditional authority figures.
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