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| November 22, 2008 |
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Multimedia effort promotes ‘Living Eucharist’Diocese prepares instructional DVD companion to bishop's coming pastoral letter.
With a camcorder pointing in her direction, Paula Vosotas, a parishioner at Espiritu Santo Parish in Safety Harbor, waits to be interviewed in the chapel of her parish. Vosotas, who brings the Eucharist to the homebound and sick in her parish, was interviewed for a DVD on Bishop Robert N. Lynch’s upcoming pastoral letter. With many parishes sponsoring programs aimed at enlightening people about different aspects of a Living Eucharist initiative launched this year, diocesan officials have been gearing up to get the word out about the renewal and evangelization program, which aims to deepen faith and awareness about the Eucharist and the Mass. One of the projects in the works is the production of a DVD that will act as a teaching tool for parishioners regarding Bishop Robert N. Lynch’s pastoral letter on the Eucharist. Scheduled to be released around Advent, the DVD will be a companion to the pastoral letter, said Peter Burns, director of parish ministries support for the diocese. It will show laypeople and priests being interviewed about the Mass, including the different aspects of the Mass. During a recent weekday, Sharon Hill, president of SMU Productions, a video production company in Clearwater, interviewed and videotaped two parishioners at Espiritu Santo Parish in Safety Harbor. Because they are extraordinary ministers of holy Communion, her questions centered on how they prepare for Mass and why they bring Communion to those who are sick and homebound. “What I would like to accomplish with this (DVD) is I hope it reaches a lot of people and it brings them back to the church and brings them back to their faith so they can understand what goes on at Mass and what goes on at church,” Hill said. About 10 DVDs will be distributed to each parish, which will then use them in small-group settings, such as catechist and parish staff gatherings, Bible study groups, or small Christian faith-sharing communities, Burns said. Rory O’Connor, an extraordinary minister of holy Communion and one of the people being interviewed for the DVD at Espiritu Santo, one of several parishes in the diocese where filming will occur, said that using multimedia in today’s digital world is “essential” and “a wonderful idea” because there are so many media avenues already competing for people’s attention. “This is a very positive message,” O’Connor said, referring to the DVD. “It’s a call to embrace our community. It’s a message with some sense of urgency to it. I think it can be done through the Internet, through the television, through commercials, through the print media. I don’t think we should limit ourselves in any way to try to communicate his (Christ’s) message.” Other ways diocesan officials are marketing the Living Eucharist initiative, currently and in the weeks ahead, include the creation of a Web site with resources and online registration for different upcoming events, the translation of the pastoral letter into Vietnamese and Spanish, making the pastoral letter available in audio form on the Internet, bookmarks, a contest to find a theme song for the initiative, and the appearance of the bishop on the diocesan radio station, Spirit FM, Burns said. After hearing about the marketing plans, O’Connor said that there is another reason why it is important to make Living Eucharist resources available as widely as possible. “I’m learning as I go through my spiritual walk and journey, that it is an individual journey,” he said. “However, there is a lot of support out there. There are a lot of resources out there. I think our church is getting better and better at letting people know that there are resources, that you’re not alone on this walk. And when you stumble or when you come across challenges in your life, there are other people out here to help you. Thus, the community, the universal ‘we-are-one-as-Catholics-and-Christians.’ So, I think there is a lot of positive[s] in letting people know you are not alone. Obviously Christ is there, and God and the communion of saints are there, but we, the living, are there, as well.”
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