The church goes with the times

Alms through a contactless card or confession using a tablet have already become available for some parishioners.

The most sinful members of the Catholic Church try to preach the Gospel with the help of faith, far from the analog world. Small initiatives that seek a union between the digital age and religion are multiplying. Even Pope Francis used the innovative TED conference platform to join the disruptive technologies .

“It would be great if the growth of technology projects also entailed an increase in equality and social inclusion,” said the Pope at one of these videoconferences last year.

One of the first flirtations of the church with new technologies began with a French startup, which released an application called La Quête , which translates as “Donation Collection” (the screen above is a comment of the translator). Its creator, Romain Yusson, said that the purpose of the project was to organize an additional method of financing Catholic churches, so that they would not depend solely on the collection of alms during worship services.
')
“It is enough for believers to download a free application, enter bank data and and register their church parish manually or through a geolocation system. After that, collect the amount to transfer, and the payment will be made at the end of each month, ”says Yusson.

Appear not only applications for phones. By taking advantage of the advances in digital technology, the diocese of Paris also took the first steps for the clergy to undergo their own technological baptism. One of the Catholic churches in the capital of France, realizing how much its fees were reduced in cash, without any doubt set up an electronic “donation bowl” so that believers could give from two to ten euros through contactless cards.

“Every new generation is less using bills and coins. People attend church services, but they don’t have the opportunity to sacrifice anything, ”the innovative diocese explains what was the main reason for the appearance of the contactless way of begging.

In the case of Spain, the main representative of the church-technological blast is in Madrid. The Church of St. Anthony in the very center of the capital, managed by the Peace Messengers Foundation, has been fighting since 2015 to confirm a cultural change in which digital technologies are not hostile to religion. According to the temple director Adrian Gutierrez, it is a question of providing new solutions with the help of modern inventions. One such project is iPad confession.

“This is one of the ways to make confessions accessible to people who, for example, have hearing problems. In addition, you can write about your sins and, thus, it is not necessary for everyone to know that you want to confess, ”Gutierrez explains.

The Church of St. Anthony is open 24 hours a day and is also engaged in other initiatives to bring the Word of God closer through new technologies. According to the CIS Center for Sociological Research, almost 60 percent of people who consider themselves Catholics almost never attend worship services. Taking into account these data, the “Messengers of Peace” decided to arrange the broadcast of the church service with the goal that it could be seen anywhere in the world.

“We give the opportunity to attend the service, albeit not in person. Most of all people are interested in the services of Father Angel (priest, who founded the foundation in 1962), but we offer not only them, ”Gutierrez says.

The existence of a technology that would not depend on the Internet is almost impossible. In the church of St. Anthony they decided not to commit a sin and not to stay away from the ability to connect to the Internet - in the digital age there is no misdemeanor. There is an open Wi-Fi hotspot in the church, accessible to everyone. As the director of the church stresses, we live in an era when it is impossible not to have a telephone, and every person has it.

“We are thinking of starting WhatsApp communication, for example, with people who live far from home and want to communicate with their home countries. This is a way to make sure that no one is alone, ”he says.

Vatican Incubator Startups

In order to develop socially significant projects, the Vatican joined the process of acceleration of startups. Last year, nine companies were selected by the Holy See to become part of an international incubator. Under the program of assistance to companies, financing in the amount of 85 thousand euros is allocated, and the mentor gives advice within six months. As a “donation”, the papal curia will receive a percentage of the possible profits.

Nokero is one of the selected companies; the project is based on improving living conditions in developing countries. It makes rechargeable solar bulbs, which distributes in places where there is no electricity. This is just one example of the entrepreneurial faith that was supported by the great pontiff.

Economy sharing

The economy of shared consumption also opened the space for technological solutions related to the Catholic faith. Businessman Tongi Levek founded a startup, which he himself calls the “confessional Uber”. The application is called GoConfess and allows people who want to atone for sins, find a priest currently available and contact him to arrange a time and place for confession.

Geolocation is not only to collect a huge amount of data, but also to connect to God. The connection between digital technology and the good news is getting closer every time — however antagonistic they may be. It seems that the Church took the call of innovation seriously.

PS I am sorry, in the process of publication the mark "translation" has flown down. The author is Jorge Garcia, the text is La Iglesia se está actualizando (tecnológicamente) .