
CATHOLICS will now have greater access to Brisbane archdiocesan news, liturgies and special events thanks to a new app, increased webcasting and the extension of The Catholic Leader in flipbook edition.
These products and services are small but tangible signs carrying the vision of Blessed John Paul II, who said any new evangelisation must be “new in ardour, method and expression”.
Brisbane archdiocese’s communications manager Adrian Taylor said these “new methods and expressions” of the archdiocese would help foster communion between Christ and the technologically savvy Church.
The Archdiocesan Communication Office released a smartphone app that uses geo-locative technology to find times and locations for weekday and Sunday Mass, Confession, adoration, and other sacraments and services near the user.
Users can customise a search by location, kilometre radius, date, time, type of Mass or service (sacrament of Reconciliation, children’s liturgy, adoration) or language.
Brisbane archdiocesan web developer Matt Cassidy spent five months building and testing the app. The smartphone and tablet app is free and available for both iOS and Android devices.
On November 29, Deacon Neville Yun’s ordination to the priesthood will be streamed live on the archdiocesan website.
He is the fourth candidate to have his ordination webcasted.
Three separate cameras feed into a welter of audio and vision mixers and encoders, allowing the webcast directors a professional coverage of all major liturgies and the 10am Mass each Sunday. Home viewers can see the Sunday Mass live each week via the web at http://www.bne.catholic.net.au/webcast.
The Catholic Leader is also launching a digital flipbook edition of the newspaper embedded with interactive multimedia.
It will transform the entity from being a weekly newspaper into a media outlet that can break stories daily or respond to its audience in an array of new and interactive ways.
Subscription pricing remains competitive and has been given added incentive with readers now able to subscribe for the hard copy only, the flipbook only (digital copy), or a combination of both for a small additional premium.