By Kenneth J. Souza
Anchor Staff
TIVERTON, R.I. — In the beginning there was the iMac. Then came the iPod. Just when the iPhone seemed to fulfill everyone’s technological needs, the iPad was introduced earlier this year.
And then there is iPadre.
No, it’s not another brainchild of Steve Jobs or an Apple patented product; rather, it is a weekly podcast hosted by Father Jay Finelli, pastor of Holy Ghost Parish in Tiverton, R.I.
An early adopter and longtime proponent of using digital and computer technology in evangelization, Father Finelli first began producing the half-hour Catholic “podcast” — an audio program that can be accessed and downloaded via the Internet and played back on digital MP3 players — five years ago from a makeshift studio in his rectory.
“I usually record them on Sunday nights and do them once a week,” Father Finelli said. “They are typically half-hour shows, but some go longer. The great thing about podcasting is there’s no time limit. I could go on for two hours if I wanted to … but I think most people don’t want to listen to two hours.”
While some shows are inspired by Mass readings or his weekly homilies, others are simply based on whatever topic comes to mind.
“I had an idea a few weeks ago about how the Catholic Church develops doctrine — because so many people think the pope goes into his closet and decides to pull out a new doctrine like the Immaculate Conception or the Assumption of Mary,” Father Finelli said. “People really don’t understand what it’s all about.”
As someone who first realized the potential for using computers and the Internet to spread the Gospel nearly 20 years ago, Father Finelli is pleased the Church is finally acknowledging and embracing tools like online blogs, podcasts and social network sites like Facebook and Twitter to connect with Catholics everywhere.
“The possibilities are endless — we just have to embrace the new technology,” he said. “I think the reluctance has been that priests and bishops have been afraid of what’s going to happen if we put something ‘out there’ on the Internet. Well, what’s going to happen is people are going to listen. It’s just like Pope John Paul II said: ‘Be not afraid.’
“New technology is a door to get people back into the Church. And if they’re not comfortable coming back right now, they’ll at least listen. Once you build that community, that connection, they realize we’re approachable. We’re reaching people ‘out there.’”
In a message delivered for the 43rd World Communications Day on May 24, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI encouraged the use of new technology to spread Jesus’ message, saying: “The accessibility of mobile telephones and computers, combined with the global reach and penetration of the Internet, has opened up a range of means of communication that permits the almost instantaneous communication of words and images across enormous distances and to some of the most isolated corners of the world. Young people, in particular, have grasped the enormous capacity of the new media to foster connectedness, communication and understanding between individuals and communities.
“It falls, in particular, to young people, who have an almost spontaneous affinity for the new means of communication, to take on the responsibility for the evangelization of this ‘digital continent.’ Be sure to announce the Gospel to your contemporaries with enthusiasm.”
“Sometimes people think of technology as an enemy — but it’s not,” Father Finelli said. “If you look at the history of the Catholic Church, the Church was always at the forefront of new media — from publishing the first books in monasteries to the Vatican starting one of the first television stations.”
Father Finelli’s own fascination with digital technology began while he was studying theology at St. John’s Seminary in Brighton, when he purchased his first Apple computer.
“We didn’t even have Internet access at the time,” he said. “When I graduated in 1991, the Internet was still small. Within four years everything exploded and I started designing a personal webpage, then went from a parish website to designing a website for The Rhode Island Catholic — which was still The Providence Visitor at the time.”
While others were “surfing the Internet” looking for friends or buying novelty items on eBay, Father Finelli said he spent hours teaching himself HTML, the coding language used to develop websites.
“I built the Providence diocesan website back then, and when I started everyone looked at me like I was crazy,” he said. “They thought the Internet was a fad — like the CB radio — and it was going to disappear. But it grew and it really became a valuable tool.”
Over the next decade as Father Finelli watched the growth in popularity of “blogs” (web logs), social networking sites and podcasts, he sensed a new calling.
“The natural progression for me was podcasting, because I always wanted to do some type of radio or television program,” he said. “Before it wasn’t financially possible or feasible, but now all you need is a computer and you can talk to the whole world.”
Having just been named pastor at Holy Ghost Parish two years earlier, however, Father Finelli was initially reluctant to take on the weekly chore.
“I wasn’t sure I wanted to get involved with the new technology, because I thought it was going to take a lot of my time,” he said. “But now it’s become so easy that anyone with a basic knowledge of computers can do their own podcast.”
Since starting the iPadre podcast in 2005, Father Finelli said he’s tracked more than 560,000 downloads. Visitors to his website and podcast links have also been tracked to many countries outside the United States, including the United Kingdom, Hungary, Italy and the Philippines.
“That’s a lot of people listening,” he said. “So of that if I touched just a handful of people, it was all worth my time and effort.”
Recently, the iPadre podcast took another step in its evolution.
Father Finelli flips open what looks like a thin, black notebook to reveal Apple’s newest gadget — the coveted iPad — that displays a full-screen image of his iPadre logo. Touching the dove at the center of the logo calls up a menu of his recent podcasts, with a detailed description of each.
“A company designed an iPadre application for the iPad and iPhone, free-of-charge,” he said. “If people want to listen to any episode of my show, they can access it or connect to a link for my website. In the future, it will offer extras including a video tour of my studio.”
A few quick taps on the touch-screen of the iPad, and Father Finelli shows off another digital advancement he claims will greatly assist all priests in their ministry.
“It’s an application called iBreviaryPro that was designed by an Italian priest,” he said. “I was on vacation last week and all I took with me was my iPad — I had all my prayers with me. I can see something like the iPad replacing the Sacramentary or the Roman Missal at some point.”
In fact, Father Finelli’s latest pet project is converting the old Roman Ritual — a preference of many priests today — into an electronic book format, or eBook, so that it can be used on the iPad.
He’ll also be attending and actively involved in the third annual Catholic New Media Celebration to be held in Boston August 7 starting at 9 a.m. at the Pastoral Center for the Archdiocese of Boston.
“It covers podcasting, blogging, cable television — any form of new technology,” he said. “The conference is open to everyone and it’s ideal for people who want to learn about blogging or podcasting or building a parish website. It will offer something for everyone — from the novice to the professional.”
Father Finelli said this third annual convocation and Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley’s recent appointment of a new secretary for Catholic Media for the Archdiocese of Boston are two prime examples of how the Church is embracing technology and following the directives of Pope Benedict’s message.
“A lot of people look at the Church today and say we’re disconnected,” he said. “But are we? Take a look at my Facebook account and I have 3,400 friends. I don’t know each one of them personally, but I know many of them. Sometimes I will get an email from someone asking for advice or that I pray for them. So that’s not just someone ‘out there’ — we’re connected. And that’s what the pope wants. He wants us to be connected to one another.”
Father Finelli’s podcasts can be accessed free online at www.ipadre.net and also via the iTunes store. To register for the Catholic New Media Celebration in Boston, visit www.celebration.sqpn.com.