C3 Blog #1: C3PO? May the Force Be with You! (Milestones)

I am a big star wars fan, I mean really big. There are Star Wars fans and then ones in a category all there own, you know who you are. How big of a fan? Well, my master’s thesis was on using the original 3 Star Wars movie as a faith formation program for teenagers in parish settings. So when I was told about a project that was called C3, I started out excited!

I soon found out that C3, stood for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Catholic Communication and Collaboration (C3) Pilot. According to the website, it was created, “to serve as a “test platform” to assess and enhance technology, professional development, content and applications at 25 selected parish, school and administrative sites. The C3 Pilot is overseen by an Archdiocesan Working Group and is scheduled to continue until summer 2014. Components of the C3 Pilot Program include upgrades in infrastructure, connectivity and equipment, providing professional development in the areas of change management, skills development and technology integration, and provide online content and applications to benefit members of the various communities being served throughout the ministries.”

The C3 San Fernando Pastoral Region Technology Cluster Project has been designed to respond to needs identified by pastors and parish leaders from Our Lady of Lourdes, St. Mels, and St. Euphrasia at the planning meeting in March of 2013. The identified pastoral needs will be met through sharing resources and developing new initiatives to enhance and expand parish ministries by the innovative use of current and trending technology.  Based on those discussions the following outcomes were identified:

• Create a multi-parish collaborative effort utilizing current and trending technology solutions.
• Cultivate an environment to promote strategic development of new initiatives and enhance/expand parish ministries by fostering partnerships, enabling functional integration and utilization of shared resources
• Utilize change management strategies to foster parish visioning and strategic decision making to increase the long-term benefits of the project for participating parishes.

The C3 Technology Cluster Project Team identified the following measures of success for this pilot effort, they are:

1. Positive feedback from parish community.
2. Increase level of proficiency by parish staff and volunteer ministry leaders in use of technology solutions.
3. Program efforts can be sustained once Pilot phase ends.
4. Effective collaboration with other parishes in cluster on areas of common need and interest.

In future blogs, I’ll be sharing the resources, research, strategies, and activities that are related to this effort so stay tuned and, of course, may the force be with you!