AmericanPapist Comments
Just wanted to comment on the YouTube thing, newbies to the scene (especially content creators) generally are leary about letting go of control over their "baby", but once they realize what can happen when a video goes viral and what happens when they make it as easy as possible for people to push it viral--they soon let the baby fly. They'll figure it out, once they do--the seatbelts will be off.
I often wonder why there is such a lack of transparency in some Catholic organizations.
I was unable to figure out the name of a single individual who is responsible for the web site "Catholics Come Home."
The page, "Who We Are" doesn't mention the name of a single person, the name of a single diocese, or where the money comes from to run the site.
I don't get it. What are they hiding?
This is not a cynical question. If they have a site that says "Who We Are," they should at the very least provide some real information.
The ratings are also disabled on their YouTube videos -- this may also dampen viewings, as (I suspect) those videos with are most rated / rated highly will get more coverage on YouTube's site.
Tom - not one to quibble, but "innitiative" has only one "n", not two.
As to the videos - they are well produced and are of the highest quality. It's great to read that they are having a positive impact. I hope they take your advice and allow them to be embedded.
Is it just me, or does anyone else see the hand of St Paul in all this? We ARE in the Pauline year, the year that we should be evangelizing and bringing all back to the Catholic Faith. Yesterday's post on the Anglicans also struck a cord with me under this matter. And I can see it even here at home with one of our parishioners wanting to start a Catholic Satellite radio for our diocese. He knows nothing about radio or communications, actually, he is a pharmaceutical sales rep .... but he believes God has asked him to do this so he has started, and seems like a reality in the making. Things happen when we listed to God, the only thing we have to do is sit still and pay attention. Of course some of us might need to get thrown off a horse like Paul did, but I guess that is for God to determine.
Oops. Open mouth, insert foot.
I looked more carefully this morning and found the site was founded by Tom Peterson. His name is in far down on the web page. I found more info about him from doing a Google search.
So, I am amending my note of above.
http://www.ajc.com/living/
conten...ntlid=inform_sr
I wrote about this earlier. When you first linked to the video, it was unavailable because Catholics Come Home sent a takedown notice.
A takedown notice for evangelization.
http://blaise.ca/blog/2008/04/22...ad-our-message/
It's really frustrating. They do such great work, yet... they're afraid to let people share it.
I emailed them and the response was disheartening. They don't understand copyright law or the web.
"We appreciate your great intentions to spread the videos, unfortunately sometimes ads can get spliced-apart and altered by individuals with less than good intentions; that is the need for copyright guidelines. We also want the ads to be viewed through the website so that they also have immediate access to the supporting content at the site, rather than just the video alone. Thank you for your understanding."
1) You can license the videos in ways that don't allow derivative works (e.g. Creative Commons);
2) Why not include a URL in the videos? It doesn't matter where people view them, they'll be able to visit the website;
3) Umm... how can they justify showing the ads on television then? If they "ant the ads to be viewed through the website so that they also have immediate access to the supporting content," why isn't television a problem?
Anyways, I made some suggestions and was told that they would be researching them. Obviously, it hasn't made a difference.
Frustrating... such good work....
I agree about the videos.
When it comes to the faith, and if you have something to offer, don't hold it back. Instead of 6,000 it could be 10,000 or 60,000 inquiries if it were loaded onto YouTube and blogs.
I love this effort. The transparency thing is an issue, though. I have heard (and perhaps someone can correct me) that Matthew Kelly is heavily involved in this, bankrolling it. Is this true? His books are being given away through the site.
Kelly is not a negative, but he is such a lightweight. If he is supporting this, great for him, but the flaw I see is that the resources the website is pointing to are focused on Kelly and therefore missing a lot of other great stuff that is out there.
Totally agree--
They need to let this beautiful baby go viral. It would have gone viral 6 months ago if it could just be embedded.
How can we communicate this to them effectively? Your site and a few others would launch this into 100,000+ in a few days
These folks are producing awesome media. I'm glad the laity are stepping up and doing what hasn't been done (a la Fishers of Men, this, etc).
Also, any plans to take this ad national?
I have also inquired about them allowing embedding on YouTube with no response from them yet.
There efforts and the quality of the work should be applauded overall.
The videos are well done! I hope they continue to succeed in their mission!
FYI, a WHOIS query reveals that a nonprofit corporation called VirtueMedia, Inc. in Gilbert, Arizona, owns the website, and the Tom Peterson previously mentioned is the president.
The VirtueMedia website is http://www.virtuemedia.org/
Peterson's e-mail is listed on the contact page if you want to talk to him.
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