and on behalf of the archdiocese of san francisco welcome to mosaic. we all know that we are living in the age of digital communication. and once upon a time, not long ago mass communications had been delivered a fixed device. and the telephone on the stand. the communication is everywhere and can't and endlessly variable. and the powerful compact devices on which we received communication are portable and in fact ever present. and they are capable of helping us with business education and sheer entertainment.

young people we like to say they live on the devices. our guest today is a writer editor and adapt. a catholic writer and speaker who has said that that is where young people are living better we have to reach them. and reach them is what? with writing, art, beauty, and soul. after this break, please join us as we speak with san francisco's own about young digital catholics today.

hello and thank you for joining us. my guest today is samantha. she is a native of san francisco and a young woman as you can see, i believe that she is 24. i'm so overwhelmed by a resume. i'm not quite sure what you mean activity is. you are a writer and editor in a professional digital entrepreneur. you are a student at uc berkeley could you give me a picture what you are doing? >> first and foremost i am a student. i am working on research right now. and beyond that, i write. i edit, i do social media for catholic companies and organizations speak to

newsgroups colleges cost centers, i'm kind of all over the place. i write blog posts for various companies. i advise people on how to use instagram and contrast >> so you consult with people but you are also an excellent writer. just looking at your first webpage. it says hello. i am semi-right and into social media for catholics. and you have links to a various network of artists writers and so on and as i click through i'm discovering a world that isn't known to well to me which is young catholic professionals who are on the internet doing what they do in the service of the catholic faith. >> yes. >> you seem to be involved with all of them.

>> yes. it's very interesting to be able to use my catholic faith to work with all these different companies and some of the want to wireless on my site are the living person one secret mission the catholic woman. i've also worked with other campaigns and net ministries. there is all of these different groups of catholics that i have been able to work with through the internet. because of the gifts that i have. >> and i have seen your published poems and i'm sure that there's a lot nonviolent material because you make a living as a professional writer and you're paying your rent intuition. it sounds like you are very active in speaking. and i think that in a typical day you mentioned last friday was a sentimental high spend

the day. >> last friday i woke up at 6 am and took the bart from berkeley to san francisco to meet with seth of 1 billion stories at 7:30 am for coffee. >> and that is >> he runs a company that makes videos and tells the stories of the 1 billion catholics in the world. he uses both video instagram and i think that he is moving into podcast as well to really just help people understand the faith through the eyes of the people who are living it. and so, we had a chat and right after that, i had to take it -- bart back for my classes. and immediately following my classes in the morning had to

take amtrak which is a train from berkeley to sacramento which is a two hour long ride. because i was speaking at the newman center in sacramento to the college students there to talk and share my testimony while they had praise and worship. i also got to talk to a group of catholic mom bloggers. you know. >> they are what? mom to at home? getting creative endeavors click >> yes. so there's a whole group of catholic mom who are blogging about it and talking about how they share the faith with children. and yes. it's really just funny because there's a stereotype that the is this catholic mom with five

children and they take the kids to daily mass but it is very cool to see how they are living the faith at home in a different way than i am. >> and supporting each other. >> because one thinks of the internet as you going to your favorite places and staying in little circles but as a look at what you have touched to your internet friends there is sort of this organic network of catholics doing various things. i noto -- noticed the one secret mission video graph. what is their practice? >> basically they create best stock photo collections for catholics. whether that is for various ministries to use on social media. and, so that we have a resource

to evangelize the good photography >> i handle that website. and i haven't heard of that secret mission. but you know here is the interesting thing, they have a video and he wrote the script for that video. i don't have it. >> and very interesting you combine artistry and theology. and this is what they read. you are an artist you see things differently. where others see an ordinary since you see a masterpiece. you being that she bring beauty into a dark road because it's a what you do. you know how to tell stories because you have had the greatest story ever told andrew about the artist and the art. the creator and the created the act of creating speaks to the very core of who you are. because he passed the creative spark to you. it's very good writing.

very simple and very effective. so i believe that people do reach out to you and they see her writing to ask you to come to help to work to give talks. >> yes. i feel like i don't promote myself. i just have my personal social media accounts but i still get a ton of emails from different companies who want me to work with them because i think that i capture the catholic essence while providing good communication >> i think so. let's take a brief break and we will come back and talk more with samantha about digital communication today.

hello. our guest is samantha. a san francisco native and a writer and editor. we should begin with a little

bio. i didn't ask you about your upbringing. >> i have three younger brothers born in san francisco i grew up in the bay area. i don't know what else you'd like to know. >> where did you go to high school? >> notre dame. it's an all-girls catholic high school. >> and you mentioned that your mother works for the church in some parish. >> yes. both of my parents work for the church. and my mother works at the parish level doing music. i very up grew up you know where you serve the church. >> very interesting. and i think that you lapse from your faith at a certain point. and then found what you call a reversion to it. >> yes. when i first started college i was really at a place for a lot of young people are where they are just trying to figure out who they are and how they fit

into the world. and for me i didn't think that it was going to be a part of that. i had grown up in the church and to me i had seen a lot of the politics and drama behind the scenes so i didn't think that it was going to be a part of my life. #people in high school that there's no way i'm going to be catholic as an adult. but going in with that mindset you know i can't i tended to look for happiness and purpose and all the wrong places. and just things that are only temporary and i finally found a solid place it placed my identity through my catholic faith. and i really just ended up reverting because i had gone to a conference >> this is a catholic college in ohio.

>> yes. so, they started these conferences for high schoolers. and i was no longer a highschooler but i will credit that merge into it. and that was the first time i shared my testimony and because of that i started to see how the pieces fit together and how god had worked in my life. but beyond that i was connected to all these holy people and it wasn't something i had seen before. we would go to in and out. and you know. >> the are these things for young people you have to be 21 i think to go into that bar. but you developed an adult that of friends and he sort of came back to the church. but you apparently wanted to write from the age of five and had been doing so. so i know that you have testimonials from marketers and people on your website.

and i've also seen a couple of your poems. and those are striking as well. and you seem to have all those tools as a writer. and you tell me that the recent holy week was a big spiritual time for you. >> yes. this past holy week i had the opportunity to play mary and we were basically walking to your daily square. and it was is highly touristy area and i'm dressed as married. and there is this guy carrying the cost on good friday. and for me it was just a very powerful experience to enter into that passion into take on the role of mary and to the the crucifixion through her eyes. >> i think that that's one of the benefit of drama is embodying the person you know

you had the experience. the mac can i ask you to read the poem? >> yes. i have this poem it was published on good friday at the grotto network. >> my sleep like, how could i have known when i was told a sword would pierce this heart of mine. in your moments of will in despair i was there. your blood sweat and tears reminded me of a time when i bled and slept for you beneath the starlight. it's a sorrowful mystery how this became our history. discouraged and echo to young mothers whales. and for love i would willingly suffer but to wash you that's far tougher. the king of the juice they said and they placed a crown of thorns upon your head. the first crown you want war was a flesh of my womb arriving at an end with no womb. i remember when i first carried yuki wrapped her hand around my finger my greatest joy in my

greatest sorrow. as you carry the cross up to a hilly plane i long to hold you in my arms again except for a piece of cloth on a piece of wood that served as an animal feeding trough. and as you lay naked on a friday they later called good. my sweet boy here blood turned to wine how can i have known when i was told a sword would pierce this heart of mine. how could i have known that you would be the salvation of us all? >> that's very nice. really it reads it speaks to the readers. >> the connections are between the sorrowful mysteries and the birth of jesus. >> the crucifixion and his birth you know it's fantastic. and you have written in instagram post and various other things for catholic groups and you have the services. because many people want to communicate but don't know how to write. and don't know how to script.

i think it's fascinating. and can you tell me what your academic research is about? >> yes. so i dashed my area of expertise is biblical poetry. looking at the christian song of songs and right now i'm working on a research project. it takes james joyce's ulysses who is an awesome irish poet and writer. and looks at the role as a sort of catholic priest in the act of writing fiction. as a consecrating in the sacred. >> right. writing is a sacred art. and with james joyce >> interesting fellow. >> and, they have a digital catholicism. >>

[ cell phone rings ] >> yeah, i'm watching it too. i see them every day. >> the curtains, they're always drawn in this place. >> i know. >> that guy, it seems like he's in charge of them. i don't know, i don't feel very good about this. >> we have to report this. >> yes, absolutely.

hello and welcome back. we are talking about the internet and about young people. now, i ride the bar every day and everyone you know has a mobile device. and i wonder what they are doing. and having met you it's possible that they are sending messages

back and forth like that. but i wanted to talk about the state of the internet and the state of young people. if you said that's where the young people live today and you want to reach them, for good or for ill that's where you reach them. so we hear that they are addicted to the internet. we hear that they are solipsistic, in the room alone. what do you do this universal tool? >> i calling it a universal tool because the word catholic means universal. so i think that social media definitely is a way to expand that. to connect me to people all over the world. i like to view it as a place of encounter place to meet people where they are at and to really have one-on-one interactions with them but also to share my heart and to be vulnerable.

it's also just where the people are if you think about anything consistent that young people do today they are on social media every single day for several hours at a time that's where they live that's where they are. >> and i think that studies you know said the young people aren't reading anymore they aren't picking up books so they aren't good at reading but you know i kind of expect that if you're looking at content that you are actually reading every day but you find that that's -- gf to make things simpler? >> i don't tone myself down. as an academic and a scholar i tend to use big words a lot. i don't tone it down. and people are reading it because sometimes you know they comment on specific parts of what i have said whether it's my own life for my insights on maybe a gospel reading. i know that they are reading it and i don't think that we have

anything to worry about with young people. they are still taking in good information and they are still thinking about how they can contribute to the world and they want to do good and we see it so strongly >> well surveys or newspaper stories tell me that the practice of religion is diminishing among younger people. they mentioned that they have no religion what is your view of that? you seem to be part of a very active core? >> i think that there's a whole world on the internet that people have no idea about there's tons of amazing catholic organizations and ministries are working to build community online. one of the ones i love is a blessed is she. they work with women and they have reflections on the daily

readings as well as in person. >> and this is based physically somewhere asked >> i mean it's all over. yes. you can go anywhere you can do their bible studies. i think that it is just using the tool of the internet. >> you have opened me up to several new things. i saw a couple of your blogs. and i signed up. so now i get the newsletter from that. and i know something about catholic women i didn't know before. so you are donating your services to many of these people >> sometimes just. >> but you are also an organized and i think ambitious professional. it's just very interesting. and let me ask you, where would you see yourself being in 10 years. a teacher? an academic?

>> i have no idea. it's just wherever god uses my talent i would love to work with people. in real life and real ministry you know i love the relation on the ground type of work. it happens usually on a parish level because i think that you work with these people and children and teens and young adults and you see them progress and grow in their faith but also i love the writing part. i love media and communications. that's really how connections are being formed. i have made so many friends in instagram there so many jobs i've gotten through it. it's insane to think about. >> so for all studies like me would you reassure us that they aren't wasting their time. >> the kids are all right. i think that with anything yet to be prudent in exercise self-

control anything can become a contact -- anything can become an addiction. but there are a lot of good things that come out from social media. there are several people who have reached out to me and told me reading my pages has been those that they started going to mass again. >> and your modest about that to say that. but you are conveying to people beyond you. and they are responding. >> there is definitely something way bigger. and i think that even people who don't subscribe to my religious beliefs is something that is good and total. and, >> that's wonderful. thank you so much for coming with us and talking to us. good luck with your academic work take you for joining us we

will see next time

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