...simple, easy, awesome. [ barking ] >> hello, on behalf of the archdiocese of san francisco, welcome to "mosaic." we know we're living in the age of digital communication, the latest variety of mass communication. once upon a time, not long ago, mass communication had to be delivered through a fixed device like the radio or tv in the living room, the telephone on the stands. communication now is everywhere and constant and endlessly variable. the powerful compact, under wolf devices where we receive the communications and sunday out on our own are porta believe and ever present.

they're capable of helping us with business, education, personal relations and sheer entertainment. young pea, especially, we like to say, live on their devices. our guests today is samantha yee a writer editor and adept in this realm, a catholic writer and speaker who said if that is where young people are living, that is where we have to reach them. reach them with what? samantha will show we reach them with art, beauty and soul. after the brief break, join us as we talk with san francisco's own samantha yee about young digital catholics today.

hello, thank you for joining us on mosaic. today is samantha ye, say native san francisco, a young woman, as you can see, i believe she's 24 years old. we have just met and i am so overwhelmed by your resume. i am not sure what your main activity is? you're a writer, editor and a professional digital entrepreneur. you're a student at uc berkley. can you give me a picture of what you're doing? >> yeah. >> and well, first and foremost, i am a student at uc berkley and i am working on research right now regarding james joyce's ulysees. >> okay.

>> beyond that, i write and edit, i do social media for catholic companies and organizations, i speak to youth groups, college centers, i am kind of all over the place. i write ploughing posts for various companies. i advice people how to us instagram and pinterest. >> and you consult on social media with people and you're an excellent writer. it says hi, i am sam. i write, edit and do social media for catholics from san francisco, and you have links to various networks of artists, writers and so on. >> uh-huh. >> and as i look through these, i am discovering a world not known to me, which is young catholics, professionals and writers and marketers and so on the internet is going what they do in the service of the

catholic faith. >> yes. >> and you seem to be involved with everyone. >> yes. >> everyone i mentioned you're working for. >> yeah, it's very interesting to be able to use my cath lick faith to work with all of these different kitchen iss and some of the ones listed on my site are the living person, one secret mission, the catholic w. i have also worked with pal campaign and jeff love prints 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 gift that i have. >> and i have seen your published poems on some of the sites. >> uh-huh. >> and i am sure there are a lot of nonbiline material. >> uh-huh. >> and i believe you make a good living as a professional writer and editor, paying your rent and too figs at uc berkeley for your academic career and you're an active sort of catholic evangelist or

speaker. i think you, in a typical day. you mentioned last friday. i said, samantha, how do you spend a day? >> yeah. >> what happened? tell me again. >> last friday. i woke up at 6:00 a.m. and took the b.a.r.t. from berkeley to san francisco to meet with seth of 1 bottom stories at 7:00 a.m. for coffee. >> and 1 billion stories is in. >> 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 he's moving into podcast as well to really help people understand the faith through the eyes of the people who are living it. so, we had a chat and right after that, i had to take

b.a.r.t. back to berkeley for my classes. >> uh-huh. >> and immediately following my classes in the morning, i had to take a.m. track, a train from berkley to sacramento, what was a two- hourlong 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 adoration and praising worship. and i also got, after that, got to talk to a group of catholic mommy bloggers. >> moment bloggers are what? >> moms who are at home and working on the internet and giving their creative endeavors their? >> yeah, there is a whole group of catholic moms blogging about it and talking about how they share the faith with their children and live liturgically.

yeah, it's funny because there is a stereotype that there is this catholic mom with five children and they take their kids to daily mass. but it's very cool to see how they're living their faith at home in a different way than i am. >> and they're supporting each other. this is interesting. when one thinks of the internet as you going to your favorite places and staying in your the circle, but as i look the what you have touched through your internet presence, there is an organic network of catholics doing various things. i noticed the photographic or video thing called one secret mission. >> uh-huh. >> and they had a video of what they do. what is their practice? what do they do with their photographs? >> they basically create this stock photo collection for catholics. >> okay. >> whether that is for churches or various ministries to use on

social media. >> uh-huh. >> or in other capacities so that we have a resource. >> uh-huh. >> to evangelize the faith through good photography. >> and so, i handle a website and i am looking for photography. i haven't heard of one secret mission. >> yeah. >> and this is an interesting thig. they have a video and you wrote the script to their video. >> yes. >> and i don't have it here. i was going to read it. interesting. you combine artistry with this and this is what the narrator writes. you're an artist and see things differently. others see a ordinary sunset, you see a masterpiece and bring beaut into an otherwise dark world because you're an artist, what you do. you create because were made in the image and likeness of a creation. you know how to tell stories because you heard the greatest story ever told. you're both the artist and the art. the creator and the created, the act of creating speaks to the very core of white house

are. because he passed the creative start to you and that is very good writing. very simple and effective, sometimes to me. so, i believe that people reach out to you when they see you writing to ask to you come and help to work to give talks to youth and so on? >> yeah. i feel like i don't promote myself. i have my personal social media accounts but i still get tops of emails from different companies and organizations who want me to work with them because i think i capture the catholic essence and providing good communication and good writing. >> i think so, too. >> and let's take a brief break and we'll come back and talk more with samantha yee about digital communications today.

. hello, our guest today is samantha yee a san francisco

native, writer and editor. we should begin with a bio. i didn't have ask you about your upbringing. you have -- . >> i have three younger brothers. >> three younger brothers. >> born in san francisco and grow know in the bay area. i don't know what else you want to know? >> you went to high school? >> notre dame in belmont. an all-girls catholic high school. >> you mentioned that your mother works for the church in some parish occupation? >> both of my parents work for the church. my father works for the chanceory, the archdiocese of san francisco and my mother with the parish level doing liturgy and music. i very much grew up in this world where you serve the church. >> that is very interesting. and i think you lapsed from your faith at a certain point, when you were young in college. >> yeah. >> and then found what you call a reversion to it. how did that come about? >> yeah, i, when i first started college at cal, i was

at the place where a lot of young people are at and that is trying to figure out who they are and how they fit into the world. for me, i didn't think faith was going to be a part of that. i had just grown up in the church and to me, i had seen a lot of the politics and drama behind the scenes. >> yeah. >> and so i, i didn't think that was going to be a part of my life -- i remember telling people in high school that there is no way i am going to be catholic as ab adult. >> okay. >> but, going in with that mind set into cal, i stepped to look for happiness on purpose in all of the wrong places and things that were only temporary, and i finally found a solid place. and that is what placed my identity through my catholic faith. >> uh-huh. >> and i ended up reverting because i went to a conference

in san diego. >> that is the catholic college? -- . >> ohio. >> ohio. >> and they started the conferences for high schoolers. i was not a high schooler at that point, but i credited a lot of myself to it. that was the first time i showed my testimony and because of that, i started to see how the pieces fit together and how god worked in my life. and beyond that, was connected to all of these holy people, young people living their faith and that was not anything i had seen before. and we would go to in and out at night and talk about brown is, capulars and i was like who are these people. >> theology on tap is one, you have to be 21 to go in the bar. >> yeah. >> and i developed an adult set of friends and came back to the church. you wanted to write from the age of 5 and had been doing so.

>> yeah. >> and i know you have testimonials from marketers and people on your website and you write dynamite ad cop and i have seen a couple of good poems and they were striking as well and you seem to have all of the tools as a writer. you mentioned adoration. it was a big spiritual time for you. >> uh-huh. >> this past holy week, i had a chance to play mary in the living stations of the cross and we're basically walking from pier 39 to the square in san francisco and it was a highly trafficked touristy area and i am dressed as mary and this guy is carrying the cross and that is on good friday. to me, that was a powerful experience to enter into the passion in that way. and to take on the role of mary and to see the crucifixion and

power in her eyes. >> i think embodying mary is powerful. >> yeah. >> can i ask you to read a pow poem? >> i have a poem published on good friday at the grotto network, run by the university of notre dame in indiana. my sweet boy, the fruit of my vine, how could i have known when i was told a sword would pierce this heart of mine. in your moments of woe and despair, was there. your blood, sweat and tear in the garden in the dark night reminded me of a time i bled and sweat for you on a starlight. sorriful history how this became a history. your oaks of young mother's wales. for love, i would willingly suffer. to watch you, that is far tougher. the king of the jews, they said, and they placed a crown of thorns upon your head. the first crown you wore was the flesh of my wound and baby arriving at an inn with no room. i remember when i first carried

you, you wrapped your hand around my finger. my greatest. >> and my greatest sorrow, too, as you carry the cross up to a hilly plane, i longed to hold you in my arms against. naked but for a piece of cloth on a piece of wood. and i -- you would make it on a piece of wood on a friday. they later called good. my sweet boy, your blood turned to wine, how could i have known when i was told the sword would pierce this heart of mine. how could i know as you learned to crawl, you would be the salvation of us all. >> that is very, very nice. really reads and speaks to the readers. >> uh. >> that is i could i could. >> the connection between the sorrowful mysteries and the birth of jesus. >> yeah. >> and the crucifixion, resurrection and his birth. >> uh-huh. >> that is fantastic. and you wrote instagram posts and various other things for catholic groups that want a perhaps on the internet. >> yeah. >> you offer your services.

many people want to communicate and don't know how to write or edit or script and you do. you do that. i think that is fascinating. >> yeah. >> and you have high art in you as well. can you tell me briefly what your academic research is about? >> oh, yeah. >> and, my area of expertise is biblical and medieval poetry. >> okay. >> and looking at the christian mystics and song of songs. right now, i am working on a research project that takes james joyce's ulysees, an awesome irish poet and writer, and looks at the role of writer as a catholic priest and the act of writing figs as a consecrating of the sacred. >> okay. >> and writing as a sacred art. >> uh-huh. >> and james joys is your -- . >> i know. interesting fellow. we'll talk about that more. >> we'll be back in in a moment

with samantha yee and digital catholicism.

. hello, welcome back. we're talking about the internet and about young people. now, samantha, i ride the b.a.r.t. every day and everyone on the b.a.r.t. is glued to his mobile device. >> yeah. >> and i wonder often what they're doing and having met you, it's possible that some of

those people are looking at their catholic messages and sending them back and forth. i wanted to talk to you in general about the state of the internet and young people. if we say, i think that is where young people live today, and if you want to reach them for good, that is where you reach them. >> uh-huh. >> and we hear that they're addicted to the internet. we hear that they're in 32 room alone with their favorite materials. what is your view of this tool, this universal tool? >> i like calling it a universal tool. the word catholic is universal. >> exactly. >> and it connects me to people all over the world. i like to view social media as a place of encounter and a place to meet people where

they'rera the and have one-on- oneter actions with them and share my heart and be vulnerable and be the same and where people are, if you think about anything consist that young people do today, they're on social media every day and for several hours at a time, where they live and that is where you that are. >> and i think studies have said, look, the young people are not reading anymore and they're not picking up a book or good at reading. i, in a layman's term, expect that if you're looking at content or coffee, you're reading every day. do you find that there is -- you find you have to make things simple or -- >> i don't tone myself down. >> okay. >> as an academic and scholar, i tend to use big words a lot. i don't tone that down. and people are reading it. sometimes they will comment on specific parts of the things i have said, about my own life or

insights about a gospel reading, so i know they're reading it. and i don't think that way have anything to worry about with the young people. they're still taking in good information and still thinking about how they can contribute to the world. and they want to do good in the world and we see that so strongly. >> well met ask you this, too, again, surveys or newspaper stories tell me that the practice of religion is diminishing among younger people. on the survey, they answer they have no religion and so on. what is your view of all of that? you seem to be a part of an active core. solid group of people. >> i think there is a whole world on the internet that people have no idea about. and there is ton of amazing catholic organizations and ministries that are working to build community online. and even in-person. one of the ones i love is blessed she. they work specifically with

women. and they have reflects on the daily mass readings and in- person lunch chats. >> really? and this is based physically somewhere? or? >> i mean -- . >> all over. >> okay. >> yeah, you can take their lunches anywhere or their bible studies and do that anywhere. it's just using the tool of the internet to connect people. >> and you opened me town several things. >> uh-huh. >> and i get the newsletter and i know something about catholic women i didn't know before. you are donating your serves to many people. >> and sometimes, yes. >> and i think you're an organized and ambitious professional. >> huh-uh. >> and that is interesting the combination of things. let me ask you this, where would you see yourself being in

10 years? >> would you be a teacher? academic? evangelist? >> i have no idea. it's wherever god can use my talents, i would love to work with people. and in real life and real ministry. and i love the information and type of work that happens on a parish level. >> uh-huh. >> and i think you really work with the people and work with teens and young adults and i love the writing part of it and the media communications. and that is how connections are being formed nowadays and in my life, there are so many friends i have made through instagram and so many jobs i got through instagram. it's insane to think about. >> and for buddies like me, would you reassure us the kids are not wasting their time on the internet in. >> the kids are all right.

and i think with anything, you have to be prudent and exercise self-control and i think there are a lot of good things that can come out of social media. there are several people who reached out to me who have told me just reading my facebook and instagram post has been the reason why they started going to mass again. >> you know, and you're modest about that and to say, your sister is interesting, but it's not but. you're conveying to the people something beyond you and they're responding to it. >> yeah and there is something bugger than me, and i think even people not subscribing to my religious beliefs acknowledge there is something good, wholesome and true about the things i am doing, and they're attracted to that and admire that. they want some of that. >> that is wonderful. it's been great to meet you. >> yeah. >> it you for coming and talking with us. good luck with your academic work and wherever you wind up,

it will be a messed spot because you're there. seriously. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. >> thank you for joining us on mosaic. we'll see you next time.

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