Bishop Paul Tighe Speaks at NDS Faculty Symposium on the Church in a Digital World

Bishop Paul Tighe spoke at the annual Notre Dame Seminary Faculty Symposium on Tuesday, April 4. The symposium usually involves one NDS professor giving a presentation and another faculty member offering a response. However, this year’s symposium had a different format. Bishop Paul Tighe was invited to offer the lecture to the NDS community and his friend and colleague Dr. Daniella Zsupan-Jerome, a professor of pastoral theology at NDS, offered the response.

Bishop Paul Tighe is the Adjunct Secretary of the Pontifical Council of Culture. Pope Francis named him to this position after he completed duties with the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. He was ordained a bishop in Saint Peter’s Basilica by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, on Feb. 27, 2016. Dr. Daniella’s area of study focuses on social communication and ministry, especially digital culture and its potential for faith formation, and she also serves as a consultant for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Communication.

Bishop Tighe’s presentation focused on the positive ways in which the Church can and should use digital communication to evangelize, including the use of social media. Bishop Tighe encouraged seminarians as future priests to become comfortable with modern technology and learn to incorporate it in ministry to others. Dr. Daniella’s response focused on ways in which Bishop Tighe’s understanding of the Church in the digital world could impact the spiritual, intellectual, pastoral, and human dimensions of formation for seminarians.