The online Bible can be edited on the fly by anyone on the planet, with no login required. Read more

And among America's great institutions, the Catholic Church looms large as another arena for the reconciling of our physical and digital experiences. The American Catholic Church represents nearly a quarter of the population; some 68 million people across 18,000 parish churches within 195 dioceses in 50 states.

Catholics under 30, who embody the future of the Church, are true digital natives. They experience life in both the physical and digital space, with real world experiences like the Mass amplified across online profiles and communities, sparking curiosity and conversation among people who expect to be able to find answers (at least, orthodox clarity of information) as simply as they search for an address or pay a bill.

The digital life, in other words, impacts lines of thinking and personal formation. This leads to an inescapable conclusion: the Catholic Church is missing a tremendous opportunity.

The dioceses, and especially the major Archdioceses in cities like Philadelphia and Los Angeles — the organs of the Church's unique central management — have a chance to take a cue from New York City's hiring of Ms. Sterne to recruit "Directors of Digital Strategy" of their own.

Pope Benedict XVI has made the new evangelization a cornerstone of his papacy. This is the challenge of carrying the Gospel message with a new zeal and urgency to all people, everywhere. What simpler way to begin answering this call than to make the local Church relevant in the digital space — the lives — of her people?

So what of this New Evangelisation and a Digital Strategy for American Catholic Dioceses

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• Image: Live, Laugh and Learn

ooBible, the new digital Bible website is being designed to transform reading scripture, converting it into a type of social media experience.

Former Google engineer Colin Wong came up with the idea last October when reading the Bible. His experience was similar to everyone else's since the advent of the printing press; one not really built for the e-reading generation.

"We wanted a clean, simple interface, something that people can come in, and really just focus on the words," Wong told GeekWire. "We wanted to create an experience that mimics physical books, so you can highlight, annotate on it ... and bridge the gap between physical books and the e-book world."

"It is really perfect for collaboration and sharing," said Wong. "You can imagine a pastor sharing notes with their congregation or doing a Bible study with a group of friends."

Despite there being thousands of digital copies of the Bible, Wong said ooBible stands out from eBooks.

ooBible is an integrated reading experience, where notes and highlights can be shared across multiple Bible versions, on the iPhone, iPad, Android, RIM, Windows Mobile and the web, PR Leap adds.

What separates it from other Bible websites is a focus on the social experience, enabling users to follow the teachings of popular Bible teachers in their readings.

Wong, who worked at Google from 2002 to 2006, believes that books will eventually transform into full-featured applications with more immersive experiences.

http://youtu.be/k0dFOxSYioQ

Sources

• PR Leap - ooBible
• ooBible
• Geekwire
• CathNewsUSA