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Well, this is refreshing news!

Apparently, the Catholics Come Home initiative in the Diocese of Green Bay has been a great success, and has encouraged a 7.4% increase in Mass attendance. This initiative has been centered around inviting back former Catholics, and increasing the faith and understanding of currently-active Catholics.

Eight months ago, the Diocese of Green Bay began airing television commercials for six weeks that invited Catholics to Come Home. This month, the diocese released survey findings that show Mass attendance increased an average of 7.4 percent after the commercials began to air.

In addition, more than 95 percent of parish leaders and parishioners reported that CCH had a positive influence on their lives.

For any program like this, two very important factors must be considered: 1. The welcoming attitude must saturate both diocesan and parish-based programs. 2. Truth/morals/teachings must never be compromised in welcoming new and former members into the Church—otherwise, those returning/joining will quickly see that we are duplicitous.

The program in Green Bay also had a very nice, accessible website, which most definitely helped those Catholics who were seeking more information! The website even seems to have been designed competently for SEO and cross-browser compatibility... go figure!

Congratulations to the Diocese of Green Bay! Hopefully, we can see a bit more of this in other dioceses, especially in the U.S.!

For the past week (and the next), I've been in the Eternal City, helping the Redemptorist community stream their 24th General Chapter. They wanted to share the proceedings in a more immediate fashion with the broader Redemptorist community around the world, and this is probably the best way to do it.

A few months ago, I was approached by the Redemptorists' communications director and asked what kind of equipment he would need to take a live video feed from a multi-camera setup, and broadcast it on Ustream (free streaming = a good solution - you can also use Watershed or a similar paid service if you need it).

I found a great little Analog-to-Digital converter from Canopus, the ADVC-55, and also purchased the ADVC-PSU5V AC Adaptor Kit with it (since the PC laptop the Redemptorists have has only a 4-pin/no-power FireWire port. I've used a variety of DV bridges in the past, and always had trouble with keeping a reliable DV stream into the computer. Luckily, the Canopus does a great job, and has not once caused a blip in the DV stream - it takes composite video in (along with audio, if need be), and converts it to a DV stream over firewire.

I didn't even have to install a driver on the Vista PC, as the DV stream acts as a generic DV-over-FireWire stream. Therefore, Ustream immediately recognized it and put it online.

For audio, we are using an output from the sound mixer, converted from XLR to 1/4" stereo minijack, and it sounds pretty good. You can easily control the volume of the signal either (a) at the board itself, or (b) using Ustream's volume slider. Note, however, that you should listen to the stream so you can see whether or not the sound is clipping. If it's clipping, you may need to use a different signal, or change the input on your computer from mic to line level.

This kind of setup works great for those who have in-house video systems, as it is probably the easiest way to convert analog video (composite, RCA-jack video, or S-video) into a usable source for Ustream, Watershed, and the like.

More on streaming via Ustream

• How to stream from TriCaster Broadcast/Pro to Ustream.tv or Watershed
• How @archstl Streamed the Installation Mass Video Online and via Satellite
• Live Streaming from an Event using Ustream or Watershed

Any other suggestions?

Just created a new forum, titled "Traditional Media" — the forum is meant to be a place to discuss Catholic newspapers, magazines, television, etc., and most especially ways that stalwarts of the so-called 'traditional' media are moving into the future world of digital convergence.

Some would call traditional media "old" media, but we beg to differ... There is most definitely a place for television programming, news journalism (and I don't mean the run-and-gun blog-style journalism), photojournalism, and printed media in our connected world.

Go ahead and join the conversation in our forums!