CHARLOTTE —With more than 10,000 families participating in a hundred-plus ministries at St. Matthew Church, it's challenging for parishioners to keep up with everything happening at one of the nation's largest Catholic churches.
Jim Alvarez, St. Matthew's audiovisual coordinator, is sharing his talents and the news about the south Charlotte parish through online broadcasts called "MATTtv."
"Honestly, the goal is to electronically evangelize," Alvarez said. "To show how much of God's work is here and what goes on around us. I think some people tend to feel like they get lost here in the community, but 'MATTtv' connects them a bit."
Alvarez, who spent three decades in television, writes, shoots and produces the bi-weekly internet news broadcast.
"It's something I've always wanted to do," he said. "It's been a personal journey, about how I can use my talents at the church to serve others.
"I came up with this crazy, wild thought of shooting some of the happenings here and sharing it with the community, our community."
Alvarez started working part-time at the parish about four years ago, and now he produces gospel reflections and video series for the parish, including the Puzzle of Life Lenten reflections.
He said he put together the first show "under the radar." He handed the pilot to Monsignor John McSweeney, pastor, and asked him to review it. Monsignor McSweeney gave Alvarez the green light and he's up to nine episodes now.
"Monsignor has been awesome, even participating in the broadcasts. Having his support has been helpful," Alvarez said.
Monsignor McSweeney said he is delighted with the success of the broadcasts.
"Following the leadership of Pope Francis, we are trying to utilize every means of social media to communicate the good news of Jesus Christ, and I am pleased that our teens and young adults are so involved in the production of our 'MATTtv' series," he said via email.
The idea of the brief news broadcasts is to share information about the ministries at the parish as well as personal stories of people's spiritual journeys, Alvarez said. "What I found were people were aware of what was going on, that there were these ministries, but not what they did or who they served."
Alvarez wanted to produce the show every week, but said he had to be realistic. A new show is posted online every two weeks and promoted through social media. Eventually, he said he hopes it can play on the electronic billboard televisions across the church campus.
"It boils down to reaching people where they are – on their tablets, on their phones," Alvarez said. "I feel like it's really where God wants me and needs me to be now. I'm happy and it's fun."
The broadcasts are hosted by parishioner Valerie Mazel and a small group of teens who contribute the youth angle.
Producing the broadcasts doesn't cost anything additional, as Alvarez is on staff and the equipment was purchased when the church started its Lenten reflection videos.
Each episode of "MATTtv" has garnered a couple hundred views on You Tube, with the most-viewed episode, an interview with Monsignor McSweeney at his 40th anniversary of the priesthood, reaching more than 500 views.
"The people who have seen it have been realty positive," Alvarez said. "Their response has been that they love it and they didn't know that the ministry we highlighted was all about.
"It's still a work in progress for us. It's still new enough that we can tweak it as we go."
At www.youtube.com/stmatthewcatholic: Tune into St. Matthew Church's biweekly broadcasts of 'MATTtv'