MRS > Migration Policy and Public Affair Office > Unity in Diversity Listserv Group
MRS/PCMR has created an “internet discussion group” (or “Listserv” as it is more commonly known and correctly spelled) to facilitate communication between Catholic diocesan and parish leaders who are involved in developing and implementing plans to "welcome the stranger" in their local communities
MRS/PCMR is piloting the group using “YahooGroups.com”. The website for the discussion group is: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/uidgroup/
There are several advantages to hosting the group at this site:
- Membership will be restricted. This protects the email addresses and privacy of group members. If you would like to join the group, you must receive an invitation from the PCMR moderator, or simply go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/uidgroup/ and click “Join Now.” Yahoo will then send an email message to the group moderator asking for approval of your membership which will be granted to all PCMR network contacts as soon as it is received by the moderator.
- Group members may use any email address they wish in order to participate in the discussion group (despite which email address the invite is sent to).
- Group members can elect to receive messages from the group in several different ways. First, members can receive each posting as an individual email. Thus, every time something is posted to the listserv site, the member will receive a message in their email in-box. Secondly, a member can choose to receive one “daily digest” of messages at the end of the day. Alternatively, a member may choose not to receive email messages at all. The member would then check the listserv website at his/her leisure to read all posted messages.
- You can post messages to all group members via email or your can log-in to the group’s website to take advantage of additional features including the ability to: upload relevant files to the website, upload; advertise events of interest to group members on the group calendar; poll your colleagues on pressing issues; and post questions, comments or feedback that would be helpful to your diocesan and parish colleagues across the country. These features will be particularly useful to group members as you can share draft curriculum from your “unity in diversity” training programs for instance, or you could post a link to your dioceses’ homepage. This also allows PCMR to post files that may be of use to you, such as census data, multicultural resources and helpful documents received from dioceses.
As Yahoo Groups is the only Listserv service we’ve found capable of all of these features, we have elected to use them as we pilot this initiative. The major drawback to using Yahoo Groups is that it is a “free” internet service, paid for by advertisers. This means that each time you use access the website, advertisements will appear on the margin of the screen.
However, pop-up ads do not appear. This also means that email messages sent among group members may have advertising along the margins. While this is an unfortunate reality, Yahoo Groups is the only listserv software that we know of that’s capable of performing all of the useful and important functions listed above. We will pilot this with a test group to determine if the site is easily accessible and is functioning as planned. Any group member can unsubscribe at any time.
To complement this, we have also enhanced our own website and will continue to update the “Replicating Best Practices” section with reflections, documents, plans, stories, replicable initiatives, etc. received from the dioceses. If you have information, resources, materials, etc. that you have learned, obtained or developed during the course of your own diocesan action plan implementation, please feel free to share it with PCMR (contact information appears at the end of this email).
If you are interested in joining the “listserv” please visit the website (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/uidgroup/) or contact the PCMR Education and Development Coordinator at the email address below. You will need to follow the instructions very clearly in order to join the group - this will include creating a Yahoo Registration and password. We have created an instruction sheet that will hopefully aid you as you go through the process of joining the group
For More Information About or Assistance with the Unity in Diversity Listserv Internet Discussion Group, please contact:
Amy E. Newlon
Education and Development Coordinator
Office for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Refugees
Migration and Refugee Services
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
3211 4th Street, NE
Washington, DC 20017-1194
Direct Line: 202-541-5408
anewlon@usccb.org
Click Here to Receive Instructions for Registering for the “Unity in Diversity” ListServe