We are grateful you're here
Everything you need to prepare for the bootcamp
Before You Begin
- Please join the Zoom room a few minutes before each session begins. Registration required only once.
- We encourage participants to keep their cameras on whenever possible.
- Please update your Zoom display name to the name you'd like fellow participants to use.
- Please take a few minutes to review our Netiquette Guidelines listed below in our resources before the first session.
Welcome to Your Bootcamp
Thank you for saying yes to this invitation.
The digital world is not simply a place where information is exchanged. It is a place where cultures are shaped, relationships are formed, and hope can take root.
Over the coming week, you’ll journey alongside communicators, educators, pastoral leaders, creators, and advocates from around the world. Each person arrives with different experiences, gifts, and questions. This Participant Hub is your companion throughout the bootcamp. Here you’ll find everything you need, including Zoom access, the weekly schedule, module overviews, speaker information, resources, and practical updates. We encourage you to bookmark this page and return to it throughout the week.
We hope this experience is more than a course. We hope it becomes the beginning of new friendships, new collaborations, and a renewed commitment to communicating the Gospel of creation with wisdom, beauty, and hope.
Welcome. We’re grateful you’re here.
This Week at a Glance
Each session 2 hours: Mexico City 8:00 am | Bogota 9:00 am | São Paulo 11:00 am | London 3:00 pm | Rome 4:00 pm | Nairobi 5:00 pm | Beirut 5:00 pm | Manila 10:00 pm | Sydney 12:00 midnight. We invited you to learn more about each guest speaker and facilitator below.
| Day | Module | Featured Guest | You’ll Create |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday
July 20 |
The Power of Digital Influence | Opening messages from Msgr. Lucio A. Ruiz and Msgr. Robert Vitillo
Guest: Verônica Brunkow Facilitator: José Antonio Hernández Griego |
Your Digital Influence Statement |
| Tuesday
July 21 |
Purpose-Driven Narratives: Communicating Through Faith | Guest: Muriel Fleury
Facilitator: Diana María Lozano |
Your Story for Our Common Home |
| Wednesday
July 22 |
Personal Branding for Mission-Driven Leaders | Guest: Fr. José Juan Montalvo (Padre Borre)
Facilitator: Diana María Lozano |
Your Personal Brand Statement |
| Thursday
July 23 |
Creating Content that Connects | Facilitator: José Manuel De Urquidi | A piece of content + a 7-day content plan |
| Friday
July 24 |
How to Grow on Social Media and Build Community | Guest: Erich Kerekes (Hallow)
Facilitator: Jorge Cortés Durán |
A three-month growth strategy |
| Saturday
July 25 |
Personal Digital Influence Plan | Opening message: To be confirmed.
Facilitator: Ana Gaby Sáenz |
Your Personal Digital Influence Plan |
Module Overviews
Everything begins with purpose.
Before we create compelling content, grow an audience, or explore storytelling techniques, we’ll begin with a more fundamental question:
What kind of influence are we called to have?
In this opening session, we’ll welcome one another into the Digital Missionaries community and explore how today’s digital world shapes attention, conversation, and culture. Together, we’ll unpack how social media platforms work, why some messages resonate while others disappear, and what it means to cultivate influence rooted in authenticity rather than popularity.
By the end of the session, you’ll create your first Digital Influence Statement: a simple but powerful framework identifying:
- the cause you care about,
- the people you hope to reach,
- the emotions you hope to evoke, and
- the transformation you hope to inspire.
Before the session
No preparation is required, but you may find it helpful to spend a few moments reflecting on these questions:
- What communities do I already serve online or hope to serve?
- What stories or issues consistently move my heart?
- What kind of impact do I hope my digital presence has on others?
- What piece of online content has genuinely inspired you to change, reflect, or take action recently? Why?
This first module will set the foundation for everything that follows. More than learning how algorithms work, you’ll begin discerning how your unique voice, experiences, and faith can contribute to building hope, community, and integral ecology in the digital world.
People rarely remember statistics.
They remember stories.
The second session of the Digital Missionaries Bootcamp explores one of the Church’s oldest and most powerful forms of communication: storytelling. From Scripture and the lives of the saints to the everyday witness of communities around the world, stories have always been how faith is shared, hope is sustained, and people are invited into transformation.
Together, we’ll discover what makes stories emotionally compelling, how digital narratives are structured, and why authentic testimony often has greater impact than polished messaging. We’ll examine how movements inspire change through narrative, explore the unique strengths of Catholic storytelling, and learn practical frameworks for crafting stories that invite people into care for our common home.
Throughout the session, you’ll analyze real-world examples, reflect on your own experiences, and hear from communications leaders working at the heart of the Church’s mission.
By the end of the session, you’ll create “My Story for Our Common Home”—a short personal narrative that connects your lived experience with your mission using the Hook–Heart–Hope framework. Rather than simply explaining why integral ecology matters, you’ll begin practicing how to help others feel why it matters.
Before the session
Take a few moments to reflect on your own journey.
- When did care for creation become personal for you?
- Is there a person, place, or moment that changed how you see our common home?
- What story from your community deserves to be heard by a wider audience?
- Think about a post, video, or testimony that stayed with you long after you saw it. What made it memorable?
Bring your experiences, your memories, and your curiosity. Some of the most powerful stories you’ll hear this week won’t come from professional communicators—they’ll come from one another. This session is an invitation to discover that your own story may be one of the most meaningful tools you have for inspiring hope, building community, and communicating integral ecology.
Every time someone visits your profile, they ask a simple question:
Can I trust this person?
Whether you’re a parish volunteer, diocesan communicator, educator, religious sister, priest, or content creator, your digital presence tells a story long before someone reads your latest post. This session explores how to build an authentic digital identity—one that reflects your vocation, your values, and your commitment to integral ecology with clarity, consistency, and credibility.
Together, we’ll explore what personal branding really means—and what it doesn’t. Rather than promoting ourselves, we’ll learn how to make our mission more visible. You’ll reflect on your unique gifts, identify the communities you hope to serve, define your voice, and discover practical ways to ensure that your profiles, content, and online presence communicate the same message: who you are and why your work matters.
Throughout the session, you’ll work through the Identity Compass framework, learn how to write a compelling social media bio, and explore simple strategies for creating a coherent, trustworthy digital presence across platforms. You’ll also hear from Fr. José Juan Montalvo (“Padre Borre”), whose ministry has become one of the leading examples of Catholic digital evangelization in the Spanish-speaking world.
By the end of the session, you’ll leave with your own Digital Brand Statement—a concise articulation of your identity, mission, audience, voice, and invitation—as well as a revised social media bio that better reflects the mission you hope to share with the world.
Before the session
Take a few minutes to look at your own digital presence with fresh eyes.
- Visit your primary social media profile as though you were seeing it for the first time.
- Does your profile clearly communicate who you are, who you serve, and what you care about?
- What three words would you hope someone uses to describe you after spending a few minutes with your content?
- Is there anything on your profile that no longer reflects the person—or the mission—you are becoming?
You don’t need thousands of followers to have influence. The most effective digital missionaries aren’t those with the largest audiences—they’re the ones whose online presence consistently reflects the Gospel they seek to proclaim. This session is about becoming one of those people.
Ideas alone don’t change the world: stories do.
By this point in the bootcamp, you’ve reflected on your mission, clarified your story, and begun shaping a digital presence that reflects your vocation. Now comes the question every digital missionary eventually faces:
How do I consistently create content that people actually want to engage with?
In this highly practical session, you’ll learn how to transform the everyday moments of your ministry, community, or professional life into compelling digital content that informs, inspires, and invites others to act. Rather than chasing trends or trying to be everywhere at once, you’ll discover how to choose the right platform, the right format, and the right message for the people you hope to reach.
Together we’ll explore the strengths of today’s major content formats—from carousels and Reels to Stories, WhatsApp, long-form video, podcasts, and text-based posts—and discuss why different stories belong on different platforms. You’ll also learn the five characteristics of content that resonates: clarity, emotion, usefulness, authenticity, and a meaningful call to action.
Most importantly, this module is built around creating—not just learning. You’ll receive practical guidance on using nothing more than your phone and accessible tools like Canva and CapCut to produce high-quality content, regardless of your previous experience or budget. During the workshop, you’ll create your own piece of content based on a real story from your ministry or community and begin building a realistic content plan you can actually sustain after the bootcamp.
By the end of the session, you’ll leave with your first completed piece of mission-driven content and a 7-day content plan featuring three concrete ideas, selected formats, and publishing platforms—ready to begin sharing your message with greater confidence and consistency.
Before the session
Come ready with a story.
It doesn’t have to be dramatic. In fact, the most powerful stories often aren’t.
Take a few minutes to think about a moment you’ve witnessed recently that reflects hope, service, ecological conversion, or care for creation. It could be someone tending a community garden, a parish recycling initiative, a conversation that changed your perspective, or simply a quiet act of compassion that deserves to be seen.
You may also want to have the following ready:
- Your smartphone (fully charged)
- Canva installed or accessible through your browser (optional, but recommended)
- One or two photos or short videos from your ministry or community that you’re willing to use during the workshop
Remember: people rarely connect with abstract ideas. They connect with people, places, and stories. This session will help you recognize the stories already unfolding around you and give you the tools to tell them well.
Creating great content is only the beginning. This session explores how to grow a mission-driven digital presence that fosters meaningful relationships and inspires action—not simply more followers.
You’ll gain a deeper understanding of how social media algorithms work, why authentic engagement matters more than vanity metrics, and practical strategies for sustainable growth through collaboration, consistency, and community-building. Together, we’ll explore how digital spaces can become places of dialogue, belonging, and ecological conversion.
We’re also excited to welcome Erich Kerekes, CTO and Co-founder of Hallow, who will share insights from helping build one of the world’s largest Catholic digital communities.
By the end of the session, you’ll create your own Growth and Community Strategy, identifying practical next steps, potential collaborators, and meaningful ways to measure your impact beyond likes and follower counts.
Before the session
Take a few minutes to reflect:
- Which social media platform is most important to your mission today?
- What post has generated the most meaningful interaction—not just the most views?
- Who are three people or organizations you admire that could become future collaborators?
Come ready to think less about growing an audience—and more about cultivating a community.
The final module brings everything together. Throughout the week, you’ll have explored your identity as a communicator, your audience, your story, and practical storytelling techniques. Now it’s time to transform those insights into a concrete plan you can begin implementing immediately.
Working alongside the facilitators and your fellow participants, you’ll build a realistic 90-day Personal Digital Influence Plan tailored to your own ministry, profession, community, and available time. Rather than leaving with inspiration alone, you’ll leave with a practical roadmap—including your content pillars, publishing rhythm, growth strategy, and next steps—to help you communicate integral ecology with greater confidence and purpose.
The bootcamp concludes with participants sharing their plans, encouraging one another, and making a personal commitment for the month ahead. By the end of the session, you’ll not only have a strategy—you’ll also leave with a global network of fellow Digital Missionaries who can continue supporting one another beyond the bootcamp.
Before the session
Take a few moments to reflect on the work you’ve completed throughout the week. Consider what has surprised you most, how your understanding of digital mission has evolved, and one concrete change you hope to make in the next 30 days. These reflections will become the foundation of your personal plan
Meet Your Guest Speakers
Msgr. Lucio Adrián Ruiz
Verônica Brunkow
Muriel Fleury
Pbro. José Juan Montalvo (Padre Borre)
Fr. José Juan Montalvo Valdés (“Padre Borre”) is a priest of the Archdiocese of Monterrey, Mexico, ordained in 2018. Originally trained as an industrial engineer, he also holds degrees in philosophy and theology, along with specialized studies in youth ministry, spiritual direction, and Church communications.
He is the founder of the digital evangelization initiatives Ilumina Más, Velada para Tres, and Hechos 29, an international gathering of digital missionaries. He leads the Digital Ministry of the Archdiocese of Monterrey and the Digital Ministry of Mexico, serves on the CELAM Communications Council, and collaborates with the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication. Through his work, he forms digital missionaries, creates catechetical content for social media, and supports Catholic communicators across Mexico, seeking to proclaim the Gospel in digital spaces with creativity, authenticity, and fidelity to the Church’s teaching.
José Manuel De Urquidi
José Manuel De Urquidi is a Mexican entrepreneur, communicator, and digital evangelization leader. He is the founder of Evangelization Lab, where he develops and tests innovative approaches to sharing the Gospel in digital spaces, and the founder of Juan Diego Network, one of the leading Catholic media networks serving Latino audiences through podcasts and digital content. Under his leadership, the network has produced more than 100 podcasts in Spanish, English, and Spanglish. In 2023, he was appointed by Pope Francis as a voting delegate to the Synod on Synodality, following his nomination by the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM). His work focuses on helping the Church communicate the Gospel creatively, authentically, and effectively in today’s digital culture.
Erich Kerekes
Erich Kerekes is the CTO and Co-founder of Hallow. Before Hallow, he worked professionally in management consulting at McKinsey & Company. He’s been blessed to be named one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 with his two co-founders, Alex Jones and Alessandro DiSanto. At Hallow, he leads the product engineering and data teams, and he lives in Chicago, Illinois in the United States of America, with his wife, Kristina.
Hallow is a Catholic prayer and meditation app, with over 30 million downloads across 150 countries. Founded in 2018, its mission is to teach people how to pray and develop a daily relationship with God through prayer. The app is primarily audio-guided with guests leading people through 30,000 unique sessions, such as the Rosary, Novenas, Lectio Divina, and sacred music. The app is also available today in eight different languages, including English, Spanish, French, and Italian.
Meet Your Facilitators and Peers
José Antonio Griego
Diana Lozano
Ana Gaby Sáenz
Jorge Cortés Duran
Fabricio González
Download Resources
Questions? Start Here
Yes. Participants who attend all six live sessions and complete the accompanying assignments will receive a Certificate of Completion from the Laudato Si’ Action Platform.
Yes. Each session includes a short practical assignment designed to help you immediately apply what you’ve learned. Assignments are intended to be manageable and build toward your final Digital Influence Plan.
Instructions and submission links will be shared during each session and posted here in the Participant Hub. We encourage you to submit your work soon after each module so facilitators can provide timely feedback.
Yes. The facilitation team will review your assignments throughout the week and provide feedback following the bootcamp to help you continue developing your digital communication skills.
Because each session builds on the previous one and includes interactive discussions and activities, we strongly encourage participants to attend every live session. If an emergency prevents you from joining, please let the organizing team know as soon as possible.
Yes. Recordings will be shared with participants for personal learning purposes only and should not be distributed outside the cohort. Because the sessions are highly interactive, we encourage everyone to participate live.
The primary language of the bootcamp is English. Live interpretation will be available in the languages previously communicated to participants.
The participant directory is intended exclusively for members of this cohort. Please do not share it outside the group or use participants’ contact information for unsolicited communications.
If you experience problems accessing Zoom or the Participant Hub, please contact: info@laudatosiactionplatform.org
Simply review the module overview, join Zoom a few minutes early, and come ready to participate. While we invite you to review the downloadable resources on the webpage, no additional reading is required unless noted in the Participant Hub.
Yes. We’ll continue adding resources, assignment links, recordings (if applicable), and announcements throughout the bootcamp. We recommend bookmarking this page and checking it regularly.
The six sessions are only the beginning. Our hope is to continue accompanying this community through ongoing formation, practical resources, opportunities for collaboration, and invitations to participate in future Laudato Si’ Action Platform initiatives. We encourage you to stay connected as we continue growing together as Digital Missionaries.
We encourage everyone participating in the bootcamp to register for the Laudato Si’ Action Platform to receive the latest updates and resources from the Platform. Additionally, you can follow us on the following social media channels: