South Philly Catholic church recruits digital services director

Tom Shakely joins St. Thomas Aquinas as its director of digital services.

Most people don’t think of technology when they think of church, but St. Thomas Aquinas, a 125 year old Catholic church at 17th and Morris, is ready to enter the digital age.

And that first digital step starts with Thomas A. Shakely, the parish’s first Director of Digital Services. Shakely says he’s among the first people in the country to hold such a role with an individual Catholic church.

“It may possibly be the first of its kind in the country devoted exclusively to integrating the ‘physical’ and ‘digital’ aspects of ministry,” said Shakely, the 24-year-old dedicated to disrupting his corner of the faith world.

Updated: To clarify, Shakely is not a full-time employee but rather has bartered his services for office space and administrative support, he said.

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Friday Tech Links: Domelights has been taken down for now, reshaping Philly and More

In which we link out to the tech news from Philly and elsewhere (when it matters) that slips through the cracks and make it way fun. See others here.

It was often a place for trivial discussions of various, loosely-tethered topics from the perspective of largely anonymous vistors who often identifited themselves as Philadelphia police officers, their family members and supporters.

But Domelights, the public yet registration-required online community forum targeted for Philadelphia police, also became known for viscous, ugly and arguably racist, misogynistic and homophobic comment threads. Facing a law suit from a black officers group, the site — which is run independently of the city’s police force — was taken down.

At time of writing, the site now features only a purple background with a single, small message: “Until further notice, all Domelights.com services (i.e. forums, galleries, blogs) have been suspended. Thank you. McQ.”

McQ, of course, is an unindentifed Philadelphia police sergeant at the center of the controversy, which follows a rash of allegations of racism against general police institutions. After these allegations, the city took swift action against the relatively low traffic site, denying access to the site on city and police computers, as the Inquirer reports.

The Inquirer also reports that Rochelle Bilal, the leader of the black police group — which is called the Guardian Civic League — has taken on a security force due to threats left on a Domelights forum before it was shut down. No word yet on what action the civic league may take now that it appears their wishes — to have Domelights taken down — have been answered.

[Full Disclosure: While I never posted a comment on the site, I did occasionaly visit it for sheer voyuerism]

After the jump, regional VC investment rebouds, a video interview on reshaping Philadelphia’s future and seven other tech stories you don’t want to miss, including our best read piece of the week.

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