Diocese of Brooklyn sends nearly 300 youth to Rio de Janeiro with Prayer Coins

BROOKLYN, NY — July 23, 2013 — DeSales Media today launches Pray with the
Pope, a website and corresponding mobile app that allows individuals and
communities to dedicate prayer time in alignment with the Holy Father’s monthly
intentions.

Pray with the Pope is the first phase of a large-scale technology project designed
to welcome new members to the Church and create a unified, modern Catholic
experience.

The Diocese of Brooklyn has minted 20,000 Medallions, or prayer coins, all
which contain a unique alphanumeric code. Recipients of the coins enter the
code into the website or use the augmented reality reader embedded in the
mobile app on their smartphone to “log” the coin. They can then schedule their
prayer time to map it on the Prayer Wall among thousands of others, with the
goal of achieving universal unbroken prayer across cultures and nations.

The next feature to be released is an interactive prayer globe, where users can
view those prayers taking place in real-time as well as see where their coin has
travelled. This data visualization feature uses the recently released API from
Google Earth and is one of the first applications of this technology.

To help spread awareness of this new tool, the Diocese of Brooklyn is enabling
300 young members of the Church to travel to Rio de Janeiro for World Youth
Day. Today they will begin passing out thousands of coins to fellow attendees
and encourage them to log their coins and schedule prayer time.

Longtime Church supporter and celebrity Martin Sheen was the first person to
receive a Medallion and has expressed admiration for the project. The interview
in which he receives the coin will air as part of “Currents” on NET TV in New York
this week.

CONTACT:
Stefanie Gutierrez
Press Secretary
Diocese of Brooklyn
sgutierrez@desalesmedia.org
917-587-2784