Pope Benedict is calling priests to make use of new digital media in order to carry out their priestly duties. According to the article,
The Holy Father urges priests to “consider the new media as a powerful resource for their ministry in the service of the Word and wishes to express a word of encouragement in order to address the challenges stemming from the new digital culture,” the communiqué explained. “If the new media is adequately known and appreciated, it can offer priests and all pastoral agents a wealth of data and content that previously was difficult to access, and it facilitates ways of collaboration and growth of communion that were unthinkable in the past…”
This enables the creation of “new areas of knowledge and dialogue, enabling one to propose and carry out programs for communion,” the council affirmed. “If used wisely, with the help of experts in technology and the culture of communion, the new media can thus become for priests and all pastoral agents a valid and effective instrument of true and profound evangelization and communion.”
In other words, priests should do the same things some of us have done since 2004 and much earlier ( our very own Ancient-Future.Net became Catholic, and ChurchYear.Net was started in 2004). This internet thing is here to stay and most younger people (and a lot of older folks) don’t just play around on the internet, but communicate over it. While we can debate the merits of communicating over the internet (it has good and bad aspects), the reality is that if a message is to get out to many people today, it must get out over the internet. It is good to see the Church recognizing this in an official capacity.
David Bennett
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Chad T.
Jorge Flores
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nicenehobbit
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