I was delighted today to discover that the pope is asking priests to begin making wider use of digital media such as blogs in order to evangelize. For several years now I have strongly held that the Internet provides one of the best means ever to take the gospel to the entire world.
Electronic evagelization is something that all of us can take part in--I note the numerous blogs by Catholic laypeople and certainly the good number already in existence by priests (many fewer by deacons such as myself)--but the priest has a special call to take the gospel to all the world. Therefore, it is very encouraging to see the pope's support for priests in this area.
A number of years ago I recall hearing someone with far-reaching insight say that with the Internet we have to avoid the mistake we made with Television in terms of not using it to it's fullest potential. Of course there are notable efforts, such as EWTN and televised Masses, in existence already in terms of television, but there's room for much more.
The pope speaks of the Church exercising a "diaconia" of culture, and of course this is something that we can all be involved in bringing about. I pray that whatever efforts I put in here on this blog will be an inspiration to all people--lay, religious, and clergy--to take a greater role in bringing the gospel to all the world. However, even more we should all pray that the media may be used to spread Christian values and culture in a world where more often than not the media serves purposes that are opposed to the gospel.
Here is a direct link to the Pope's message.
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