Scheduled for May 16, the theme of the World Day will be "The Priest and Pastoral Ministry in a Digital World: New Media at the Service of the Word." In his message for the world day of social communications, Pope Benedict told people that church communities have traditionally relied on modern media to open the lines of communication. And as the culture changes, the church needs to use the latest technologies, especially if it wants to reach younger people.
The Church itself has taken initiative to bring its message to the web; checkout these sites:
Dear confreres and friends,
We are known as specialists in education, evangelisation and catechesis of the young and popular classes of society. With this in mind I must say that I cannot forget the inspired thought of Pope John Paul II in 1979 when he invited everyone in the Church to prepare themselves for a "New evangelisation, new in its zeal, its expression, its method". Although the message was welcomed by many as a timely inspiration to enter into dialogue with an ever more secularised world others, who felt sure of the omnipresence and moral authority of the Church showed little surprise. Undoubtedly the principle of Incarnation and rapid sociocultural changes gave the Pope every reason.
Within a short time Pope Benedict XVI's message: "The Priest and pastoral ministry in the digital world: new media at the service of the Word" will find its moment (16 May). I see an appropriate continuity between this and John Paul II's invitation. The Pope now, saying that "the principal task of the priest is to proclaim Christ, the Word of God made flesh, and the communication of his saving grace in the Sacraments", invites us to "be present in the world of digital communications as faithful witnesses to the Gospel, exercising their proper role as leaders of communities which increasingly express themselves with the different "voices" provided by the digital marketplace.
Priests are thus challenged to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources (images, videos, animated features, blogs, websites) which, alongside traditional means, can open up broad new vistas for dialogue, evangelization and catechesis".
We can translate this into Salesian life by taking one of the principles of our RATIO, that formation is ongoing, and if it is not then it does not exist at all, and by accepting the GC26 guidelines for living this way.
We can translate this into Salesian life by taking one of the principles of our RATIO, that formation is ongoing, and if it is not then it does not exist at all, and by accepting the GC26 guidelines for living this way.
Thus I consider that all Salesians, especially perpetually professed Salesians, need to nurture, deepen and renew their pastoral zeal by returning to Don Bosco as a secure guide for continuing to follow Christ with burning passion for God and for the young, especially the poorest of them; we have to feel from the core of our being the urgent need to evangelise and the need for a vocation ministry to the new youth of a culture, playground and era different from our own; we have to enter new frontiers decisively, frontiers where multitudes of young people wait and hope to meet us. We do this by learning their languages and using their technologies.
How can we offer the Gospel to young people in the digital continent if we don't change in our zeal, expression, methods of evangelisation?
My prayer and best wishes,
Fr Filiberto González Plasencia sdb
General Councillor
for Social Communication
General Councillor
for Social Communication
Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel
Pope Benedict’s message for World Communications Day 2010, encourages priests around the world to take their pastoral ministry online through Web sites, blogs and videos.
The message says the church cannot afford to ignore the possibilities offered by the digital revolution. Here is a review of the main themes of the Pope’s text:
Responding adequately to this challenge amid today’s cultural shifts, to which young people are especially sensitive, necessarily involves using new communications technologies. The world of digital communication, with its almost limitless expressive capacity, makes us appreciate all the more Saint Paul’s exclamation: “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel” (1 Cor 9:16)
In this Year for Priests, the pope focused on how the church’s ordained ministers can turn the Internet and new media into powerful instruments of evangelization.
Priests are thus challenged to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources (images, videos, animated features, blogs, websites) which, alongside traditional means, can open up broad new vistas for dialogue, evangelization and catechesis. Using new communication technologies, priests can introduce people to the life of the Church and help our contemporaries to discover the face of Christ.
Lest the church be seen as encouraging a new media “star system” among its clergy, the pope adds a word of caution.
Priests present in the world of digital communications should be less notable for their media savvy than for their priestly heart, their closeness to Christ. This will not only enliven their pastoral outreach, but also will give a “soul” to the fabric of communications that makes up the “Web”.
The pope recognized that digital media will inevitably take priests beyond the church’s own boundaries, requiring a sensitive approach.
A pastoral presence in the world of digital communications, precisely because it brings us into contact with the followers of other religions, non-believers and people of every culture, requires sensitivity to those who do not believe, the disheartened and those who have a deep, unarticulated desire for enduring truth and the absolute.
The main goal of the church’s digital presence should be to remind modern men and women that God is near, he said.
Thanks to the new communications media, the Lord can walk the streets of our cities and, stopping before the threshold of our homes and our hearts, say once more: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me” (Rev 3:20).
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