On January 24, 2011, the Vatican released Pope Benedict XVI’s message for the 45th World Communications Day (June 5, 2011). In this message, the Holy Father invites “Christians, confidently and with an informed and responsible creativity, to join the network of relationships which the digital era has made possible… The web is contributing to the development of new and more complex intellectual and spiritual horizons, new forms of shared awareness.…
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Church Ministry and the Digital Age Part II
The Catholic Church has always been in the forefront of using communications media for mission and ministry. Pope Paul VI wrote in On Evangelization in the Modern World, “The Church would feel guilty before the Lord if she did not use these powerful means [of social communication] that human skill is daily rendering more perfect. It is through them that she proclaims “from the housetops” the message of which she…
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Church Ministry and the Digital Age Part I
We all know that the world has changed with the coming of the digital age, but when it comes to Church ministry in the U.S. (I am talking about national Catholic organizations, religious communities, dioceses, and parishes), that reality has not registered with everyone. Some ministry leaders will say “We have a website. What else do we need?” A response might include a reference to Pope Benedict XVI’s message on…