EDITORIAL

Click this: European Church leaders embracing new media evangelization opportunities

Nov. 19, 2009 | The Catholic Sun

News that a meeting occurred last week between European bishops and representatives from Web heavyweights Facebook, Google, YouTube and Wikipedia is surely enough to pique the interest of even the most casual of Web-savvy Catholics.

According to Catholic News Service, the bishops and their communications experts met with the reps from the popular Web sites to learn more about how people are interacting with one another over the Internet and what future innovations may hold.

And for a growing number of younger Catholics who feel right at home in front of the computer screen — watching videos on YouTube, sharing information on Facebook and reading stories from Google News — as others do on their living room couch taking in the nightly news or leafing through the morning paper, this conference appears to be a match made in heaven.

Why?

Well as French Bishop Jean-Michel di Falco Leandri so succinctly put it: “The Internet is as important as the invention of the printing press.”

The Internet can provide the Church with the pulse on the faithful. What do people want? What do they need? How are they feeling?

A sounding board is critical for the Church, but just as important is the Church’s ability to evangelize in this new media frontier. Movable type and the printing press brought forth the Bible to all who could read. The Internet represents the same kind of potential for the Church to proclaim the Gospel message to a different demographic.

Of course, resources needed to initiate and maintain these Web endeavours won’t come easy, not at first anyway. But with time it will happen — especially if the pope is on board. It’s reported that Pope Benedict XVI regularly uses e-mail, is featured on the Vatican’s YouTube channel, and famously sent a text message or two to participants at last year’s World Youth Day in Australia.

The Church shouldn’t wait too long, though. There’s an entire generation of up and coming Catholics who are constantly connected to their iPhones and netbooks. They too seek the truth and the way, and they too need to hear Christ’s saving message — any way we can reach them.