"Do Not Be Afraid" to Use Technology to Communicate

Rosie Bartel, diocesan religious education director, takes a look at the challenges and benefits of adapting technology to catechesis.

In this 21st century of global satellite imaging, iPhone communication, podcasting, e-mail and “tweeting”, the Catholic Church can not operate in a vacuum. These creative communication tools are crucial to help us encounter Jesus Christ and to remain in communion with Christ. Jesus himself used countless creative communication tools to teach the disciples through parables.

Today the leadership of the Church needs to continue using technology to share the Word with the faithful. Daily, and often with mind-numbing speed, we are confronted with different options for communication. We need to know which technology to use and how to use it. Yet at the same time, it’s essential that we bring the human touch to these technology tools. We must bridge the gap between one place and the next through technology while still respecting the human person.

In order for the Church to be on the top of its game in this world of technology and continue to honor the past, it must learn how to take what is working and make it better. For the church today, research, knowledge and preparation are very important in both institutional and personal communication. At the same time there are theological principles of communication that are present in the Church. These principles have existed through the ages, and they are the foundation for all communication in the church, beginning with Christ as the model communicator. These principles become more important as the new technology age advances all forms of communication. We see that the dynamic dialogue that existed when Christ was teaching needs to exist between the Church and its people today. This communication needs to be engaging and meaningful.

The Second Vatican Council identified the need for the Church to bring the message of Christ into the world by utilizing all the new technological tools of communication. This bold request was made with the understanding that technology would assist the Church in bringing the Word of God to the world. All discussions about how we carry out this request must start with the person of Jesus Christ. Christ manifests the principles of communication, which are freedom and truth, the dignity of the human person and the promotion of the common good. These three principles become, for all members of the Catholic Church, moral imperatives for communication. The use of these principles will assist the Church is developing a plan for the use of technology for the fulfillment of the missionary mandate of Christ in the New Evangelization.

Pope John Paul II was known as one of the world’s great communicators. Using modern technology effectively, he gave the Church a plan to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In a split second one can literally bring the Gospel message to the ends of the earth. Through the use of technology, we are able to see the Church in the 21st century fulfilling the mandate of her Savior to preach the Word “to the ends of the earth”.

In face of these new and rapid developments in the world of communication technologies, we may feel small, insignificant and sometimes just a little overwhelmed. John Paul II anticipated our feelings. So we will let him have the last word on this topic. The following text is taken from a special letter he wrote on the 40th anniversary of the promulgation Second Vatican Council Decree on Social Communication. The letter was entitled “The Rapid Development” and in it he said:

“I extend the invitation which, from the beginning of my ministry as Pastor of the Universal Church, I have wished to express to the entire world, ‘Do not be afraid!’ Do not be afraid of new technology!. . .Do not be afraid of being opposed by the world! Jesus has assured us, ‘I have conquered the world!’ (Jn 16: 33). Do not be afraid even of your own weakness and inadequacy! The Divine Master has said, ‘I am with you always, until the end of the world’ (Mt 28: 20). Communicate the message of Christ’s hope, grace and love, keeping always alive, in this passing world, the eternal perspective of heaven, a perspective which no communications medium can ever directly communicate, ‘What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him’ (1 Cor 2: 9).”