(Article was written by our son, David)
It is no secret that evangelization has become a priority throughout the Church since the Second Vatican Council. In the encyclical Redemptoris Missio Pope John Paul II wrote that evangelization “is the primary service which the Church can render to every individual and to all humanity in the modern world.” Mass media technology today provides the Church a fantastic opportunity to engage in this evangelization, which entails communicating the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the truth of our faith. Commenting on John Paul II’s call for the New Evangelization, Avery Cardinal Dulles singled out several key characteristics of this New Evangelization, including preaching the centrality of Christ, communicating the social doctrine of the Church, and converting cultures. Today, our culture is communicated powerfully through the Internet; this is where ideas are disseminated quickly and expansively. Thus, the Church will inevitably have to place tremendous focus on this area—and many within the Church are already making their presence felt.
One could call an Internet-based approach “e-vangelization,” and such an approach has tremendous promise. The Internet provides the means of communicating the rich patrimony of our faith to a wide variety of people, and it can be seen as a means of reinhabiting the virtual realm and giving Internet usage a greater purpose. Virtually all of the Western world relies heavily on the Internet to obtain news, make transactions, and communicate with others. In education, online courses are growing more popular and effective. Catechesis online can be just as effective, if not more.
Since the Internet is such a central element in the lives of young adults, in particular, the Church would do well to leverage the ubiquity of the Internet, its aesthetic possibilities, and its user-friendly accessibility to communicate the Gospel online. Bishops and priests can create podcasts and YouTube videos in which they can explore the meaning of Mass readings or explain the tenets of the faith. All Catholics can explore theology and dogma in a multimedia, user-friendly way, so as to invite and educate others.
Resources can be made available online—and in many cases, they already are. On their website, the USCCB has both the New American Bible and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which is one of the most beautiful and expansive resources any Catholic can have. One can also find the Liturgy of the Hours online. The Paulists have a popular website, called Busted Halo. Catholic Answers has a website and forum for apologetics. And several years ago, Pope Benedict XVI started XT3, a social networking website for World Youth Day Pilgrims.
The possibilities for e-vangelization are limitless, and the e-vangelist should be excited to draw on the rich tradition of our Catholic faith and make it accessible to the Church at large through the Internet. But one must be realistic: e-vangelization has its own challenges, and online communication cannot be the be-all, end-all of evangelization efforts. Drawing upon the insights of social scientists who study Internet culture, e-vangelists should adopt two axioms: First, nothing trumps personal relationships. As trendy and slick as a well-run blog, Twitter page, or YouTube video can be, they do not intrinsically bring about conversion, and they are limited in providing meaningful human interaction. Relationships cannot be based solely on 140-character text messages, email, and instant messaging. Nothing can substitute for the power that physical presence has in communication. The same can be said for e-vangelization.
Second, and more importantly, the Internet is largely unregulated. E-vangelization will be a venture into a virtual environment that is already filled with supporters and spammers alike.
E-vangelists will have to sift through junk mail and viruses, “trolls” and vitriol as they strive to communicate the Gospel in the digital realm, and the latter in particular will be particularly burdensome and challenging. One needs only to peruse the online comments section of some of the major religious periodicals across the spectrum (First Things, America, Commonweal, the National Catholic Reporter) to see just how unchristian Internet users can be.
Why is this the case? The Internet grants users a relative degree of anonymity, which tends to invite a level of frankness (to put it mildly) that would rarely be experienced in person. As a young adult who frequents the aforementioned periodicals, I cannot stress enough how painful it can be to see some of the exchanges between fellow Catholics that occur over the Web. Consequently, as promising as e-vangelization can be, e-vangelizers must be prepared for the worst: vitriolic comments, rash arguments, harsh judgments, and misinterpretations. It will try one’s patience.
Ultimately, one must recognize that the Internet is both a tool and a battleground, where Catholics will need to work hard to cultivate an ethics of communication that is grounded in charity in truth and be prepared to engage in apologetics with fellow Christians, with atheists, and even with people who might argue while having no desire to have anything to do with the Church. In addition, Catholic e-vangelists will be tasked with fighting against an Internet culture of pornography and vulgarity. This makes St. Peter’s admonition in 1 Peter so vital. “Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence” (1 Peter 3:15-16). When engaging in evangelization online, the Church must take this to heart.
Footnotes:
1 Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio
2 Avery Cardinal Dulles, Evangelization for the Third Millennium (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2009), pp 31-38.
3 To be sure, even the Council Fathers at Vatican II, Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul II, and Pope Benedict XVI all stress this same point.
4 There are, of course, methods to track users and determine their identity, but explaining the technical aspect of these things is not relevant in this article.
About the writer: Dave de la Fuente is a graduate student in the Master of Theological Studies program at the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
On Being Servants of the Lord
14th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings: Is 66:10-14c; Ps 66; Gal 6:14-18; Lk 10:1-12, 17-20
1st Reading
Jerusalem was the center of Jewish life and faith. For Christians, Jerusalem symbolizes the Church.
For purposes of this reflection, I’d like to use the symbol of Jerusalem for our community. Shouldn’t we rejoice, be glad, love and exult over our community? "Oh, that you may suck fully of the milk of her comfort, that you may nurse with delight at her abundant breasts!... As nurslings, you shall be carried in her arms, and fondled in her lap; as a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; in Jerusalem you shall find your comfort…When you see this, your heart shall rejoice and your bodies flourish like the grass; the LORD's power shall be known to his servants."
Look at us now, after 18 years of existence as BLD Newark, 25 years as a global BLD community. Haven’t we been nursed by the Lord in this community? Carried in her arms, fondled in her lap, comforted as a mother comforts her child? Several weeks ago, we spent the day with a beloved couple who were kind enough to host our youngest son for the next two months during his summer internship at a corporation based in Connecticut.
During our fellowship around their dinner table, I looked at the husband, who will be an ordained deacon next year- God willing. I looked at the wife, whose life of fervent faith and devotion to Christ is the antithesis of the way she was raised as a child. And I looked at my son, a son of this community. God willing, he will realize his dream of becoming a theologian and professor after his graduate studies. And I can't help but see the imprint of God's grace on our community. We have reason to rejoice, for God’s power has been revealed to us in the conversion and continuing transformation He has accomplished in our lives.
As the Psalmist said, Let us cry with all the earth with joy!
2nd Reading:
And yet even as we rejoice over the unimaginable grace the Lord has given us through BLD, the readings from Galatians and the Gospel give us reasons to be cautious.
We are cautioned not to boast of anything except in the Cross of the Lord, through which all that we now enjoy have been won. Again, favor me with license for word substitution: For neither does covenanting mean anything, nor does not covenanting, but only a new creation. What good is the covenant we entered into if we do not live up to its solemn pledges, if the old things refuse to pass away, and if the new creation won by Christ is not there to behold? What good is our covenant discipleship if we do not bear the marks of Jesus on our body?
Gospel:
The other caution is not to rejoice over our gifts- innate or acquired, spiritual or physical/material- or the authority given us by our offices in community. Rather, the Word of God enjoins us to rejoice because our names are written in heaven, which in itself is all grace. Nothing we’ve ever done or accomplished in life qualifies us for heaven. Yes, heaven holds our names, and our names are written with the blood of Jesus.
Linking up with the Theme:
So how does this reflection relate to the theme: the Lord’s committed servants work for the salvation of others?
Committed Servants relate to the 72 disciples sent out by the Lord. They in turn represent the community. The work of community consists of both communion and mission.
The work of communion is reflected in the first reading: nursing, nurturing, consoling, flourishing, essentially forming, pastoring and binding us in the love of God.
The work of mission is reflected in the sending out of the 72 disciples in the Gospel reading.
We can’t really work on saving others unless we ourselves are saved and continually converted.
As to continual conversion, consider
(1) Paul’s reflection in the second reading- to live as God’s new creation in the power of the cross and bearing Christ’s marks on their bodies; and
(2) the Lord’s coaching the 72 disciples, before they left for mission (wherein they received His directions) and after returning from mission (wherein He pointed to the lesson to be learned from their experience).
In the end, participating in the Lord’s work of salvation is what community and discipleship is all about. What we bring is our commitment. What He brings is His grace. The result is that we become His co-workers in saving souls, by the power of the Cross.
Readings: Is 66:10-14c; Ps 66; Gal 6:14-18; Lk 10:1-12, 17-20
1st Reading
Jerusalem was the center of Jewish life and faith. For Christians, Jerusalem symbolizes the Church.
For purposes of this reflection, I’d like to use the symbol of Jerusalem for our community. Shouldn’t we rejoice, be glad, love and exult over our community? "Oh, that you may suck fully of the milk of her comfort, that you may nurse with delight at her abundant breasts!... As nurslings, you shall be carried in her arms, and fondled in her lap; as a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; in Jerusalem you shall find your comfort…When you see this, your heart shall rejoice and your bodies flourish like the grass; the LORD's power shall be known to his servants."
Look at us now, after 18 years of existence as BLD Newark, 25 years as a global BLD community. Haven’t we been nursed by the Lord in this community? Carried in her arms, fondled in her lap, comforted as a mother comforts her child? Several weeks ago, we spent the day with a beloved couple who were kind enough to host our youngest son for the next two months during his summer internship at a corporation based in Connecticut.
During our fellowship around their dinner table, I looked at the husband, who will be an ordained deacon next year- God willing. I looked at the wife, whose life of fervent faith and devotion to Christ is the antithesis of the way she was raised as a child. And I looked at my son, a son of this community. God willing, he will realize his dream of becoming a theologian and professor after his graduate studies. And I can't help but see the imprint of God's grace on our community. We have reason to rejoice, for God’s power has been revealed to us in the conversion and continuing transformation He has accomplished in our lives.
As the Psalmist said, Let us cry with all the earth with joy!
2nd Reading:
And yet even as we rejoice over the unimaginable grace the Lord has given us through BLD, the readings from Galatians and the Gospel give us reasons to be cautious.
We are cautioned not to boast of anything except in the Cross of the Lord, through which all that we now enjoy have been won. Again, favor me with license for word substitution: For neither does covenanting mean anything, nor does not covenanting, but only a new creation. What good is the covenant we entered into if we do not live up to its solemn pledges, if the old things refuse to pass away, and if the new creation won by Christ is not there to behold? What good is our covenant discipleship if we do not bear the marks of Jesus on our body?
Gospel:
The other caution is not to rejoice over our gifts- innate or acquired, spiritual or physical/material- or the authority given us by our offices in community. Rather, the Word of God enjoins us to rejoice because our names are written in heaven, which in itself is all grace. Nothing we’ve ever done or accomplished in life qualifies us for heaven. Yes, heaven holds our names, and our names are written with the blood of Jesus.
Linking up with the Theme:
So how does this reflection relate to the theme: the Lord’s committed servants work for the salvation of others?
Committed Servants relate to the 72 disciples sent out by the Lord. They in turn represent the community. The work of community consists of both communion and mission.
The work of communion is reflected in the first reading: nursing, nurturing, consoling, flourishing, essentially forming, pastoring and binding us in the love of God.
The work of mission is reflected in the sending out of the 72 disciples in the Gospel reading.
We can’t really work on saving others unless we ourselves are saved and continually converted.
As to continual conversion, consider
(1) Paul’s reflection in the second reading- to live as God’s new creation in the power of the cross and bearing Christ’s marks on their bodies; and
(2) the Lord’s coaching the 72 disciples, before they left for mission (wherein they received His directions) and after returning from mission (wherein He pointed to the lesson to be learned from their experience).
In the end, participating in the Lord’s work of salvation is what community and discipleship is all about. What we bring is our commitment. What He brings is His grace. The result is that we become His co-workers in saving souls, by the power of the Cross.
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