"Go forth and blog:" a reflection on Media Evangelization

“Go forth and blog”

“Go forth and blog”, this is the highlight of the encouraging message of Pope Benedict XVI on the occasion of the 44^th World Communications Day in May of 2010 to all Christians but a special calling is addressed to the priests. Unlike the conventional phrase we here from the Sacred Scriptures that commands men and women to “go forth and multiply” it is now fondly called as “go forth and blog”. Pope Benedict XVI challenges priests “to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources (images, videos, animated feature, blogs, websites) which alongside traditional means, can open up broad new vistas for dialogue, evangelization and catechesis¹”.

As Pope Benedict XVI identifies our world today as a world of digital communication, we carry the task also to be responsible and take a leap to be in communion with the world. With the aid of new technologies, people create deeper relationships despite distant places. It is connecting people from various races, countries, families and relatives and at the same time creating a new form of friendship amidst differences.

By means of these new technologies, we partake in the mission of the Church to go beyond traditional means in proclaiming our faith to Christ. These will help us in our mission to let the men and women “sense the Lord’s presence, to grow in expectation and hope, and to draw near to the Word of God which offers salvation and fosters an integral human development.”²

This new calling of the Pope created a strong foundation to partake also in this missionary activity of the Church. After I read this message in 2010, I was inspired to create personal accounts in various social websites popular in the Web. To mention some, I have accounts in Youtube, Facebook, Friendster, Formspring, Tumblr, Blogspot, Multiply, Hi5, Deviantart, Yahoomail, Gmail, Twitter, Forums, Netlog, Flickr, Tagged, Yelp and many more. Unfortunately, these numerous accounts are difficult to maintain. May be at least 5 of them I regularly update and maintain. In one of my blogs, blogspot, I post my paper works and reflections. I also post pictures of various seminary activities, nature and infrastructures, which I personally shot. At first my purpose of creating those accounts was not for any spiritual purposes. It was just for personal leisure. But as I grew maturely in my vocation my old purpose was purified into a more noble aim.

Can I be considered as going too much? My answer is Yes and No. There were instances that I went beyond the limits. In this way, I affirm with the Pope’s reminder about the danger of these new technologies. We become attached to it that tend us to forget the real purpose.

Prudence, discipline and discretion are to be our companions so that we may not draw ourselves to it with much attention. Same as to how the Rule of Augustine was rooted in Caritas or “Christian love”, which is to guide us in our search for God in becoming holy.

1 Pope Benedict XVI, “MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI FOR THE 44th WORLD COMMUNICATIONS DAY”, Sunday, 16 May 2010 (source: http://www.vatican.va)

2 Ibid.