Fr. Fred Gaglia, Ph.D. | Homiletic & Pastoral Review
Our preachers must lead people to align themselves with the Church, filling the chasm of the past two or more generations of those not in touch with this treasury of truth. The goal is eternal salvation, the growth of the Church is in the balance.
Enter the “digital continent.” This term was coined by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009 to define the world of social media that has transformed patterns of communication and human relationships. It seems a new light is dawning on this “continent” for preaching as well, according to his letters to the Pontifical Council on Communications over the last two years. His May 16, 2010, message for the 44th World Communications Day, entitled, “The Priest and Pastoral Ministry in a Digital World: New Media at the Service of the Word,” reveals the Holy Father’s vision for our age: using new media as a tool for preaching. The following excerpt speaks especially to young men preparing for priestly ministry:
Responding adequately to this challenge amid today’s cultural shifts, to which young people are especially sensitive, necessarily involves using new communications technologies. The world of digital communication, with its almost limitless expressive capacity, makes us appreciate all the more St. Paul’s exclamation: “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel” (1 Cor 9:16). The increased availability of the new technologies demands greater responsibility on the part of those called to proclaim the Word, but it also requires them to become more focused, efficient and compelling in their efforts. Priests stand at the threshold of a new era: as new technologies create deeper forms of relationship across greater distances, they are called to respond pastorally by putting the media ever more effectively at the service of the Word. 1
Clearly, the Holy Father is talking about the responsible use of social media (the Internet, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter), by those called to proclaim the Word. This amounts to acquiring better focus in our pastoral response.
On February 7, 2011, the Holy Father took up this topic again in his most recent address to the plenary assembly of the Congregation for Catholic Education:
In these days you also studied the draft of the document on the Internet and formation in the seminaries. Because of its capacity to surmount distances and put people in mutual contact, the Internet presents great possibilities also for the Church and her mission. With the necessary discernment for its intelligent and prudent use, it is an instrument that can serve not only for studies, but also for the pastoral action of future presbyters in different ecclesial fields, such as evangelization, missionary action, catechesis, educational projects, and the management of institutes. Also of extreme importance in this field is to be able to count on adequately prepared formators who will be faithful guides and always up-to-date, in order to support the candidates to the priesthood in the correct and positive use of the media. 2
His insights set the stage for updating seminary homiletics courses to include chapters on how to enhance preaching through the use of digital media. There is no avoiding it. Now is the time for us to consider how to eliminate the word “boring” from the feedback of the people regarding preaching in most Catholic parishes. You know the statistics concerning Mass attendance. Preaching using the new media may improve those statistics by keeping more in tune with people on the digital continent.
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