Friday, 10 May 2013

Social Networks: portals of truth and faith; new spaces for evangelization


Introduction
It is a great delight to be here today. Happy 47th World Communications Day. Communication is indeed a binding force which holds groups together, and makes our day to day existence possible. To be human is to communicate. In our everyday experience it is an activity which creates connections, that brings about the flow of ideas, beliefs, opinions, experiences and information. It would seem pretty obvious that we need communication to for survival, cooperation, satisfy personal needs – physical, need to feel secure within ourselves, to have a good opinion of ourselves, and to feel wanted and valued, to be involved with others in relationships, to satisfy our social needs and to hold our society together in a practical sense.
Challenges of Pope’s Message to Communicators
In his message for the 47th World Communications Day with the theme "Social Networks: portals of truth and faith; new spaces for evangelization", Pope Benedict XVI urges effective and active engagement of Communication in spreading the faith. He states, ‘Social networks are the "new 'agora,' "an open public square" where "new relationships and forms of community can come into being." As such, they offer new ways for Christians to introduce the faith to others, as long as they are savvy to the medium.
In this digital environment and forum, the Pope encourages members of the social media networks to use wisely and responsibly these great gifts. ‘Social media “need the commitment of all who are conscious of the value of dialogue, reasoned debate and logical argumentation”. Social forums need to be used wisely and well, which means fostering balanced and respectful dialogue and debate, and paying special attention to “privacy, responsibility and truthfulness”. The pontiff urges mutual respect, responsibility, honest dialogue and accountability in social media networks. We are challenged through our engagement to promote, share and defend the values of our Christian faith with great conviction and commitment to counteract relativism, secularism, fundamentalism, aggressive atheism and indifference to religion.
Social Communicators and Social Responsibility in a digital environment
We are called Social Communicators because we are responsible and accountable to the society, in building and fostering development through the spread of useful information. Therefore, communication serving the society should be influenced in her crucial role by a people centred vision based on respect for human rights, respect for the sanctity, dignity and value of human life, social justice, honesty, peace, truth and sustainable development of our parish communities, dioceses and the society at large. In fact, this concept of corporate social responsibility has continued to flourish and blossom over the last few decades. Service to the society rather than profit is seen as a great priority. The challenge before us is in getting people behave and act responsibly with the view to improving the society and bettering the living standard of the people. We should not be driven primarily by the logic of profitability and capital accumulation, but to ensure that the public interest is served responsibly. Our responsibility to the society is a collective one and we need to build together healthy network of communication and social relationships to the greater glory of God.
Therefore, Christian Communication is ultimately meant to glorify God. It is a challenge to witness to God’s transforming power in all areas of human life. Effective usage and application of it will serve to facilitate integral human development, harmony, peace and progress in the modern multi-cultural, multi-religious and pluralistic world; build fraternal encounter and mutual relationships, and foster faith renewal, and a renewed challenge to create other pastoral agenda and strategies for today’s fast changing cultural patterns and pastoral circumstances, with particular context of the Catholic Church in Nigeria.
Some Benefits of Social Networking
Social networking is becoming an increasingly important method of communicating in schools and the workplaces and business. So it is good for us to be prepared for its proper usage and application in evangelization. While there are risks and disadvantage inherent in online social networking, there are also many potential benefits. Social networking can.
§  provide opportunities for new relationships as well as strengthening existing relationships. Creates connections. You can search for people, places and things. Keeping in touch with family members that live far away can become much easier through the use of online social networking. By sharing updates, photos, videos, and messages, family members can stay connected even if they live across the country—or the world.

§  Allows you to post messages, upload pictures and stories on to your own personal page where friends, family, colleagues can visit to see what is going on.

§  Some sites provide Blogs, forum, automatic links to your favorite music, artist, online games and others.

§  Some social network sites offer advertising to its subscribers for a small fee.

§  Social networks offers opportunities for prayer, meditation and sharing the Word of God.

§  Helps faithful who are isolated and reinforces their sense of real unity with the worldwide community of believers.

§   Social network facilitates sharing of religious, spiritual, biblical and liturgical resources.

§  Promotes daily meditation of gospel on face book

§  It is greatly appreciated by young people. So, on face book we can present Church activities, programs, vital information and Church views on important issues and questions. Educationally teachers can take advantage of students’ social networking abilities to create class blogs, discussion forums, videos, and more.
Effective  and active engagement of Communication in spreading the faith
 
Since religion itself is basically a communication experience between God and human being, the task before the Church is effective communication meant to ultimately glorify God. We should get more deeply involved in evangelization through the media.

·         Web presence is very important where you have variety of good news on line packed with news, articles, reflections, talks, powerful spiritual testimonies and inspiring prayers

·         prayer line for prayer request and for questions and answers of the Christian faith should be opened

·         e-ministry, e-apostolate, e-pulpit should be encouraged through blocs, U tube, chat, text messages, web radio, web television, and face book because they provide great place for interaction, exchange, connecting to people and keeping in touch with friends, and also posting photos and videos

·         The use of electronic media – radio and television should also form an important part of our evangelistic ministry. Holy mass, Church services, fellowships, biblical and catechetical programs should be packaged for radio and television broadcast;

·         CDs, VCDs, Tapes and inspiring books on sermons, life of Saints and the Catholic Social Teachings, newsletter, Bulletins, pamphlets and magazines should be made available and sold in our Bookshops and Churches.

·         The culture of reading and building family and parish Library should be developed and encouraged.

·         Seminarians and Priests should be encouraged to take courses in computer information technology

·         Do awareness courses in technology for computer appreciation and knowledge; courses on information management and communication

·         Our lay people are also faced with the challenge of active engagement, involvement, contribution and participation in public discourse on vital issues on the Holy Bible, and Church doctrines and politics. Good religious publications, motivational and inspiring books on human development, Social Teachings of the Church and Papal messages should be carefully studied and taken seriously.
 
Conclusion

The following are fundamental questions for us: Are we on social networking site? What is on our profile? How do we feel our employers, teachers, parents, and parishioners seeing what we have posted. We must evaluate our social networking accounts and postings to see whether we are giving the desired witness and testimony in this year of faith. The Pope warns: ‘In this digital environment, too, where it is easy for heated and divisive voices to be raised and where sensationalism can at times prevail, we are called to attentive discernment. In this period of dramatic technological and social change, effective evangelism needs to cultivate a variety of new types of pastoral strategies to make the Gospel relevant to the demands of the new age. We now have the power through information technology to choose a radically different path by our positive and fruitful engagement in the social media.

Rev. Fr. Michael Adefemi Adegbola, Director Media Service Centre, Kaduna Nigeria 2013

1 comment:

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