Theme For World Day of Social Communications
The Pope has issued a message in advance of World Day of Social Communications. The day is celebrated on January 24 which is the feast of St. Francis of Sales, patron saint of journalists. I think it’s especially important in this era of new media communications which is allowing us to communicate in ways we never could before. Pope Benedict’s theme for the day is, “The Priest and Pastoral Ministry in a Digital World: New Media at the Service of the Word.”
A communique made public today explains that the aim of the Message is “to invite priests in particular, during this Year for Priests and in the wake of the Twelfth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, to consider the new communications media as a possible resource for their ministry at the service of the Word. Likewise, it aims to encourage them to face the challenges arising from the new digital culture”.
The text continues: “The new communications media, if adequately understood and exploited, can offer priests and all pastoral care workers a wealth of data which was difficult to access before, and facilitate forms of collaboration and increased communion that were previously unthinkable”.
The communique concludes by noting that “if wisely used, with the help of experts in technology and the communications culture, the new media can become – for priests and for all pastoral care workers – a valid and effective instrument for authentic and profound evangelisation and communion”.
So priests, this means you need to get and start using your Twitter account and perhaps start a blog!