Priests' Pastoral Ministry in a Digital World
by Fr. Roger Landry - February 5, 2010
Last year, for his annual message for World Communications Day, Pope Benedict made a powerful appeal to young Catholics to become the apostles of the new communications frontier produced by the digital age. Since the young have a "spontaneous affinity" for world of computers, the internet, digital recording devices and ever smarter phones, Pope Benedict said they are the most capable of helping the whole Church harness the potential of the "gift" of the new media to preach the Gospel. It was an unprecedented papal summons for the evangelization of those in cyberspace, which obviously is one of the major missions in the Church's overall efforts to re-evangelize the world.
Pope Benedict built on last year's foundation in his message for World Communications Day this year. Because the Church is in the midst of the Year for Priests, the Holy Father zeroed in on the duty priests have not merely to give pastoral care to the Church's digital missionaries, but also to establish a genuinely priestly presence in the new media.
Released January 24 and entitled, "The Priest and Pastoral Ministry in a Digital World: New Media at the Service of the Word," Pope Benedict's message called on priests to seize the opportunities the digital world provides for "carrying out their ministry to and for the Word of God." Since the primary duty of a priest is "the proclamation of Jesus Christ and the communication of his saving grace in the sacraments," Pope Benedict reminded his brothers that they have a particular responsibility to respond to today's "cultural shifts" and employ the new communications technologies. Invoking the pastoral zeal of St. Paul who said, "Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel" (1 Cor 9:16), Benedict encouraged all priests to imitate the Teacher of the Nations by similarly experiencing heartache unless they take advantage of these opportunities to proclaim the Word.
The Holy Father is calling priests to more than merely establishing websites for their parishes and apostolates, although he is certainly doing this. He is asking them to establish a unique personal presence in the new digital world so that they may use these means to carry out their pastoral mission to the sizable portion of their flock that spends increasing portions of their day online.
Many priests, young and old, have already established pastoral presences in this new mission field. They have email addresses and Facebook accounts. They have established blogs and websites, where they upload print, audio or video versions of their homilies, RCIA or Adult Education sessions, and much more. They have designed iphone applications to help people to pray more easily in the midst of their day. Several have even quipped their parishes with live webcams so that people who are incapable of coming to Mass or who may be curious can watch Mass, holy hours, devotions, and other events from their own parish Church. The Pope's message can be understood as a firm papal confirmation of this type of outreach.
It can also be interpreted as a polite but firm call to conversion to those few priests, young and old, who have taken basically an existentially contrarian position to these new forms of communication, rejecting almost as a matter of principle any personal use of cell phones, email, and computers. The Pope is saying that not only is there nothing intrinsically wrong with these new means of communication but there is something profoundly good. Priests, he implies, are called to an apostolic versatility that impels them to adapt to new situations by becoming "all things to all people" (1 Cor 9:22). The alternative is to remain living anachronisms, whose pastoral ministry will be stunted by self-imposed limitations, and misleading icons, who seem to advertise that the Church's message and life are somehow incompatible with the new age. To take advantage of cyberspace, the Pope says, is a clearly Catholic enterprise, insofar as pastoral outreach here easily embodies the universality of the Church's mission.
Pope Benedict gives several principles to guide the priests of the world fulfill their responsibilities as they initiate, continue or expand their presence in the digital age.
The first is that priests must become "more focused, efficient and compelling" in their use of the internet to advance the Gospel. It's not enough, the Pope says, "simply to be present on the Web or to see it only as a space to be filled." Just as with giving a homily, when priests are called not merely to say something but to have something to say, so in cyberspace priests are summoned to be "focused, efficient and compelling" in their message. Cyberspace is a new pulpit, from which the priest proclaims the Gospel to a much broader parish, but the same principles and message that would make him a good communicator at the ambo apply.
The second principle is that in cyberspace, priests should be more than just preachers but witnesses. The modern world, Pope Paul VI used to say, is convinced more by those who evangelize with their lives rather than merely by their words. Therefore, his successor says, priests should be present above all as "faithful witnesses to the Gospel, exercising their proper role as leaders of communities that increasingly express themselves with the different 'voices' provided by the digital marketplace." His digital presence is more than a place for personal musings or disembodied theological expostulations. It's a forum in which he is challenged to give personal testimony to his faith in Christ and how he has tried to incarnate the Gospel in his discipleship and apostolate. In an age of celebrity, a priest, to be effective, must be humble enough to tell his own story, which is the chronicle of how much the Lord in his goodness has done for him.
Third, to be effective in this new world, he needs to learn the language and be trained in the tools. The Holy Father explicitly calls for seminarians to "learn, from the time of their formation, how to use these technologies in a competent and appropriate way, shaped by sound theological insights and reflecting a strong priestly spirituality grounded in constant dialogue with the Lord." For those who have already been ordained, some will have the natural gifts and talents to figure most things out on their own. But most will need training. Up until now, not much formal training on the new technologies has been offered to priests in continuing education programs. Hopefully, the Pope's message will change that. But lay experts in parishes can do great good for their priests by offering to tutor and assist them in learning how to use these new means of communication, from setting up blogs or websites, to using smartphones and Facebook accounts, to assisting to put their preaching and teaching of the faith online. This would be a great gift to offer priests during this Year for Priests.
Finally, the Pope reminds his brother priests that they should be notable mainly for their "priestly heart, their closeness to Christ," rather than their "media savvy." Priests are not being asked to become webmasters, graphic designers, or gadget geniuses but to become "competent" enough to do what it takes to establish a presence, whereby their priestly heart can establish heart-to-heart contact with those who are searching and show that Christ is near. He reminds priests that "the ultimate fruitfulness of their ministry" comes not through technique, but "from Christ himself, encountered and listened to in prayer; proclaimed in preaching and lived witness; and known, loved and celebrated in the sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist and Reconciliation." Through email, websites, blogs and more, priests are enabled to bring that Christ they've encountered into the homes and workplaces of people all over the world, allowing Christ to knock on the doors of their hearts and call them to the fullness of life.
Pope Benedict finishes his letter by calling priests to make "astute use" of the possibilities provided by modern communications so that they may be "enthusiastic heralds in the new 'agora' that the current media are opening up." This would be a great prayer for the whole Church to lift up for priests during this priestly year.
Father Roger J. Landry is pastor of St. Anthony of Padua in New Bedford, MA and Executive Editor of The Anchor, the weekly newspaper of the Diocese of Fall River.
