Purpose

The purpose of Catholic Webauthorship is "to make the face of Christ seen"
and "to make the voice of Christ heard" on the Internet through the Scripture
and the teachings of the Catholic Church that are written on the web pages
authored by Catholic web site owners. Although we can interpret this
literally to mean in the sense of images and the written word, it should
should also go much deeper in its presentation. All the elements that go
into everything we see or hear in a Catholic-influenced and conceptualized
web page is where we can have the opportunity to be informed of the Catholic
faith and to bring that knowledge with us in our sacramental life. The purpose
is fulfilled, if after a visitor to the web site has gone over the web pages
of the website, will feel a desire to be more immersed in the sacramental
life of the Church and join more in the living and liturgical life
of the Christian congregation of the parish.

The abovementioned purpose is the ultimate goal of every Catholic webauthor.
But the Catholic webauthor must be responsible for the visitors and Internet
viewers of his web pages. He must in one way or another make them realize that
whatever inspiration a web site visitor goes through when reading what is
presented in the webauthor's webpages, is that all that are electronically-
mediated second-hand experiences. Any spiritual "high" or "movement" the
may have in reading the messages, posts, or articles in the web pages are
all quasi-spiritual experiences. The true and authentic spiritual experience
is still to be found in the celebration of the Eucharist, the other sacraments,
and in one's daily encounters in family and work.

Therefore, the real and true mission of the Catholic webauthor is to inspire
the visitors of his website so as to lead them to be more active in practicing
their Catholic life: in the family-context, in the places of work, in parochial
contexts or in Catholic charity groups and movements.

Content

As regards the content of the Catholic webauthor's web pages, there must be a
strong effort to study and seek counsel from the teachings of the Church and
with a spiritual director. Serious study must be made of the documents of
the Church, especially in relation to the use of the Internet by those
responsible for media. There are some excerpts of these documents in this
web site. For a complete list and content of all these documents, you can
visit the Vatican website at www.vatican.va and use the search engine
vatican.mondosearch.va

The content of the webauthor's webpages also depends on the spirituality and
theological formation that the webauthor has been through. It is also very
important that his formation be ongoing and continuous. As long as his
spirituality and theology still follows the classics of our Tradition, then
every new or innovative phenomenon that arises in the Web will be adequately
tested within the context of the wisdom of the spiritual masters and from
the gospel teachings of Christ.

It is also best that we do not deal with contentious issues. But if one
analyzes the contentious issue in the cause of the search for truth and in the
light of the Gospel and the Spirit, then this can be added. If our webpage
content deals with a controversial issue and we give our stand - it must be
a stand in line with the official teaching of the Church, but also respecting
the stand of persons who have opinions which are not of that thinking. Otherwise,
we will be truly misleading many visitors in the Internet into thinking what
the official Church thinking is. All web page contents must always stress
the official position of the Church on a certain moral matter.

Style

The style of a Catholic webauthor must be sober, solemn, and with a formality
that dwells on sincerity, truthfulness, honesty and clarity of vision. He can
also design his web pages in a way that is new, bright and attractive, without
overshadowing the importance of the content. This way, those who are not of
our Catholic faith, may be initially attracted to find out more than the
mere appearance of the web page. The webauthor is called to balance the power
of attracting through design and the power of attracting through content.
Ultimately, content is more important because this is what will inspire, move
and influence the visitor of the website to take more interest in his being
Catholic. Or if the Internet visitor is non-Catholic, initial contact with
the contents of the web pages may interest him and lead him to search deeper
into the richness and quality of our way of being Christian.

But the best style of webauthoring is one in line with the style exhibited by
our classic spiritual writers. It is important that all Catholic webauthors
be familiar with them and read them not only once in their lifetime but go
back to those pages as often as they could in order to revise them and
improve on them.

Form

There are different forms of webauthorship. The most comprehensive form
is the production of a web site. In building a website, many elements are
involved. There are texts; there are colors; there are graphics; there
are links; there are menus; and many others that can all be combined to
produce something that can really inspire and move the web site visitor.

Another form is keeping a blog or a set of blogs. A blog is like a journal
except that this form can be interactive because visitors can place their
comments on what the webauthor wrote.

There is also the webring and the lists. A webring is one in which you
can create with others a community or ring of web sites that is joined by a
navigation bar that you can also personally design and follow with a theme
or description that conceptualizes the purpose of the webring.

As regards the list, it is one in which you can create using graphics, links,
and a thematic description that will create a community or group. This will
also call others to join and be part of the activities of the list such as
posting messages or following a series of prayer inputs and meditations.

These are the four forms this WebNetwork uses as of the moment. There will
be other forms which can be utilized by the Catholic webauthor in the future
for the purpose of evangelization. Whatever form the webauthor utilizes, it
would be right to make it follow the principles taught by the Church in the
use of the Internet as a means of proclaiming the Gospel.

Quality and Formation

A Catholic webauthor must strive and work hard for the quality not only of
his webpages but also of his Christian formation. Both are very important.
Both are called to be raised to a standard of excellence befitting one who
is called to this work on the Internet. For the quality of his webpages,
continous study and updating is necessary. If the Catholic webauthor at one
point of time decides to make this call a profession, then he must not forget
his rootedness in the spiritual quality of his relationship with God that
called him in the first place.

This is why Catholic formation is paramount. Only through such a formation
can a degree of Christian excellence be both achieved and be gifted from
above to the Catholic webauthor by the Lord. Such degree of excellence
will naturally flow into the web pages of the webauthor.

If both webauthor and web site are inspired to excellence because of the ideal
of service to God and Church, then the impact that both will create in the
Internet will fulfill indeed the mission "to make the face of Christ seen"
and "to make the voice of Christ heard" on the Internet. (36th World
Communications Day Message, May 12, 2002)