Vatican Document on Internet

Internet as the New Forum for Evangelization

Vatican document on Internet as new forum for evangelization

The Vatican document on the Internet released last January 24, 2004 and to
all, was officially used for the 36th World Communications Day Message last May
12, 2002. It is called, "Pontificum Consilium de Communicationibus Socialibus".
It is a message of the late Holy Father Pope John Paul II to the Church and
all those involved in the social communications media. To check on the whole
document at this website, you may visit the page, Vatican Document.

The Catholic Internet Mission

The Catholic Internet Mission was inspired by the vision provided by the
36th World Communications Day Message. The web site is only one of the
many responses to the call of the Church to go out into the deep of the Net for
the proclamation of the Gospel. The initial response to this call started
on the day itself of the 36th World Communications Day, May 12, 2002. A
list at Yahoo! Groups was founded and entitled "The Spirit's Love Leaders
Corps" - in honor of the Holy Spirit - since Pentecost was to be celebrated
the next Sunday, May 19, 2002.

There are many responses to this call of the Church to evangelize on the
Net. One concept and activity which this web site promotes is Catholic
webauthorship. Catholic webauthorship really just means authoring Catholic
contents and articles on the world wide web and the internet.

To find more about Catholic Internet Mission and Catholic webauthorship,
you can check on the article, " Responding through Catholic Webauthorship".

Remaining Within Our Focus

It is important to realize that immersing ourselves in the culture information
of the Internet also has its dangers. If we are not careful, instead of us
bringing the Gospel to the Internet, it may be the other way around - the
Internet will influence us with some elements of its culture that does not
go with our Christian values. So what is important is to remain within our
focus. And our focus is always Christ. Christ should be the standard of
excellence for anything that we do in the Internet and that goes especially
with evangelization. It is Christ who must be at the forefront of our
message, not ourselves. If we make ourselves the forefront of our work in
the Internet, then it is likely that we make the mission our own and not
do the mission ask of us by the Holy Spirit. We must remember that the
Catholic mission is led by the Holy Spirit. We only make ourselves docile
to His will and listen well to His promptings. To elaborate more on this
meaning of remaining within our focus, please go to the article, " Remaining
Within Our Focus"

Multiplying Contacts for the Spread of the Gospel

Through the Internet, Catholics can multiply their contacts in a way that was
unthinkable in the past. And with the exponential increase and speed of
communication possible only with such a special social communications medium
as the Internet, Catholics can electronically bond together and work together
for the spread of the Gospel. These contacts can be made through various
forms. Though I know there are many more, these are the ones I use and am
familiar with as I have encountered them hands-on in using the Internet:
webrings, lists, special forums, link exchanges, good spam, referrals, and
search engine results. The first two I have already mentioned in other
webpages but I will add more information in relation to multiplying contacts.
A new webpage is dedicated to this subtopic and will be the main topic of
that webpage. To know more about the details of these forms of multiplying
contacts, just click on this link that leads to the webpage Multiplying Contacts.

Catholic Internet Mission Engagement

"There already exist on the Net countless sources of information,
documentation and education about the Church, her history and tradition,
her doctrine and her engagement in every field in all parts of the
world..." (From the Vatican, May 12, 2002)

Engagement in Every Field

The Catholic Church and her engagement in every field of the world is quite
extensive and really expansive. She is particularly involved in those areas
where there is an opportunity for creating total human development -
developing the person and his family in all areas of his life, especially
where there is poverty.

The Catholic internet mission engagement selects only a particular niche and
corner for the engagement of its resources for the benefit of certain sectors
and institutional settings that use the Internet for the development of their
spheres and areas of concern.

What is the Catholic internet mission engagement?

Being on the internet since May 12, 2002, the Catholic internet mission
engagement has led it to minister to four institutions in the world that
already use the Internet for development purposes. These are: the family
setting, the business sector, the interfaith arena, and the space of the
world wide web itself. These four will be dealt more in detail in another
webpage. This subtopic will spinoff to the topic of the same name but
dealing with the involvement of Catholic internet mission in the family,
business, interreligious mission, and in cyberspace itself. Just click
on the link at the end of this sentence to explore more the details of the
Catholic Internet Mission Engagement.

Dennis-Emmanuel Cabrera
April 27, 2005

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