The new Aleteia website has just gone live today and at first glance it’s both attractive and engaging.
The website is a welcome home for those with questions about life and faith and is interestingly sponsored by two Pontifical Councils–one governing Social Communications and the other the New Evangelization. That’s wonderful news for us Catholic new media enthusiasts as it means the Vatican is heeding the promptings of Pope Benedict XVI to carry out the Church’s mission on the ‘digital continent’.
“ALETEIA offers a concrete response to Benedict XVI’s request to proclaim the Gospel through new media. ALETEIA works in association with the Pontifical Council for Social Communications and with the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization.
ALETEIA is the first multi-lingual online community that offers Questions and Answers about the Catholic faith, life and society. ALETEIA is a private initiative that aims to help those who want to know more about what the Church really teaches.”
The site is still in Beta mode which means it’s a little clunky. For example, the answer to the question ‘Who is Jesus?’ is compelling but laced with broken sentences, a result of translating from Italian to English. I’m also wondering why they chose to embed videos through their own propritary video system instead of using YouTube or Vimeo. Both of those popular services would allow many more people to come across their material.
On the other hand, much of the site is brilliant. The answer to “How do I pray?” is very helpful and can even be shortened or expanded based on your level of interest. Likewise, the article on the Big Bang theory is one of the most succinct, cogent explanations I’ve read:
“The Biblical account of creation is neither a scientific description nor a historical account of how God brought the world into existence. The theory of a created universe that began expanding after a “Big Bang” was first formulated by a Catholic priest, a fact that points to the reality that science and faith are complementary, although different.”
It’s great to see the Vatican committing some serious financial and technical resources to the site. It’s also nice to see a Catholic new media project utilizing the primary power of these tools: dialogue. The question-and-answer format is sure to provoke discussion which will draw seekers in much more than a static, information repository will.
Aleteia is a forerunner site for the New Evangelization and I’m definitely excited to see where it goes.