Fr. James Martin, author of many fantastic books, has a great article for America Magazine on how the Church should reach out in the digital age. Here’s a snippet:
Back to how the church can better use digital media to spread the Gospel. As for the (somewhat) newer media, the church is still playing catch-up. That is understandable: church workers are busy folks. But the lack of attention may give the unwitting impression that the church considers Facebook, YouTube and Twitter as beneath them or inherently risible. “You tweet?” said a priest to me recently. “Whatever for?” When I told him that I post 140-character homilies every morning, he rolled his eyes.
My response was this: Does the church seriously want to reach young people? I mean people who are really young—not just under 50, but under 25—young men and women in college or high school. The church longs to reach the young, but is it willing to speak not only in the language of young people, but in the modes they use? Or does the church expect them to come to it and speak, as it were, in its own language?
And-shameless plug alert–here is what Fr. Martin has to say about the Church and New Media book:
“This important new book reminds all Catholics of the need to use any means at our disposal to spread the Gospel. After all, Jesus of Nazareth used easy-to-understand images like birds, seeds and clouds in the medium known as the parable to convey his message. Today’s evangelical media are blogs, websites and social media (and no doubt something invented in the last few months). If Jesus could speak about the birds of the air, then we should not be afraid of Tweeting.”