8 PRINCIPLES OF THE WORD ON FIRE MOVEMENT

[Pages:2]8 PRINCIPLES OF THE WORD ON FIRE MOVEMENT

LESSON THREE

Special Commitment to New Media One of the great signs of taking advantage of the culture to proclaim Christ can be found in our next principle: a special commitment to new media. Just to show you the power and influence of new media and new technologies: today, more people own a cell phone (4 Billion) than a toothbrush (3.5 Billion). Over 1 Billion people use Facebook, and there are 1.3 Billion users on Twitter. And, the average user goes on social media fourteen times per day. There are 4 Billion video views per day on YouTube. Every minute, 300 more hours of video are added, and those videos primarily target 18-34 year olds, one of the largest demographic of the unaffiliated. Every Sunday in the United States, five times as many Catholics log into Facebook as attend Mass. We find ourselves at a moment in the history of communication comparable to the early sixteenth century. The printing press constituted a revolution not only in communication technology as such but, more specifically, in the propagation of the Gospel. Something very similar, but even more explosive, is at work today. Social media provides tools for the

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announcing of the Good News that Paul, Augustine, Aquinas, Pascal, Newman, and even Fulton Sheen never dreamed possible.

Since its inception, Word on Fire has viewed new media and the latest technologies as powerful resources to connect with those who are far removed from Christ. This boom in how we connect with one another--with people from all over the world within a matter of seconds--has opened up a profound opportunity for those wishing to evangelize those on the peripheries.

New media and new technology has aided Catholics in reaching out beyond the Catholic world.

This calls to mind St. Paul on the Areopagus, where every idea and philosophy is on display, and where he preached the Good News. Or, think of the Apostles using the roads built by the Romans to move throughout the empire and proclaim Christ. One of our best recent examples of this is Venerable Fulton Sheen, who used the airways and the television to preach the Good News, often using and citing recent philosophies in order to prove the truth of Christ.

New media and new technologies offer a solid route of access into the lives of people who would never darken the doorstep of a Church. Are there potential dangers? Sure, but nowhere near the dangers the Apostles had to deal with.

One word of caution and encouragement: though there will be a special significance of and commitment to new media, the Word on Fire evangelist has a particular devotion to the old media. As Bishop Barron says, the old media--the book--gives us something to say in the new media.

If intellectually serious believers absent themselves from the wider conversation and retreat to their libraries and classrooms, the public space will belong to the atheists and secularists.

The new media offers a profound opportunity for us to do engage the discussion. Don't fear it, rather, with a heart and mind for Christ and his people, bring the love and intelligence of the faith to the world.

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