Putting God in the digital world

THAT’S what settled in my mind after reading Pope Benedict’s message for this year’s World Communication Day. That event will take place in May yet, but the advance copy of the message has already been released last January. Its study is definitely worthwhile.

The message is entitled, “The Priest and Pastoral Ministry in a Digital World: New Media at the Service of the Word.” Though its immediate targets are the priests who are celebrating the Year of the Priests, it actually is addressed to everyone, since hardly anyone now can escape from the digital world.

My first reaction was kind of skeptical. As if the complications of putting God in the real world are not enough, now we also have to contend with the more tricky task of putting God in the digital world!

Of course, I have no doubt that it’s important that we manage to put God in our computer-generated universe. But how do we do this? How can we make God directly relevant and actually connected with the persons and issues involved in the digital world? What road map can we use?

I’m sure there are now studies being made to answer these questions. I think we are still at the pioneering part of the learning curve, and we have to expect mistakes and failures. Anyway, as long as we remain patient, humble and open, I believe we can prosper in this new challenge.

But we cannot ignore the enormity, and worse, the complexity of the challenge. The digital world instantly thrusts us into the global stage with a universal cast of characters and into the world “agora” of ideas and issues. These are no small things.

In the digital world, you swim not anymore in a pool or in your favorite beach resort. You will find yourself in the middle of the ocean, and anything can happen there, including drowning.

We just cannot go there and say our piece without considering the kind of audience and concerns that we need to engage with in a meaningful way. That would just create more trash, more pollution in cyberspace.

While it’s true that mere Christian presence in the web, by way of posting doctrinal items, for example, can already serve some purpose, I think that it would be much better if we really can get into a substantial dialogue with the public in general in all their variety of situations and predicaments.

This has to be done with the view of creating greater understanding among ourselves, a better atmosphere of peace and harmony, instead of generating more tension and conflicts due to our unavoidable differences.

Thus, the dialogue—cultural, political, religious, etc.—should be conducted with utmost refinement and respect for people’s freedom. Pride and roughness contribute nothing other than causing division and enmity among ourselves.

But priests and all those who wish to be consistent to their Christian duty should be truly competent in handling all kinds of questions that can come up there.

This is what Pope Benedict said recently. In a recent address to Pontifical Academies, he invited the members to give “adequate” and “creative” answers to the problems posed by contemporary culture, while also taking recourse to the “riches of the Christian tradition.”

He particularly made mention of the situation of today’s youth who are growing up in a society dominated by “relativism” and “subjectivism.” These are ideologies or mind-frames that enclose people in their own world, unmindful of God and spiritual values.

He said that the youth’s predicament is often aggravated by methods and attitudes that are shallow and trivial. He appealed for more serious, scientific approaches in tackling this problem.

There are actually many, practically endless things that can be done in the digital world. One just has to identify his own niche where he finds himself confident and competent, and develop a continuing strategy of proclaiming, clarifying and dialoguing.

The Pope, for example, spoke about the need for promoting a true Christian humanism, always using both faith and reason in addressing the questions posed by the dialogue among cultures. He reassured everyone that this is not only possible but also indispensable in reaching out to all people.

Let’s hope that everyone, especially us, the priests, realize more deeply the urgency of this concern. It cannot be denied that there are clear signs the world is drifting away from God, and the values associated with him are disappearing little by little. We need to put a stop to this, and reverse the trend.