Nueva Evangelización y Social Media. Prof. Raphael C. Monthienvichienchai

New Evangelization and Social Media

Prof. Raphael Chainarong Monthienvichienchai

Abstract

The increasing availability and uptake of internet-capable mobile devices is bringing about huge changes in the way media is consumed and changing the way people live, especially the lives of young people.

People nowadays are spending huge proportions of their time in the virtual world. Many keep social networks open throughout the day in a distinct browser tab or tool, so much that for them it is becoming increasingly the place where they live their lives.  

This “new forms of behavior” are posing a great challenge and opportunity to the Church and the proclamation of her message. The truth of our faith has not changed. Our Tradition has not changed. But the people of our dioceses are living in a new world.  The communications future that we were promised long ago is right here and right now.

Our challenge as evangelizers has always been to reach out and encounter people where they are at, and more and more that means online. If people of all ages are living in this gigantic network, then we need to be in there, dialoguing with the inhabitants of this world, with the men and women who dwell in the social media.

There are different ways of looking at the use of social media in evangelization – one is to see the new media as yet another tool to reach people with the message of the Gospel. By means of the various forms of social media, we can reach out to the peripheries and draw people in, so that they can hear the Word of God and understand it better. Another way is to see the digital, online, or virtual world itself as a new space which is itself in need of evangelization.

We have to go out of our churches to dialogue with people in their own environment, in their own life. This is what Pope Francis is inviting us to do using social media: Reaching out to people in their own environment and to the modern day peripheries.

For the Holy Father, that is the new way of evangelization and doing pastoral work by being present in the life of people. The way we interpret the Pope’s apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium is nothing short of social media: Be present in people’s lives and share their joys and sorrows. 

Informe

I believe by now we have become familiar with the consistent theme in the teaching of Pope Francis on New Evangelization.  In Evangelii Gaudium the Holy Father writes: ‘I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security…. If something should rightly disturb us and trouble our consciences, it is the fact that so many of our brothers and sisters are living without the strength, light and consolation born of friendship with Jesus Christ, without a community of faith to support them, without meaning and a goal in life’. (EG 49)

It is in this context that I would like to reflect upon the theme of the New Evangelization and Social Media: the challenges and opportunities.

According to an overview report on global digital trends published by We Are Social, a London-based social media agency with offices worldwide, out of the world’s estimated population of some 7 billion people, there are 6.5 billion with mobile subscriptions in one form or another. 

Furthermore, in a United Nations study published last year, more people on earth have access to mobile phones than sanitary toilets.  Out of the world’s estimated 7 billion people, more than 6 billion have access to mobile phones.  Far fewer — only 4.5 billion people — have access to clean, working toilets. 

Let us now look at another interesting fact and figures about social media:

· 72% of all Internet users are now active on social media;

· 71% of users access social media from a mobile device

· 89% of 18-29 year olds use social media;

· In contrast, the 30-49 bracket sits at 72%;

· 60% of 50 to 60 year olds are active on social media;

· In the 65 plus bracket, 43% are using social media;                                     

     (Source:  Pew Research Center, 2005-2013)

There was also a tipping point last year that has major implications for businesses and for the Church. This point will impact publishing and marketing and evangelizing strategies and tactics in the future.

Last year on December 13, Beyoncé, one of the world’s biggest music stars ignored the traditional mass media product launching process.  She by-passed the “normal” mass media release of a radio campaign, multiple TV appearances and retail and consumer brand promotions that is the usual requirement for successful album sales.

Instead she announced her new album on Instagram with just a picture, captioned ‘Surprise!’.  Amazingly, this one picture sent the music world into instantaneous meltdown. What she did was releasing her new album on iTunes with zero warning.  An Instagram post was all she needed. Twitter reported a whopping 1.2 million tweets about the album in just 12 hours and the new album sold 828,773 copies in just three days, making it iTunes' fastest-selling album worldwide.

These “new forms of behavior” are posing an immense challenge and are also providing great opportunities to the Church and the proclamation of her message.  The truth of our faith has not changed. Our Tradition has not changed. But the people of our dioceses are living in a new world. 

As Christians, we are not called to just invite people into the Church; but also to bring the Church to the people. 

The Catholic Church has always advocated the use of whatever media are available to it in bringing the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Fifty-one years ago, at the Second Vatican Council, one of the first decrees issued by the Council fathers, Inter Mirifica, was on the media of social communications. Its first paragraph reads:

‘Among the wonderful technological discoveries which men of talent, especially in the present era, have made with God’s help, the Church welcomes and promotes with special interest those which have … uncovered new avenues of communicating… news, views and teachings of every sort. The most important of these inventions are media such as the press, movies, radio, television and the like. These can … reach and influence, not only individuals, but the very masses and the whole of human society…’

Note the welcoming and positive tone of the message for these ‘wonderful technological discoveries’. However these days, the mentioning of ‘press, movies, radio, TV’ seems miles away from smartphones, tablets, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook! Yet, even for the most casual observer, it is obvious that this Vatican II decree, Inter Mirifica, speaks directly to those who use these devices.

Christians in the past made use of all forms of media to spread the Good News – whether it be parchments and scrolls, art, stained glass, illuminated manuscripts, printing, television or radio. We must therefore welcome the use of so-called ‘social media’ in this task. Many parishes already have websites.  There are ‘sacred spaces’ on line, priests on TV programs, ‘soul-waves’ radio and many more.  But all of these are no longer enough. Two years ago, Proposition 18 from the Synod on the New Evangelization stated, “Education in the wise and constructive use of social media is an important means to be utilized in the New Evangelization.”

There are different ways of looking at the use of social media in evangelization – one is to see the new media as yet another tool to reach people with the message of the Gospel. By means of the various forms of social media, we can reach out to the peripheries and draw people in, so that they can hear the Word of God and understand it better. They may then be open to a face-to-face encounter with a Church or parish group, or feel drawn to Mass and the sacraments. We must remember, however, that the best form of communication is still interpersonal.

Another way is to see the digital, online, or virtual world itself as a new space, which is itself in need of evangelization.

If the former is described as ‘evangelizing through’ the social media, the latter might be termed ‘evangelizing on’ the social media.

Acts 17 in the New Testament speaks about Paul going into Athens, the bustling capital of the ancient world. Paul is amazed to see that the city was full of idols. Yet Verse 21 comments: All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas. St. John Paul II saw the internet as being like the ‘new Athens’, new marketplace or Areopagus (cf. Redemptoris Missio, 37c), a ‘global village’ to be won for Christ. Like Paul, our challenge is to become witnesses for Christ in this strange new world, to enter into dialogue with the digital culture.

If only to be able to reach our young people and an increasing percentage of people of all ages, we need to be present in this new Areopagus. Nowadays, people are spending huge and increasing proportions of their time in this virtual world.  I believe many of us, if not all, keep our mobiles with us all the time. Many keep social networks open throughout the day in a distinct browser tab or app, so much that for them it is becoming increasingly the place where they live their lives. When they go to bed at night most of them check their phones one last time before placing it on their bed stand. What we call the real world of face-to-face seems often dull and uneventful to them and their secondary existence.

Therefore social media has become the nervous system of our new culture, in which more and more people are expressing and exploring their identity, picking up and discarding their values and attitudes, expressing their feelings and prejudices, befriending and unfriending each other, measuring each other’s status and importance, relevance and appearance. If our young people and people of all ages are living in this gigantic network, then we, as people of faith need to be in there, interacting with the inhabitants of this world, with the men and women who dwell in the social media.

When we speak about new evangelization in the Church, we more often than not think of the so called ‘real world’, but billions of people live in the social networks. These have been described as among the biggest countries in the world – and they are countries with no barriers. For example, more than 1.2 billion inhabit the world of Facebook. The majority of these people may never enter a Church, but if we are to respond to the Gospel mandate given us by Christ to ‘go out to the whole world’, then we must include the digital world and proclaim the Good News there also. Our challenge as evangelizers has always been to reach out and encounter people wherever they are - and increasingly that means going online.

We used to ask ourselves, "What do we need to tell people?"  Now we also have to ask ourselves, "What do people want to hear from us?" and “How do people want to hear from us?” They no longer want to wait for the evening newscast, or the morning paper, or even the Sunday homily.  If we do not go to them, they will go elsewhere. 

When our parishioners need information, they will seek it and find it.  When they need guidance, they look for it and consult their social networks.  When they need community, they connect to it.

In this year’s MESSAGE FOR THE 48TH WORLD COMMUNICATIONS DAY, Pope Francis speaks about ‘Communication at the Service of an Authentic Culture of Encounter’. The Internet, in particular, he says, ‘offers immense possibilities for encounter and solidarity. This is something truly good, a gift from God’.

The Holy Father is telling us that “today the social networks are one way to experience this call to discover the beauty of faith, the beauty of encountering Christ”. We should encourage this encounter through technology and social media. For the record, social media requires technology, but they are not the same thing.

Our problem is that in general the local Church authorities do not distinguish between technology and the social media. We, the Church, are still distinguishing between the tools and the cultures they create, while disregarding the latter. Long gone are the days when to connect to the Internet you had to fire up a modem and wait for the connection. Now we are always on. We are the Internet.

Yes you heard that right. We ARE the internet. We are no longer living in a world where you had a producer of content on a website and a number of consumers. Through social media we are the Internet. Each one of us is a consumer and a producer on the web. Our lives, real lives if you will, are creating content for the social networks to consume. Actions on these networks are extending our lives.The Holy Father states that “the digital world can be an environment rich in humanity; a network not of wires but of people.”

The challenges facing the Church in the digital culture and the need to effectively communicate the Word of God to today’s generation are that we need to learn the language of social media, which is conversational and interactive; to speak in a style that is accessible to a generation accustomed to 15 second commercials and 140 character texts or “tweets”, who prefer content that allows them to respond, comment and feel that they are interacting with someone that genuinely cares.

The Holy Father urges us in his message “to dialogue with the men and women of today, to understand their expectations, doubts and hopes, and to bring them the Gospel”. We have to go out of our churches to dialogue with people in their own environment, in their own life. This is what the Pope is inviting us to do using social media: reaching out to people in their own environment and to the modern day peripheries.

For Pope Francis, that is the new way of evangelization and doing pastoral work by being present in the lives of people. The way we interpret the Holy Father’s apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium can be nothing short of fully utilizing the potential of social media: to be present in people’s lives and to share both their joys and sorrows.

At the same time, the Holy Father recognizes the problems and drawbacks with authentic communication in the virtual world, for example – problems with achieving balance, fighting stereotypes, the ease with which people can isolate themselves or ‘barricade themselves’ online ‘behind sources of information which only confirm their own wishes and ideas, or political and economic interests’.

The Holy Father is clear that as Christians we need to ‘walk the streets of the digital highways, to encounter, like the Good Samaritan, those who are lying on the side of the road and witness to them in tenderness and love’. Thanks to the social media, he says, ‘Christian witness can reach the peripheries of human existence’. I quote from the Message: ‘The digital highway is … a street teeming with people who are often hurting, men and women looking for salvation or hope. By means of the Internet, the Christian message can reach “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8)’.

There is a temptation to see evangelization in the social media as simply bombarding people with religious messages. Pope Francis encourages us to go beyond this. He challenges us to think about how we can effectively encounter people and witness to them in, and using, new media. He asks: ‘Can we be available to them, hear their issues and problems, engage with their questions and doubts and their search for truth?’

He continues in a beautiful passage: ‘May the image of the Good Samaritan who tended to the wounds of the injured man by pouring oil and wine over them be our inspiration. Let our communication be a balm which relieves pain and a fine wine, which gladdens hearts’. He urges us: ‘Let us boldly become citizens of the digital world… in order to dialogue with people today and to help them encounter Christ. The Church needs to be a Church at the side of others, capable of accompanying everyone along the way’.

In conclusion, we have to keep in mind a number of principles to guide us in our presence in social media:

Be positive and joyful. Remember that it is the ‘Joy of the Gospel’ that we are communicating, so, as Pope Francis says: no ‘funeral faces’.

Remember ‘Ubi caritas et amor’. Fill the internet with charity and love, always giving rather than taking. Continually seek to broaden and reframe discussions and seek to include a sense of charity and solidarity with the suffering in the world.

Have a broad back when criticisms and insults are made – when possible, gently correct misunderstandings and errors.

Pray in the digital world. Establish sacred spaces, opportunities for stillness, reflection and meditation online.

Establish on-line connections, relationships and communities. The Church has always been about ‘gathering’ together in the name of Jesus Christ – but it was never said where we must meet.

Educate our young to keep themselves safe and to use the Internet responsibly.

· Witness to human dignity at all times online. We are well-aware of the pervasive prevalence of pornography on the Internet, which can ‘pollute the spirit’, destroy and degrade human sexuality and relationships, reduce persons to objects for gratification, draw millions into the commodification and commercialization of sex, and feed the monster that is human trafficking.

· Last but not the least, be missionary, be aware that with the help of the internet, a social media message has the potential to reach the ends of the earth in seconds. In this regard, let us foster and call forth charisms in younger committed people who understand the power and potential of the social media to bear witness.

That is our challenge and our privilege as Christians.  Freely we have received the joy of the gospel, so now let us freely give it to others.

End