Duc in Altum

Archbishop John Foley, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, recognized the need for the Church to evangelize via the Internet:

If it is possible to find God on the Internet, then the Church has the obligation to proclaim him in that medium, says a Vatican official.

He told a meeting today: "The Internet can be a new path to God, a call to the Church to question itself on the opportunities offered by the new media to inform, educate, pray and evangelize, to take the Word of God everywhere, to reach also those who live in solitude and who perhaps would never open the door to their home."

"The Church, as transmitter of the Revelation of God, has the task to communicate the Word and must encourage the use of Internet for the common good, the development of peace and justice, in respect of personal dignity and with a spirit of solidarity," he pointed out.

Internet is "the Areopagus of our time, the instrument to spread the Christian message," Archbishop Foley said. "But it is necessary to educate in its use, as with every reality that surrounds us, the positive element is opposed to the negative, creating confusion and false values.

"Yes, God can be found on the network. And among the millions of people who surf the Internet every day, many may find words of hope, come across other cultural and spiritual experiences, bringing down ideological barriers to discover new horizons."

I appreciate the Archbishop's comments. I believe that many a blogger understands that the Internet is a powerful medium for evangelization.

Of course, I appreciate almost everything that the Archbishop says. I have very fond memories of him from a number of years ago. Long before I was Catholic, I would hear him give the commentary during the Christmas Eve Mass from St. Peter's which was broadcast on PBS. The fact that I would watch the mass was a strange thing in itself given my very non-Catholic upbringing, but I enjoyed watching what I did not understand and I was fond of John Paul the Great as far as I understood who he was. Little did I know that God was planting seeds through the Archbishop's words. This is exactly what happens through the Internet. Seeds of evangelization are planted. Eventually from these seeds God produces beautiful fruit.