The culture of the Web

The meeting of the Executive Committee of the CEEM (Commission of the European Episcopates for the Media) will be held in Rome from 25 to 27 April. It will be chaired by the Bishop of Gap (France), the Most Rev. Jean-Michel di Falco-Léandri. After the approval of the minutes of the previous meeting (Gap, 23-25 March), Monsignor Aldo Giordano, general secretary of the CCEE (Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe), will present a review of the CCEE’s activities. This will be followed by a similar presentation of the activities of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, by its President Monsignor Claudio Maria Celli. After the report of the regional linguistic groups and European media organizations, discussion will focus on the aims and means of CEEM, and on the programme and theme (‘The culture of the Web and the Church’) of the Commission’s next plenary assembly, scheduled for 2009. CEEM’s previous plenary in 2008 (Budapest, 30-09/03-10) on the Church’s relations with the media, will also be discussed. We asked Msgr. Di Falco-Léandri what challenges in particular are being posed to the Church in Europe by the media, and in particular by the web, and how the Church can/must revise her relations with the secular media and within her own Catholic media.Inherent in the nature of the Church. “The web – the CEEM President told SIR – is a fairly recent means of communication, but now widely used; it evokes both fear and enthusiasm and has already changed the way in which people, including the Church herself, communicate. It influences our perception of space and time. It influences our very identity. Internet has created for the first time in history a community that is continuously and ‘psychically’ linked without limits of space or time. Like any instrument placed in the hands of man, Internet becomes what man himself decides it should become”. “On the other hand – continues Msgr. Di Falco-Léandri – we have the Church: a millenarian institution made up of men and women and ‘master of communication’ with a very specific task, that of continuing in history the evangelising mission of Christ by announcing the good news to all mankind. In her history the Church has always been able to grasp what is good in the means of social communication for the edification of humanity. In many cases, indeed, she has been a major promoter of them. Interest in the media is inherent in the very nature of the Church, as a community that dialogues. A shared ethos. In the view of the CEEM President, it is possible to realize fruitful collaboration between the Church and the web, “perhaps precisely on the basis of concepts of ‘community’ and ‘dialogue'”. We need however to ask ourselves “about the implications that the use of the Internet may have for the mission of the Church, and about its repercussions on the work of the evangelization of cultures and the inculturation of the faith”. How, asks the bishop of Gap, “can Internet become part of the ordinary pastoral mission in our dioceses and parishes?”. “The belonging to the one community or the other – he explains – must primarily involve the acceptance of a shared ethos. In this sense, I think the Church should indicate ethical and moral criteria that are universally valid and recognizable in human and Christian values, both to those who use the Internet for various reasons (recreation, research, information…) and to those who are professionally involved in it, whether Catholics or non-believers”. At the same time, “the Church is called to constantly renew her dialogue with the world of the media, and therefore must have a sound knowledge of them, if she is to understand their objectives, methods and structures”. Accessible to everyone. “If it clear that the Church has a task and a duty towards users of the web, what vice versa is the utility of the Internet for the Church? – asks Bishop di Falco-Léandri. In his view, “it could be said that, more than an opportunity, the web is a necessity for the Church, if she is not to remain on the margins of technological development; without this medium, she would be unable to dialogue with thousands of young people and present an obsolete image to the world, given that today communication in large part passes through this new technology”. “Perhaps all this is true – observes the CEEM President -, but it’s certainly not enough. The truth is that the Church has a need for the Internet because she has the Good News to communicate. An in this sense any means of communication becomes a gift”. “I wish to point out, however – concludes the bishop – that a large part of the world population does not yet have the privilege of an Internet connection. In Europe too, especially in some Eastern European countries, many people cannot yet enjoy the benefits of the world wide web. That’s why the Church must help to make this medium accessible to everyone and why it’s important that our pastoral work should also be in tune with the more traditional forms of evangelization”.