snow & the Pope on YouTube!

Well, it's a "snow day" for many on the eastern seaboard. We only have an inch or so right now, but for the mid-atlantic and southern folk, that's a blizzard for us :) Though, thanks to the web and phone, many of us can telecommute - including me!

So, the latest Catholic news is that the Pope is on YouTube! Well, you might of figured that. But the big news is that there is now a Vatican YouTube channel with everything available in four languages!

Upon release of this new Vatican YouTube channel, the Pope gave an excellent message on using media for the advance of the Gospel:

It falls, in particular, to young people, who have an almost spontaneous affinity for the new means of communication, to take on the responsibility for the evangelization of this "digital continent".

Be sure to announce the Gospel to your contemporaries with enthusiasm. You know their fears and their hopes, their aspirations and their disappointments: the greatest gift you can give to them is to share with them the "Good News" of a God who became man, who suffered, died and rose again to save all people.

Human hearts are yearning for a world where love endures, where gifts are shared, where unity is built, where freedom finds meaning in truth, and where identity is found in respectful communion. Our faith can respond to these expectations: may you become its heralds! The Pope accompanies you with his prayers and his blessing.

Blog Evangelism?

Though I’m thoroughly part of the wonderful postmodern generation - I own a cell phone, blog, email, podcast, surf the Internet, watch Youtube, watch movies – I have never been a huge fan. Two things mitigate against techno-mania in my life: 1) the fact that I love the outdoors, and 2) I have a history degree (ah, I think to myself, wasn’t it so much simpler back in the day...)

So, while I don’t advocate super crazy amounts of time using technology – I do think that if St. Paul used a ship to go across the Mediterranean to proclaim the Gospel, than we should use the modern ship of information technology to proclaim the Gospel. Cardinal Ruini, a top clergyman at the Vatican, sparked this whole blog idea off with his comments the other day: "I don’t understand the Internet, but especially young religious ought to enter blogs and correct the opinions of the youth, showing them the true Jesus.”

Ha, I like that. He doesn’t even use the Internet, and he’s all for using it to proclaim Jesus :) And, while we do need to use technology to evangelize, I think some of us young techno crazy people also need to think twice about the amount of virtual contact we have with people versus real contact – especially when sharing Jesus with others – through a blend of witness and word – something hard to achieve online. For more on this subject see JPII's letter, Internet: A new forum to proclaim the Gospel.

Hat tip to my little sister, Julie for this blog idea.