media ministry gets the papal nod

If the reality of new media as a way to deep and authentic and "real life" social bonds ever needed a strong legitimation, it just got it from the Pope.

The development of the new technologies and the larger digital world represents a great resource for humanity as a whole and for every individual, and it can act as a stimulus to encounter and dialogue. But this development likewise represents a great opportunity for believers. No door can or should be closed to those who, in the name of the risen Christ, are committed to drawing near to others. To priests in particular the new media offer ever new and far-reaching pastoral possibilities, encouraging them to embody the universality of the Church’s mission, to build a vast and real fellowship, and to testify in today’s world to the new life which comes from hearing the Gospel of Jesus, the eternal Son who came among us for our salvation.

Without emerging media, the Christian right particularly in the United States, would likely have never come to the level of influence it has in American culture and Christianity worldwide. The Christian left and mainstream is still a bit behind with this realization. Too often the old guard of the church seems stodgy and immovable with a reified image of "church" as a building and "real" ministry as something that can happen in a literal physical space. They are coming around as slowly as many of the old guard in academia have over the past decade, but it's still a struggle.

Part of the struggle is the false division many still have between social media as "Online Life" or "Virtual Life" with "In Real Life" or IRL. I have never accepted that division. What we do online is as part of our life and social development as attending a PTA meeting or listening to a lecture for a biology class. In fact, through these media – streaming video, blog posting, and other various means of discussing and meeting others – the experiences with others are often deeper and more meaningful. But by calling this a "digital continent" Pope Benedict XVI effectively removes the false distinction and legitimates what we do through digital media as something integrated not only with "real life", but as an important and deep means of being the church.

How long will it be, then, before our mainline and liberal churches wake up and ordain members of the church who use these media to connect with others on often deeper levels than members of the same congregation? All evidence from education and sociology has only pointed to the authenticity of these media for learning and social connectedness. If this is true, and clearly I think it is, the church is abysmally short-sighted if it cannot legitimate social connectedness as a means to live out the Kingdom of God with ordained positions within the church to do so.

*The image at the top is one I designed for a presentation I gave at a 2005 meeting of the a Metanexus Local Society Initiative Open Dialogue Day in New Brunswick, NJ. The presentation was entitled "The Theological challenge of Cyberspace and the Logic of Simulation." I published an article of the same name in 2001: The theological challenge of cyberspace and the logic of simulation. Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory, 2(2).  http://www.jcrt.org.

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