Did the concept of “Social Media” originate in the Catholic Church?

For the past two years I have found myself drawn to the Holy Father’s annual messages for World Communications Day.  This is the first of a series of articles called, Letters from Papa, where I will attempt to unpack some of the Catholic Church’s teachings around Social Communications, and how this affects those of us who use new media to spread the good news.

Did the concept of “Social Media” originate in the Catholic Church?

On January 24, the Vatican released Pope Benedict’s message for the 44th World Communications Day, 2010, The Priest and Pastoral Ministry in a Digital World: New Media at the Service of the Word.  In his letter, the Holy Father encouraged priests to “…  proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources (images, videos, animated features, blogs, websites) which, alongside traditional means, can open up broad new vistas for dialogue, evangelization and catechesis.”

The reaction of some of the mainstream media seemed to be surprise and incredulity that the Catholic church would be keeping up with the times and using modern tools of communication and interaction.   I noticed the same kind of reaction by mainstream media to last year’s World Communications Day message directed toward the laity, New Technologies, New Relationships. Promoting a Culture of Respect, Dialogue and Friendship.  In fact, throughout history the church has always employed the cutting edge communications tools of the age to spread the Good News, whether it was letters, the printing press, radio, or television.

One of my favorite quotes from The Simpsons is when Homer declared, “Oh, they have the Internet on Computers now!”  This quote seems to be very similar to the misplaced surprise that people have that the Church would be using new media.  Our current communications revolution using the Internet, blogs, and social communities such as Facebook and Twitter is commonly referred to as Social Media.   A search on wordspy.com indicates that the earliest known citation for the term “social media” appeared in 1994.

“What attracted librarians to the Internet? For some cybernauts, USENET, IRC, and the other social media of the net are the hooks. —Greg R. Notess, “Telnet explored,” Online, January 1, 1994 “

I think I may have found an earlier use of the concept, if not the exact term.

In 1963, the Vatican II document “Inter Mirifica” - on the Means of Social Communications begins,

Man’s genius has, with God’s help, produced marvellous technical inventions from creation, especially in our times. The Church, our mother, is particularly interested in those which directly touch man’s spirit and which have opened up new avenues of easy communication of all kinds of news, of ideas and orientations. Chief among them are those means of communication which of their nature can reach and influence not merely single individuals but the very masses and even the whole of human society. These are the press, the cinema, radio, television and others of a like nature. These can rightly be called “the means of social communication”.

Inter Mirifica outlines the role of media in the world, and how the church should engage and participate in all forms of Media.   As a result of Inter Mirifica, the Pontifical Council for Social Communications was established and since 1967, each year the Sunday before Pentecost has been designated as World Communications Day.  For the past 43 years, the Holy Father has released an annual message in preparation for World Communications Day on January24, the Feast of St. Francis de Sales, patron of writers and journalists.  Past themes for World Communications Day have included such topics as Social Communications And The Family(1969 and 1980), Social Communications And The Promotion Of Solidarity And Fraternity Between Peoples And Nations (1988), Religion In The Mass Media. 1989, and Videocassettes And Audiocassettes In The Formation Of Culture And Of Conscience
(1993).

It seems to me that not only has the Church been active in using and exploring modern communications technologies for some time, the concept of “social communications”, outlined in Inter Mirifica in 1963 seem to predict or at least encompass the current usage of the term ’social media’.

Revisiting Unapologetics

A couple years ago I wrote a post on my blog entitled, Help me coin a new phrase- Unapologetics. In the intervening two years, I have trying to live out the premise of the original post in living my faith in my everyday life.

When I was growing up there was a sense that Christian values were something to which people aspired, and the practice of personal faith was a character trait that was admired. In our ever increasingly secular-humanist society, it seems that a person or a family that shows devotion to their faith becomes an object of scorn or derision. There is a pressure on Catholics to apologize for what we believe and who we are.

In this environment, I would like to coin a new term unapologetics to represent the act of a person humbly and proudly living out their faith in the world at large.

Wikipedia defines Christian Apologetics as:

the field of study concerned with the systematic defense of Christianity. The term “apologetic” comes from the Greek word apologia, which means in defense of; therefore a person involved in Christian or Bible Apologetics is a defender of Christianity. Someone who engages in Christian apologetics is called a “Christian apologist”.

A person practicing unapologetics would be witnessing to their faith, not through oratory and defense of their beliefs, but by the simple and humble practice of their faith in their daily life. Simple things like saying grace (something my family frequently neglects), or avoiding Sunday sports or activities which would exclude you from mass. Through prayer and practice of faith, one does not need to actively “witness” their faith to others. “They will know we are Christians by our love”.

Please join me in spreading the term and the practice of unapologetics.

After I posted this article, I discovered that I was not the first person in the blogosphere to use the term unapologetics.  There are people on the net using the term to make arguments against Christian beliefs.    I stand my my concept though that we need to stand humbly but proud in our practice of our faith.

Related: ‘Do you know Why you believe?’

Home Away From Home

Our family just celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving at my sister’s house about 6 hours from our home. We delayed looking for a Sunday mass until Sunday morning and experienced a minor setback. The campground’s wifi was down so we could not check for mass times. I called my brother who checked the yellow pages and found us a couple of masses nearby. We were a few minutes late for the 9:00 mass at a parish we had gone to last summer, so my brother suggested that we go to the 9:30 mass at the cathedral. We arrived there right at 9:30 only to see a sign on the door stating that mass was actually at 10:30.

Without access to the yellow pages or wifi, we got back into the van to drive over to a parish in the neighbourhood where my other sister lives, only to find that that church had recently closed, so we popped into my sister’s house to borrow their internet. We found a 10:00 mass across town which we were able to get to just a few minutes after 10.

Success!

For those of you keeping score at home, it took us over an hour, 2 brothers, the phone book, and the diocesan website to find arrive at a Mass at the fourth church we investigated.

This is not the first time we have had an adventure seeking an out of town mass. This summer we drove 25km to find a mass, only to see the church locked up, On the way back to our campsite, we happened upon a Catholic church 5km from our campsite that didn’t have its mass times listed on the diocesan website.

We did not always go to these lengths to ensure we got to Mass every Sunday, especially when we were away from home. However as we have grown together in our faith as a family, we have made it a priority to fulfil our Sunday obligation and to worship along with our worldwide family of faith. This weekend will mark one year since we missed a Sunday mass.

Please do not mistake this as a rant about the state of tools used by travellers to find mass times. Quite the contrary. These tools make it incredibly easy for people away from home on Sunday to find a way to participate in ‘The Mass’. Yes, I capitalized, ‘The Mass’ . One of the things I am coming to understand by attending mass away from home is that I am truly part of, ‘One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church’. Part of the mystery of the Eucharist is that we are all part of the Body of Christ, and wherever or whenever we participate in the Mass, we are given the gift of being present at the one sacrifice given to us by Jesus on Holy Thursday and Good Friday. Part of the mystery of the mass is that wherever we are, whether in Canada, The United States, in India, or at any Catholic Church throughout the world, we are united in “The Mass” through the merciful sacrifice of Jesus.

A rosary for the whole family

For several years, my wife and I have been striving to regularly pray the rosary together as a family. We have a special set of rosaries and a candle on top of the fridge, and have gathered a wide variety of books, CDs, Mp3s and other resources to help us make our meditation of the mysteries come alive.

We want to learn to reflect on the mysteries of the life and ministry of Jesus through the rosary, not just recite our Hail Marys and Our Fathers as quickly as possible. One advent, we even managed to pray the rosary daily for a month. But our family prayer time together is usually infrequent. It always seems that there is some other commitment of the day or we are too tired from our busy life of working and raising our daughter.

The other day, our 9 year old daughter took out a huge box full of Archie comics that a friend had given her some time ago. She became so engrossed in the stories that she wouldn’t stop, even for meals. She asked me, “Daddy have you ever been so interested in a book that you could not stop? These Archie comics are great!” I know that feeling very well, and her question took me back to my childhood and many happy afternoons spent falling into the adventures of Archie, Jughead, Betty, Veronica and all of the Riverdale Gang.

I have come to realize that it is my role as the father of the household to find the time and to invite my family to join me in prayer. Tonight after dinner, I felt a gentle prompting to lead our family in the Rosary. I got out the rosaries, lit a candle. put on some gentle instrumental music and invited my wife, daughter, and our dinner guest to join me in the rosary. Knowing my daughter’s new found enthusiasm for comics, I shared the Joyful Mysteries from Gene Wang’s excellent Rosary Comic Book. In this comic book, each frame advances part of the story of the mystery and represents one prayer.

My daughter and I took turns reading the dialogue in the comic panels and leading the prayers. As we prayed through the Joyful Mysteries, we stopped and discussed what we felt about what Mary and Joseph were feeling in the pictures, and what each of us felt about the story of Jesus’ birth and childhood unfolding as we prayed together. Each of us were deeply drawn into a very visual meditation of the rosary– from my 9 year old daughter to our 67 year old friend.

When we reached the Nativity, I asked my daughter if she knew what a manger was. She rolled her eyes and said, “Of course I know Daddy. It’s a feed box.” Then she said, “Of course Jesus is in a manger because he is food for our soul”. All 3 adults’ eyes widened. For the first time in my life I saw the baby Jesus in the manger as an early sign pointing toward the gift of His body and blood in the Eucharist.

The Rosary Comic Book turned out to be an excellent means to leading our family through a vivid, visual meditation of the mysteries of the rosary. Gene Wang originally wrote and illustrated this Rosary Comic Book as a personal Lenten devotion, to be used as an introduction to the rosary or an aid to prayer. Its bright colors and simple but evocative drawings bring out the humanity and wonder of the mysteries.  Tonight, this book gave our family a gentle, quiet time of prayer and discussion.

Links:
The Rosary Comic on Gene Wang’s website