A new evangelization or a tool of the devil?...
Internet, ‘blogging, MySpace, IM, et al: avoid ’em or embrace ’em?

by Kevin Driscoll
Diocese of Gary OYYA

Dear Kev,
My parish and I have a fear of placing info for the kids on the internet. One of our teen leaders suggested connecting with other youth through MySpace. Her thought was that most teens have a site and are going to go on anyway; why not provide them with some positive content in an environment where they "hang?" When I made the suggestion, other adult leaders quickly dismissed the idea. We're trying to be as creative as possible and reach out to teens where they are, while battling the negative parts associated with the net. Any thoughts?
(Name withheld)

It's important to approach the anti-net people with an openness to dialogue. You'll probably find that resistance to internet communications is by those who still view the internet as a luxury or a secondary option to other forms of communications (or, to quote Homer Simpson, "The internet? Is that thing still around?!"). And, of course, legitimate fear. Fear of predators has many just dismissing the internet altogether. You need to gently engage the discussion, and explain that, regardless of predators, the teens are still online. You seek to give them a safe place to escape from evil. Reassure them that you have done your homework on the safety of children online, carefully monitoring your website(s), not divulging any personal information, no using photo captions (so as to align a name with a face), etc.

Remember too that we aren't looking to the internet so much to communicate with those who are on board, but rather searching for creative ways to reach the unchurched, those who wouldn't know where to find a church bulletin if they needed one for a scavenger hunt. This is evangelization, man!

Take the opportunity to engage other adults into a discussion on this and other means of outreach.

In true MySpace mode, allow me to "blog" for a bit, and expand on this...

When it comes to media and pop culture, there is a philosophical line that we straddle often regarding teens and how we minister to them. With fear of oversimplifying, I'll summarize it thusly: we either ignore the matter and label it as evil, or we attempt to process the elements and try, hard as it may be, to bring Christ into the evil. We in the youth ministry community battle this everyday. The Davinci Code, The Passion of the Christ, and the recent TV series God or the Girl are recent examples of media messages that leaders came out on either side of that philosophical line on. For example, one Catholic might say "boycott it," while another might say, "Watch it, and let's talk about it."

Regarding MySpace... I wholeheartedly agree that MySpace has filthy and dirty content, but let's also not forget that the content is not created by MySpace, but by the teenagers on it. Clearly this is a call to all of us as parents and youth leaders to find ways to transform this world of filth and evil. Take away the website, and the thoughts and behavior still reside in the minds of those teens. MySpace is merely an open diary of what's going on in their world.

This is where discipleship, evangelization, and leadership development come into play. Example: we had teens so fired up for Christ after our diocesan TAPT retreat in March that they, on their own, created a MySpace group in which they used their MySpace accounts to share their stories of faith and to talk about their love for Christ.

Catholic leaders in recent years, including me, have attempted to utilize new means of connecting with teens already immersed in a pop culture of sin and evil. Contemporary Christian and/or Catholic Christian music, the internet, etc. John Paul the Great called it the "new evangelization."

The issues and concerns that you raise are valid, and you are right when you call it a "battle." I am reminded of Pope Benedict's World Youth Day homily last summer in which he eloquently summed up the challenge to both be relevant and "in the world not of the world" (1 John 2: 16-17) while at the same time avoiding the temptations of moral relativism.

We must remember basic safe environment principles when it comes to internet communications. Adults should exercise extreme caution in one-on-one online personal communication. Chats, instant messages, texts, social networking posts, etc. initiated by an adult should always represent your ministry: there is a fine line between effective relational ministry and getting too personal. Also, whenever possible, save messages and give yourself a paper trail. Social networking should not replace your gathered community, but can be used to enhance it. In other words, in the same way youth ministry gatherings should draw people to Sunday Eucharist, so too your online communications should draw youth to your gathered programs. For us, social networking shouldn't be about networking as much as it is about communication. Our best networking is still done when two or more are gathered- in person!

I trust that youth ministers and parents will do what is best for their teens. As Paul wrote to Timothy, fight the good fight of faith!