Summit: Digital communication has ushered in a 'new missionary age' for evangelization

(OSV News) -- Digital evangelization is still a developing concept. But some speakers at an online conference said decisions should be scripturally based and avoid simply following trends.

Msgr. James Shea, president of the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota, delivered the keynote address at the two-day "Engage" virtual summit Oct. 21-22 put on by eCatholic to mark its 20th year. The College Station, Texas-based company designs websites and offers other digital services to help parishes carry out their mission.

"The Lord wants to use us as his weapon, so if we're ever in the hands of the enemy, we bust in his head," he said, making an apparent scriptural reference to Genesis, where God tells the serpent who tempted humanity's first parents to sin: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; They will strike at your head, while you strike at their heel."

"We find ourselves," Msgr. Shea said, "in a new missionary age -- a new apostolic age. The whole of Western civilization has become mission territory."

Msgr. Shea said Catholic evangelists today have to "conduct ourselves in a different way." He quoted a famous line from Christian author C.S. Lewis' book "Mere Christianity" -- "Enemy-occupied territory -- that is what this world is" -- and then paraphrased Lewis' observation: "The Lord is always behind enemy lines to begin a resistance movement."

In the new apostolic age, Msgr. Shea said, we are "wrapped in the mantle of the earliest Christians."

New technology should always be embraced, too. He recalled his grandmother deriding TV as "demonic" and calling the TV set "the devil's box."

But decades ago, a certain Bishop Fulton J. Sheen -- born in 1895, made archbishop in 1969, and today is a candidate for sainthood -- found TV ideal for evangelizing in his "Life Is Worth Living" program. His show became an unexpected -- and Emmy Award-winning -- national hit.

"This is not a time to circle the wagons, to shake our fist at the moon, or those around us." Msgr. Shea said. "It's a time for great hope, even if the lions come for us, to join hands and sing hymns."

In a workshop, Sarah Yaklic, chief digital officer of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, emphasized that Jesus Christ's greatest gift in his parables was "the art of storytelling."

And this, she said, can "get into the messages of web traffic. We transform it into a place where Jesus is present."

"What we are really looking for" in digital evangelizing, she explained, "is that one-on-one sharing: giving people an opportunity to have a piece of digital communication."

"When we're fully ourselves," she said, "we are going to be able to share God's love in the best way. You don't need the most expensive equipment to make a difference."

Msgr. Roger Landry, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States, likewise shared that Archbishop Sheen -- also national director for TPMS from 1950 to 1966 -- as an inspiration.

"He showed us the importance of using all the means at our disposal to share the Gospel," he noted. This ranged from books; "The Catholic Hour," his radio program from 1930 to 1950; and eventually his TV triumph with "Life Is Worth Living" on the tiny DuMont network.

On Tuesday night, then-Bishop Sheen was up against both comedian Milton Berle and singer Frank Sinatra on competing networks -- Msgr. Landry noted that the Catholic prelate "beat them both."

Although Archbishop Sheen died in 1979 before the internet-driven information age, he said, "Without any question, he would be using these means to spread the good news."

And this, Msgr. Landry said, included "a clear strategy of the content of the church's mission. He wanted (the world) to know that Christ was the answer to every question."

He said digital technology would be a considerable help in the "mission to proclaim the Gospel to all nations" and "to prioritize those who haven't heard the message of God."