The new agora: social media

Pope Benedict sends his first Tweet. Photo courtesy of Vatican Radio.(Vatican Radio) "Pope Benedict’s message for World Communications Day 2013 was released at a press conference in the Vatican on Thursday, the feast day of St. Francis de Sales, patron saint of journalists and writers. The message focuses on the importance of social networking sites as “portals of truth and faith”, and “new spaces for evangelisation”. 
Pope Benedict, who opened his own Twitter account at the end of last year, invites people to appreciate the potential of social media sites and urges believers, in this Year of Faith, to consider how their presence on these networks can help spread the Gospel message of God’s love for all people."

Photo courtesy of http://www.lilesnet.comKudos

You've got to hand it to the Pope. Even at age 85, when a lot of people call it quits on doing anything new and innovative, the pope and his many assistants use every means to initiate interest in the Catholic faith to prompt people all over the world to share the good news of the Gospel. He called this post-modern communication a new 'agora' and sent his address in seven different languages. You can read his short, poignant piece here. http://www.news.va/en/news/social-networks-new-spaces-for-evangelisation  

Photo courtesy of http://www.stevetierney.orgWhat is an 'agora'? 

An agora is an ancient Greek word that means a gathering place, a space where people assemble. In ancient Greece, the agora was the hub where athletic, artistic, spiritual and political events occurred. By calling social networking sites the new 'agora,' Pope Benedict joined the ranks of a new frontier of missionary pioneers who found a way for people to "share ideas, information and opinions, and in which new relationships and forms of community can come into being." 

Photo courtesy of http://vocablog-plc.blogspot.com"Gimme the root..."

I spend a lot of time reading the Vatican II Council documents because of my passion for the beauty of their prophetic language and what they mean for us in this time and place. Sometimes I feel like the dad in the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Gus wears his Greek cultural heritage on his sleeve and talks about it all the time to everyone. In one of my favorite lines from the film, Gus makes a claim. "Gimme a word, any word, and I'll show you how the root of that word is Greek," he tells people, much to the chagrine of his daughter Toula.

I think that I might be the female Catholic version of Gus. Give me an event, any event, and I'll show you where the Vatican II documents address it and how they still speak to us today. As a friend once truthfully stated, "Your sainted husband and your poor children have earned more CEU's at the dining room table than anyone I know." They know just how Toula felt. 

Here's an example. In a Vatican II Council document called Decree on the Mass Media (Inter Mirifica, 4 December, 1963), a portion of the opening paragraph finds its post-modern reality in the new frontier of social networking.

"The genius of humankind, especially in our times, has produced marvellous technical inventions from creation, with God's help. Mother church is particularly interested in those which directly touch the avenues of easy communications of all kinds of news, ideas and directives. Chief among them are those means of communication which of their nature can reach and influence not just single individuals but the very masses and even the whole of human society." (IM,1) 

If you use any kind of social media (texting, Facebook, Twitter, email and the plethora of social network avenues), you may want to read this short decree in its entirety. (Clike here to read) http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19631204_inter-mirifica_en.html)

Compare it to the pope's recent address. Major parallels surface. The decree and the papal address reflect the same basic principles: both challenge all of us who use social media on any level to ask ourselves how we contribute to human growth as 'duty-bound' disciples who witness to the Gospel "with a christian and human spirit." (DMM 3) 

Photo courtesy of http://marketingconversation.com/2010/12/14/go-crazy-with-social-media/The myriad of platforms to social network can be mind boggling. Exploring them swallows up a lot of time. Finding a balanced approach to how much time we devote to social media is a whole other topic for another time. However, because of its existence and its invaluable resource as a tool of evangelization,  "The church has an innate right to use and own any of these media which are necessary or useful for the formation of Christians and for all of its pastoral work." DMM 3

Further, "It is the duty of pastors...to instruct and direct the faithful in their use...for the rest, it will be principally for lay people to animate the media with a christian and human spirit." (DMM 3)  

That really fills the whole enchilada with the stuffing that it needs to be authentic, tasteful and healthy. The Decree also opens the packed potential for social networking to open its portal to be collaboration, dialectic and respectful. Just because we don't 'face off' with people when we connect with them through social media does not exempt us from the same standards of human dignity. 

This new 'agora' creates a virtual meeting ground that gives us opportunities to share faith and reflection, communicate and learn from one another and envision and imagine the reign of God as we pioneer a new way of being within this innovative portal as we sharecrop the way for generations before us. What will we leave as our Christian legacy? How will they remember us when they look back at our conversations, what news we released and how we comment upon it? Several well known writers ceased to accept comments on their posts because of constant verbal abuse. Has social media become the new assault weapon? There are a lot of ways to kill people. If we use social media in even the most minimal way, we're involved in this conversation. 

Special responsibility falls on the shoulders of those who lead us in the way social media. Check out another quote from the Decree on the Mass Media:

A special responsibility ...rests on journalists, writers, actors, designers, producers, programmers, distributors, operators, sellers, critics...they have the power to direct humankind along a good path...by the information they impart and influence they exert. DMM 11

(Artist alert: I wonder if some really creative musician or writer will come up with a new musical or play that depicts Jesus as a post-modern day techie who uses this new platform to preach and teach God's reign. That could be really fun. Any takers?) 

As I read comments on a number of online resources throughout the week, I wonder if people think before they write a remark or post an unkind dictum. Sometimes I feel as thought I'm reading a re-write on Mean Girls, except that some of the derogatory language is produced by men. We live in one of the most violent periods of history; are we contributing to that violence in how we communicate with one another through social media? Do we rage at the gracious words emitted from prophetic writers and prepare to throw them off the proverbial cliff because we disagree with their theology, their politics, their philosophy? What kind of an agora do we want to create? 

Photo courtesy of http://www.etsy.comLove is all we need 

"Public opinion exercises enormous influence nowadays over the lives, private or public, of all citizens, of whatever class. It is therefore necessary that all members of society meet the demands of justice and charity in this domain and what they try, through the media, to form and expand sound public opinion." DMM 8

The next time that you might be tempted to say something harmful, hurtful or cause a bruise or wound that may be irrevocably harmful in the agora of social networking, try an exercise that I find pretty useful. Wherever you find the word 'love,' put your name. If you're writing for a publication, put the name of the publisher that you represent. If you're an artist creating computer imaging or downloading an image to post publicly, substitute your own name to replace the word 'love.' 

1 Cor 13:4-13

Brothers and sisters:
(.......) is patient, (......) is kind.
(......) is not jealous, (......) is not pompous,
(......) is not inflated, (.....) is not rude, 
(....) does not seek its own interests,
(....) is not quick-tempered, (....) does not brood over injury,
(....) does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.
(....) bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.
       (....) never fails.

"So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love." That's how they'll remember us: by our legacy of love on this new agora of faith, hope and love. That's how we'll recognize one another in the agape of the agora - by our civility, our integrity, kindness and patience -- by our love. 

Meet you on the Internet.