Question: Pope Benedict XVI recently launched the first ever Vatican YouTube channel. The channel will carry liturgical events, audiences with the pope and other papal activities. Benedict said that “wise” use of such technologies helps promote the search for “the true, the good and the beautiful” across borders and ethnic divisions. How important do you believe technology is to the evangelist of the 21 century? How do you use technology in your own church?
In this era of electronic media, it is right for churches to utilize the new technologies. It’s like the invention of printing, and then the need to provide accurate translations of the Bible in languages that the populace can understand.
One of the most widely-known publications of the Church of Christ, Scientist, is The Christian Science Monitor, the newspaper established in 1908 by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, in response to yellow journalism of the day. She saw the necessity of working prayerfully to resolve world issues, and accurate information is needed to facilitate this. The Monitor will shortly become the first national newspaper in the U.S. whose daily publication is online only, through its website www.csmonitor.com, which already has over 1.5 million visitors each month. An e-news edition will be delivered by e-mail.
