Since I was installed as Bishop of the Diocese of Arlington ten years ago, there have been tremendous advances in communications technology. Our diocese currently evangelizes through our Web site, www.arlingtondiocese.org, newspapers, including the Arlington Catholic Herald, television, radio, new media and social networking sites. As the world's population increasingly meets online, each of us has the opportunity, and even the responsibility, to use these means of communication to spread the love of Christ to the world around us.

The Pauline Year is a particularly appropriate time to consider the efforts we make to communicate our Catholic identity. Let us remember that Christ told us to “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). In the time of Saint Paul, the Gospel of Jesus Christ was spread by the missionary journeys of the apostles, often on foot, to the farthest reaches of the known world. These apostles, and Saint Paul in particular, spread the message of Christ using the means available at the time. Today, the development of social networking sites and new media provides us with innovative means to communicate and address critical issues in society, including the preeminence of the family, the sanctity of life, human sexuality, human rights, hunger and poverty. As members of the Catholic Church, we have the advantage, indeed the obligation, to use these new technologies to glorify the Lord.

In honor of this year's World Communications Day, Pope Benedict XVI launched a new Web site, www.pope2you.net, and a Facebook application in order to evangelize the world, especially today’s youth. The Pope teaches us that “Undoubtedly, wise use of communications technology enables communities to be formed in ways that promote the search for the true, the good and the beautiful, transcending geographical boundaries and ethnic divisions” (Pope Benedict XVI, Angelus, January 25, 2009). He invites all of us to reach out to others through these new means of communication to form friendships and foster understanding and solidarity in the world.

We should be aware, however, of the dangers that come with a technology that makes information and images so easily available. We would be naïve not to educate ourselves about the false ideas and destructive images found on Web sites and easily sent via cell phones. Pornography is a toxic poison which promises intimacy, but, in reality, violates the purity and the sanctity of the human person. Parents, and indeed all of us, must be vigilant in safeguarding our loved ones from the distorted images that pornography so readily supplies. If you are interested in learning more about the scourge of pornography, please read my pastoral letter, “Bought with a Price: Pornography and the Attack on the Living Temple of God” and the booklet “Sex and Cell Phones: Protect Your Children,” which offers resources to filter the content that children are able to access on cell phones and the Internet. Both are available on our diocesan Web site, www.arlingtondiocese.org.

God, in His wisdom, has given us free will and the gift of stewardship over creation. The vast new world, what Pope Benedict calls the “digital continent,” is a space where each one of us must take responsibility (Angelus, January 25, 2009). As men and women made in the image and likeness of God, we must uphold morality and the dignity of the human person in the digital world. We are able to do this through our individual presence in the online community, but also through our participation in the Church’s efforts to communicate the Gospel to society. The weekend of June 14th, a collection will be taken to support the Catholic Communications Campaign. Your donations will fund initiatives here in the Diocese such as the diocesan Web site, www.arlingtondiocese.org, which receives 66,000 visits per month, the publication of pastoral letters and the Annual Diocesan Directory, the maintenance of diocesan Twitter (www.twitter.com/arlingtonchurch.com) and Facebook accounts, media relations on behalf of the diocese and the parishes, and evangelization initiatives such as the “Come Back to Me with All Your Heart” outreach this past Lent. The other half of your donations will fund initiatives on the national level, including evangelization efforts such as Catholic radio and television, daily scripture meditations and the “For Your Marriage” campaign. Your generosity enables our Diocesan Church to bring the Good News into the digital sphere.

As technology progresses, let us invoke the intercession of Blessed Titus Brandsma, a patron of communications. Blessed Titus was a Dutch Carmelite priest and a professional journalist during the time of the Holocaust, who fought against Nazi ideology for the freedom of the Catholic press. He was killed in a concentration camp where he had spread the Good News of Christ to many of the prisoners. With Saint Paul and Blessed Titus Brandsma as our models, let us strive to spread the Good News of Christ to our neighbors, our community and, indeed, to the world, “the digital continent.”