At a seminar to mark World Communications Day 2019 entitled ‘Believers in the Digital World: Opportunities for Mission’, Archbishop Eamon Martin, Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland and Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Dromore, has encouraged the faithful to be a force for good by responsibly contributing to the digital world. He offers the following ten principles to guide our presence as people of faith on the digital highways:
- Be positive, communicating the ‘joy of the Gospel’.
- Strictly avoid aggression and ‘preachiness’ online; try not to be judgemental or polemical.
- Never bear false witness on the internet.
- Fill the internet with charity and love, continually seeking to include a sense of charity and solidarity with the suffering in the world.
- Have a “broad back” when criticisms and insults are made – when possible, gently correct.
- Pray in the digital world! Establish sacred spaces, opportunities for stillness, reflection and meditation online.
- Establish connections, relationships and build communion, including an ecumenical presence online.
- Educate young people to keep themselves safe and responsible online, particularly in light of cyber bullying and the prevalence and accessibility of pornography and online gambling.
- “Give a soul to the internet”, as Pope Benedict XVI once said – at all times witness to human dignity online.
- Be missionary, remembering that, with the help of the internet, a message has the potential to reach the ends of the earth in seconds!
Click here to download a PDF of the 10 Principles.
ENDS
