From the Word Made Flesh to the Word Gone Digital

by Pat Gohn

This presentation was given at the 2011 Catholic New Media Conference. Below are my notes on the presentation:

Introduction

• What's most important is what God's going to say to you tonight—especially as you visit the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.
• The heart of the New Evangelization is an actual, beating heart—the heart of Jesus, beating with love for us.
• JPII: An essential characteristic of the New Evangelization is an intimate relationship with Christ.
• First line of the Catechism:
  • "FATHER,... this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." (Jn 17:3)
• The REAL workshop tonight will be what's said in your heart between you and Jesus during Adoration.
• The 'New' in the New Evangelization is supposed to be a 'new ardor' in evangelization.
  • For CNMC, the New also represents an innovative dream of what you can do in evangelization.

God's Social Network

• Where do you fit into God's social network?
  • God has a social network: God is a trinity—these three persons communicate perfectly. "The Network is always up. There are no dropped calls."
    
  • God has a communications strategy: God preferred to draw near to his creation, and then slowly reveal himself to them.
    • "And God said" continues through all the Scriptures.
    • God's most perfect word is the Word Made Flesh (Jesus Christ).
• Trinitarian communications
  • Built on Love; every exchange should be an exchange of love.
• God's Word was first distributed through oral communication, then written, then printed, then radio and TV.
• Today God's word is also distributed as a digitized Word.

Putting Out into the Deep Water

• God is asking us to now 'put out into the deep water' of the Internet (ref. Luke 5).
  • God doesn't call the equipped, he equips the called.
  • Are you still pondering whether you should put out into the water of social media?
  • Are you at the stage where you're using digital media, but you're still just thinking about going further?
  • Simon 'rolled his eyes' by saying "Are you sure?"
    • "Resistance is the cutting edge of growth."
    • If Jesus asks us to go somewhere, he usually has a really good reason!
    • Do we tell Jesus "I don't want to move out of my comfort zone!" when he asks us to do something new?
  • Pope Benedict XVI: "Let us set sail on the digital sea with great fervor."
    • It's our task to build relationships in Jesus' name. We give the heart of Jesus to the Internet.
  • To what are you being called today?
    • Are you being called to cross over from using digital media to actually creating it?
    • Are you being called to the next big idea?
    • Pay attention to what God is saying to you, even if you're 'in the boat' already.
    • Those who are already using social media: You must be the dreamers, the fathers and mothers of new media, the educators.
• There needs to be more people and resources working on exploration of the new 'Digital Continent'.
  • We even need money, financial leadership!
  • "I am convinced that this is the work of the laity." (So am I!)
  • We can't sweat the details; who gets the credit, whose idea things are. God get's all the credit.
• We are writers, storytellers, filmmakers, reporters, catechists, poets, etc. We must tell the Gospel story, the greatest story ever told.

Our Mission

• We need people of excellence in all these fields.
  • Not only in skills; but also in their relationship with Jesus.
  • This is what will give the Internet soul.
  • Ask the Holy Spirit for "Holy Chutzpah"
• 'Digital Natives' (those growing up with new media) are hungry and searching for truth.
• Like Jesus handed Peter Keys to the Kingdom, God gives us the keys to digital media. We gotta drive!

DREAM

• Daring - Inspiration. 'Delighting'. Might seem impossible. But, write it down. Play with the idea. What would you do if you knew you could not fail?
• Risking - Trusting both God (and ourself). Remember who is your inspiration. Risk is to start somewhere, do something.
• Engaging - This is the actual work. You really need to encounter the living Jesus every day to achieve this.
• Achieving - Living it; you've achieved the goal! You realize that your dream was never about yourself alone.
• Magnifying - Sharing it; your dream is for everyone. We're all about community. Other people can begin to spread your dream, and make it bigger.

This is a model for Christian life.

God already knows the books you'll write, the videos you'll make, etc. Everything starts with him and flows back to him. That's why we're going to Adoration tonight.

You'll see that the dreams God dreams in you are full of God's grace.

Peter wrote these words (1 Peter 4:10-11): "As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's grace... so that in all things, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen."