This month I would like to consider the issue of the electronic media that saturates and dominates our lives more and more. In many ways it has marginalized traditional culture, and sometimes displaces it altogether.
Yet the Church calls us to use the new media to evangelize, by bringing the presence of truth and beauty into the mainstream of contemporary society. As Anton Casta of St. Max Media once wrote, the Roman empire was often brutal and had many victims, yet the Apostles walked far along the roads built by the Romans in order to bring the Gospel to the known world. Where are our new Roman roads? Are they not the vehicle of internet and film and the spreading of traditional culture such as music and the visual arts through new e-media? While there remain unresolved questions regarding the sheer volume of material being poured into our lives, and its power to reshape consciousness in unhealthy ways, there is a clear call to regain this territory for Christ.
I would like to draw your attention to just a small cross-section of outstanding Catholic media "missions."
COVA is a beautiful new website dedicated to reflection on the issues that are central to faith and culture. It is also a place where creative people of faith, and those who are interested, can meet to discuss these matters. It is potentially one of the great works in the new evangelization. It is not about downloading data into our heads, but rather about the shared pursuit of wisdom.
Please have a good visit at:
http://www.mediacova.com
A young Catholic film-maker, Andrew Baklinski, has made an award-winning, whimsical short film titled The Ball. You can view it on Youtube at the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2ruaL20h-I
Singer, songwriter, and Catholic evangelist, Mark Mallett offers a newsletter and web broadcast that focuses on the crisis of Western civilization at this moment of history and gives wise teaching on elements of the Faith, including prudent examination of the "signs of the times."
http://www.markmallett.com/blog/?cat=2
Actor, screenwriter, and founder of St. Luke Productions, Leonardo Defillipis, has for many years given thousands of theater performances on the Gospels and the lives of the saints and produced several films based on these plays. His most recent play is Vianney, which is currently touring North America as part of the Year For Priests. You can visit his website at:
http://www.stlukeproductions.com/
These are but a sampling of the large and growing numbers of fine initiatives in the new evangelization. Please offer prayer that their enormous labours and sacrifices will be fruitful for souls.
Grace and peace be with you always,
in Jesus our Saviour,
Michael O'Brien
Yet the Church calls us to use the new media to evangelize, by bringing the presence of truth and beauty into the mainstream of contemporary society. As Anton Casta of St. Max Media once wrote, the Roman empire was often brutal and had many victims, yet the Apostles walked far along the roads built by the Romans in order to bring the Gospel to the known world. Where are our new Roman roads? Are they not the vehicle of internet and film and the spreading of traditional culture such as music and the visual arts through new e-media? While there remain unresolved questions regarding the sheer volume of material being poured into our lives, and its power to reshape consciousness in unhealthy ways, there is a clear call to regain this territory for Christ.
I would like to draw your attention to just a small cross-section of outstanding Catholic media "missions."
COVA is a beautiful new website dedicated to reflection on the issues that are central to faith and culture. It is also a place where creative people of faith, and those who are interested, can meet to discuss these matters. It is potentially one of the great works in the new evangelization. It is not about downloading data into our heads, but rather about the shared pursuit of wisdom.
Please have a good visit at:
http://www.mediacova.com
A young Catholic film-maker, Andrew Baklinski, has made an award-winning, whimsical short film titled The Ball. You can view it on Youtube at the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2ruaL20h-I
Singer, songwriter, and Catholic evangelist, Mark Mallett offers a newsletter and web broadcast that focuses on the crisis of Western civilization at this moment of history and gives wise teaching on elements of the Faith, including prudent examination of the "signs of the times."
http://www.markmallett.com/blog/?cat=2
Actor, screenwriter, and founder of St. Luke Productions, Leonardo Defillipis, has for many years given thousands of theater performances on the Gospels and the lives of the saints and produced several films based on these plays. His most recent play is Vianney, which is currently touring North America as part of the Year For Priests. You can visit his website at:
http://www.stlukeproductions.com/
These are but a sampling of the large and growing numbers of fine initiatives in the new evangelization. Please offer prayer that their enormous labours and sacrifices will be fruitful for souls.
Grace and peace be with you always,
in Jesus our Saviour,
Michael O'Brien
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