In his address for World Communications Day 2002 Pope John Paul called the Internet “A New Forum for Proclaiming the Gospel”. He understood the ‘forum’, in the ancient sense, as a bustling and busy public space where much of the social life of the city took place.
In the forum people could meet their friends, hear the news, go to court and take part in common worship. It was the place were the community expressed itself.
In Ireland for generations we have taken it for granted that the Gospel and the practice of the faith were fundamental elements in the life of our communities. In our ‘forum’, whether it was the life of the village, town or city, Irish people have always managed to make a space for God.
Now, the new world of cyberspace is growing before our eyes. We are all a part of it and we will all be shaped by it. For that reason it is essential that we Irish Catholics find creative and dynamic ways of being present in this new forum. As the Pope says, we should approach this new challenge with a sense of adventure.
CatholicIreland.net encourages us to find our voice and speak to one another and to the whole of cyberspace of the wonders that God continues to do. For that reason I wish the whole project, now in its infancy, every possible blessing.
Cardinal Seán Brady, Archbishop of Armagh
Patron of CatholicIreland.net
