WINMX Assorted Textfiles/Ebooks.tar/Text - Religion - Church Must Learn to Cope with Computer Culture.txt

Internet Message Format | 2003-09-28 | 8KB

Date: Sat, 21 Nov 92 10:10:02 -0500

From: [e-mail] (Eric James Ewanco)

Subject: JP2: Computer Culture


This statement has been issued by Pope John Paul II in connection with

WORLD COMMUNICATIONS DAY, May 27, 1990.

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"CHURCH MUST LEARN TO COPE WITH COMPUTER CULTURE"

     By Pope John Paul II




 In one of her Eucharistic Prayers, the Church addresses God in

these words:  "You formed man in your own likeness and set him over

the whole world to serve you, his Creator, and to rule over all

creatures"  (Eucharistic Prayer IV).


      For man and woman thus created and commissioned by God, the

ordinary working day has great and wonderful significance.  People's

ideas, activities and undertakings -- however commonplace they may be

-- are used by the Creator to renew the world, to lead it to

salvation, to make it a more perfect instrument of divine glory.


      Almost 25 years ago, the fathers of the Second Vatican Council,

reflecting on the Church in the modern world, declared that men and

women, serving their families and the community in their ordinary

occupations, were entitled to look upon their work as "a prolongation

of the work of the Creator ... and as their personal contribution to

the fulfillment in history of the divine plan" ("Gaudium et Spes,"

34).


      As  the council fathers looked to the future and tried to

discern the context in which the Church would be called upon to carry

out her mission, they could clearly see that the progress of

technology was already "transforming the face of the earth" and even

reaching out to conquer space (cf. "Gaudium et Spes," 5).


      They recognized that developments in communications technology,

in particular, were likely to set off chain reactions with unforeseen

consequences.


      Far from suggesting that the Church should stand aloof or try to

isolate herself from the mainstream of these events, the council

fathers saw the Church as being in the very midst of human progress,

sharing the experiences of the rest of humanity, seeking to understand

them and to interpret them in the light of faith.  It was for God's

faithful people to make creative use of the new discoveries and

technologies for the benefit of humanity and the fulfillment of God's

plan for the world.


      This recognition of rapid change and this openness to new

developments have proved timely in the years that followed, for the

pace of changes and development has continued to accelerate.


      Today, for example, one no longer thinks or speaks of social

communications as mere instruments or technologies.  Rather they are

now seen as part of a still unfolding culture whose full implications

are as yet imperfectly understood and whose potentialities remain for

the moment only partly exploited.


      Here we find the basis for our reflections on this 24th World

Communications Day.  With each day that passes, the vision of earlier

years becomes ever more a reality.  It was a vision which foresaw the

possibility of real dialogue between widely separated peoples, of a

worldwide sharing of ideas and aspirations, of growth in mutual

knowledge and understanding, of a strengthening of brotherhood across

many hitherto insurmountable barriers (cf. "Communio et Progressio,"

181, 182).


      With the advent of computer telecommunications and what are

known as computer participation systems, the Church is offered further

means for fulfilling her mission.  Methods of facilitating

communication and dialogue among her own members can strengthen the

bonds of unity between them.  Immediate access to information makes it

possible for her to deepen her dialogue with the contemporary world.


      In the new "computer culture" the Church can more readily inform

the world of her beliefs and explain the reasons for her stance on any

given issue or event.


      She can hear more clearly the voice of public opinion and enter

into continuous discussion with the world around her, thus involving

herself more immediately in the common search for solutions to

humanity's many pressing problems (cf. "Communion et Progressio,"

114ff.).


      It is clear that the Church must also avail herself of the new

resources provided by human exploration in computer and satellite

technology for her ever pressing task of evangelization.  Her most

vital and urgent message has to do with knowledge of Christ and the

way of salvation which He offers.  This is something she must put

before the people of every age, inviting them to embrace the Gospel

out of love, ever mindful that "truth cannot impose itself except by

virtue of its own truth, which wins over the mind with both gentleness

and power" ("Dignitatis Humanae," 1).


      As the wisdom and insights of past years teach us: "God has

spoken to humanity according to the culture proper to each age.

Similarly the Church, which in the course of time has existed in

varying circumstances, has used the resources of different cultures in

her preaching to spread and explain the message of Christ" ("Gaudium

et Spes," 58).


      "The first proclamation, catechesis or the further deepening of

faith cannot do without the (means of social communication) ... the

Church would feel guilty before the Lord if she did not use these

powerful means that human skill is daily rendering more perfect. It is

through them that she proclaims `from the housetops' the message of

which she is the depositary" ("Evangelii Nuntiandi," 45).


     Surely we must be grateful for the new technology which enables

us to store information in vast man-made artificial memories, thus

providing wide and instant access to the knowledge which is our human

heritage, to the Church's teaching and tradition, the words of Sacred

Scripture, the counsels of the great masters of spirituality, the

history and traditions of the local churches, of religious orders and

lay institutes, and to the ideas and experiences of initiators and

innovators whose insights bear constant witness to the faithful

presence in our midst of a loving Father who brings out of His

treasure new things and old (cf. Mt 13:52).


     Young people especially are readily adapting to the computer

culture and its "language."  This is surely a cause for satisfaction.

Let us "trust the young" ("Communio et Progressio," 70).  They have

had the advantage of growing up with the new developments, and it will

be their duty to employ these new instruments for a wider and more

intense dialogue among all the diverse races and classes who share

this "shrinking globe."


      It falls to them to search out ways in which the new systems of

data conservation and exchange can be used to assist in promoting

greater universal justice, greater respect for human rights, a healthy

development for all individuals and peoples, and the freedoms

essential for a fully human life.


      Whether we are young or old, let us rise to the challenge of new

 discoveries and technologies by bringing to them a moral vision

rooted in our religious faith, in our respect for the human person,

and our commitment to transform the world in accordance with God's

plan.


      On this World Communications Day, let us pray for wisdom in

using the potential of the "computer age" to serve man's human and

transcendent calling, and thus to give glory to the Father from whom

all good things come.



                                         JOHN PAUL II

                                                             VATICAN CITY