Cardinal Sean Brady, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, was present at the Sunday unveiling of a statue in honor of Fr. Patrick Peyton, a sunny, brogue-filled Irishman who was remarkably successful in the 1940s at encouraging the use of the media to promote faith and devotion to the Rosary.
Cardinal Brady's remarks are all over the internet today because of their direct applicability to this very medium.
“Fr Peyton had a great gift for using the most up-to-date means of social communication. He was pioneering in his use of television to communicate the gospel and the power of prayer through the rosary,” said Cardinal Brady.
“He attracted the support of many famous film stars along the way. I am sure if there had been mobile phones in his day, Fr Peyton would have been big into texting and Twitter. He would rejoice in the power of the internet and e-mail to join people together in prayerful solidarity instantaneously and across the world.”
This is aligned with the direction my thinking has been going. I am a heavy user of various social-connection tools for my work, and I give a lot of consideration to the ways various modes can be applied to businesses and organizations to help them be effective. I've also observed how one of the indirect effects of this involvement is, frankly, that I'm in touch with exponentially more people than I used to be without a proportional cost in extra effort and time.
This has allowed me to observe and participate in many opportunities for either explicit sharing of the gospel or simply doing what God wants me to do -- showing love and concern to the people he's created as they cross my path. Though the utilitarian measurable benefits aren't yet ready to harvest, I firmly believe that if wisely incorporated, Twitter, Facebook, Plurk, Second Life and who-knows-what-else can be successfully used in service of God's kingdom.
What do you think?
