Serra Communications And The Message Of The Holy Father Benedict XVI For The Forty-Third World Day Of Communications
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"New Technologies, New Relationships, Promoting a Culture of Respect, Dialogue and Friendship."
Never before have the goals of Serra Communications and those of our Holy Father been so completely in harmony.
Just as Serra is embarking on a new era in communications, via the development and implementation of the new www.serra.org, Pope Benedict XVI has dedicated this year's World Communications Day (24 May 2009) to the new digital technologies that are "indeed, bringing about fundamental shifts in patterns of communication and human relationships."
Our Holy Father continues, "These technologies are truly a gift to humanity and we must endeavor to ensure that the benefits they offer are put at the service of all human individuals and communities, especially those who are most disadvantaged and vulnerable." The goal of Serra Communications is to assist Serrans to fulfill the objectives and purposes of Serra: to foster and promote vocations to the ministerial priesthood, and support priests in their sacred ministry; to encourage and affirm vocations to consecrated religious life; and to assist Serrans to recognize and respond in their own lives to God's call to holiness in Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit.
As we love God, we must also love and respect our neighbor. Pope Benedict reminds us that "if the new technologies are to serve the good of individuals and of society, all users will avoid the sharing of words and images that are degrading of human beings, that promote hatred and intolerance..."
Our Holy Father also recognizes the immediacy of today's communications, an immediacy that opens doors to other countries, cultures and religions. Serrans today are communicating from city to city, region to region, country to country, and continent to continent, instantly around the world.
Pope Benedict notes…"the so-called cyberspace' allows people to encounter and to know each other's traditions and values. Such encounters, if they are to be fruitful, require honest and appropriate forms of expression together with attentive and respectful listening. The dialogue must be rooted in a genuine and mutual searching for truth if it is to realize its potential to promote growth in understanding and tolerance."
It is the element of friendship that enlivens all Serrans around the world. It helps Serra achieve its goals because it is through Serra friendships that unity becomes possible, common goals are achieved, and a mutual sense of working together to do God's will is developed. As our Holy Father reminds us, "…these forms of co-operation between people from different geographical and cultural contexts enable them to deepen their common humanity and their sense of shared responsibility for the good of all"- the good of Serra. Pope Benedict asks all Serrans to
...bring the witness of their faith to the digital world. Dear Brothers and Sisters, I ask you to introduce into the culture of this new environment of communications and information technology the values on which you have built your lives.
And he asks our youth, in particular, "...who have an almost spontaneous affinity for the new means of communication, to take on the responsibility for the evangelization of this digital continent."
Serra must accept the responsibility of fulfilling its stated objectives and purposes. With our Holy Father's blessing, all Serrans must strive to harness today's communication technologies so that www.serra.org can best support the spread of the Gospel throughout the world.
Issued 04 March 2009
Published first on serra.org
