CES / CSJC forum: ’The Impact of Information Technology & Social Media’

The CES Joint Forum with the Catholic Social Justice Commission, ’The Impact of Information Technology & Social Media,’ will be on Wednesday October 16 2019 at 7.30pm at the Chapel, Australian Centre for Christianity & Culture, Blackall St (corner Kings Ave), Barton ACT.

This year the theme is:

Making it Real: Genuine human encounter in our digital world.

It asks the question:

Where do we encounter our neighbour?  Increasingly it is online.

• The digital world can be a place of communication, encounter and solidarity, or a place of hatred, sexual objectification, exploitation and bullying.
• Even the best of digital encounters cannot replace the Real Presence of Christ, or the real presence of human encounter.
• Genuine relationships are based on truth, develop over time, and recognise the dignity of the other, made in the image and likeness of God.
• The Social Justice Statement shares Pope Francis’ call to us to ‘boldly become citizens of the digital world’, with the image of the Good Samaritan as our inspiration.

With almost twenty million Twitter followers, Pope Francis is the first pontiff to capitalise on the potential of social media as a means of evangelisation, describing the internet ‘as a gift from God’. However, while extolling its potential as a force for good in the world, he has also spoken at length of the internet’s inherent dangers.

He spoke of the need for the internet to rediscover its potential for building communities and sharing knowledge, instead of discrediting people, venting prejudices and distorting relationships.