By Amanda Murthy
Pope Francis’ call to “boldly become citizens of the digital world”, with the image of the Good Samaritan was credited as the inspiration behind the 2019-2020 National Social Justice Statement launch, that was officially launched by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) on Tuesday 3 September.
The launch precedes Social Justice Sunday, which the Church in Australia celebrates on 29 September.
The statement titled “Making it Real: Genuine human encounter in our digital world” encouraged believers to reflect on how the internet has changed the way people communicate, work, learn and do business – and how they can go beyond loving their neighbour and to spread the love of God to the new global neighbourhood – both offline and on, stated ACBC Delegate for Social Justice Bishops Commission for Social Justice Mission and Service Sydney Auxiliary Bishop Terence Brady DD in his opening remarks.
“People of all generations hunger for friendship and genuine human encounter because we are made for community,” Bishop Brady said.
“Our digital world enables us to be more connected that ever before but sadly, it can also be a place of manipulation, exploitation and violence.
“This calls us to active citizenship because, at the heart of it all these problems are not technological, but rather moral – we can choose how we behave online and collectively shape the online world, building a more just and loving online neighbourhood,” he added.
The statement begins with a reflection of Scripture from the Gospel of Luke, with a question posed, ‘where do we encounter our neighbour?.”
Sharing some statistics on modern social communication, the statement revealed that there are over one million people worldwide using the internet for the first time daily, the world’s average internet user spends over six and a half hours online each day, five billion people use mobile phones globally, on average social media users spend over two hours on social media platforms daily. Along with these facts, the statement also unveiled that presently there are 2.3 billion active Facebook users, 1.9 billion registered to You Tube and Instagram and WhatsApp platforms have gained 1 and 1.5 billion users respectively.
The statement goes on to explain some of the benefits and standards for effective communication, then speaks about the culture of isolation and objectification in the digital world. The importance of gaining access and benefitting from the convenience of using the internet was also discussed in the statement, before delving into the second topic “Love your neighbour.”
Towards the end of the statement, the ACBC suggests 10 ways that help us achieve an online presence that will foster genuine human encounters.
The first step is to ‘make your online presence one of dignity and respect’ – by remembering that each person we communicate with on social media is a real person, made in the image and likeness of God, ‘be present to others in the real and virtual worlds’ by limiting the time spent on digital devices so that families and friends are not deprived of your real presence in their lives.
Other suggestions include ‘taking care of yourself and others’, ‘every community should promote digital literacy’, ‘we cannot leave our sisters and brothers behind’, the local community is a place to make the virtual real,’ ‘we must protect the personal data of citizens.’
‘join the call for transparency and accountability,’ and ‘trust and trustworthiness must be guaranteed.’
The final suggestion towards creating a genuine human encounter in the digital world that we live in today, was a reminder of our call and responsibility as Christians today.
“We all have a role to play in making this [the digital world] a space where hatred, divisions and falsehood are rejected.
“Let us foster a neighbourhood promoting those attributes and social values that lend themselves to a genuine human encounter – with love, understanding, beauty, goodness, truth and trustworthiness, joy and hope.”
The Social Justice Statement will officially be launched in Perth on Thursday 26 September, with a further three-panel discussion headed by Catholic Archdiocese of Perth Communications Manager Jamie O’Brien, Digital Branding Specialist Jamie Brook, and Director and Head of Video at Iceberg Media Andrea Bernardino.