Editorial

Ways to Reach Pope, Digitally

Posted

Pope Francis is coming to the United States, and New York, next month, as if we had to tell you.

Everyone, it seems, wants to be as close to the Holy Father as possible. Practically speaking, the opportunities to participate in Masses and other ceremonies are limited, even at a place like Madison Square Garden, given the scope of the potential audience.

That’s why we’ve been heartened by examples of outreach very much in keeping with the pope’s own spirit, including two from outside the Archdiocese of New York.

One intriguing effort is a digital evangelization initiative by the global Catholic network Aleteia.org aimed at engaging the millennial generation—particularly those young adults who do not think of themselves as religious.

Called “Good Is Winning,” the campaign will be run out of a media command center in Philadelphia, with teams of digital-savvy millennials on the ground in New York and Washington, D.C., before, during and after the pope’s Sept. 22-27 visit to those cities. Other team members from across the country will participate remotely.

The plan is for the Good Is Winning message to take hold by highlighting acts of mercy, kindness, courage and dignity in everyday life on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter (with the hashtag #GoodIsWinning) and other popular digital outlets.

Team members will create and promote stories, photos, videos and conversations in social media to help inspire and inform people about faith, social justice and values.

Kathleen Hessert, the Charlotte, N.C.-based media consultant who’s leading the effort for Aleteia, said the stories and other content will be produced and targeted to those who don’t consider themselves religious or who are lapsed from their faith—Catholic and non-Catholic—but who are curious about Pope Francis and interested in what he has to say.

But the campaign is meant to do more than just build “buzz” around the pope’s visit, with organizers seeing its most important impact coming from what they learn from engaging with people who are casual about their religion or have no religion at all in order to better connect with them going forward.

The pope’s U.S. visit, and the message of mercy and love that he preaches, presents a powerful opportunity for digital evangelization, Ms. Hassert said.

The other initiative that caught our eye is one launched by the Archdiocese of Washington and its Catholic Charities arm, which challenges members of the local community to reach out to those in need. Called the “Walk With Francis Pledge,” the campaign invites people to serve others in their community and then share their pledge on social media.

The pledge involves three ways people can participate: Through prayer and learning about the faith: http://walkwithfrancis.org/pledge/pray; through charitable service to others: http://walkwithfrancis.org/pledge/serve; and by spreading the Gospel in families, workplaces and public policy: http://walkwithfrancis.org/pledge/act.

The pledge challenge, said Washington’s Cardinal Donald Wuerl, is a reflection of what Pope Francis calls on all people to do: “To care for one another, to look out for the needs of each other…to keep our focus on those whose needs are greater than ours.”

We’re excited about all of this, and we strongly urge all of our readers to think about ways they can personally meet the pope’s challenge, whether by signing on to a social media campaign (a great idea, by the way) or by a personal commitment to learning more about what Pope Francis is urging us to do, and then doing it.