Christ, Catholic Internet Mission, Webauthor Excellence

Christ, Catholic Internet Mission, Webauthor Excellence

'Put out into deep water and pay out your nets for a catch'. (Lk 5:4-5).
The author of these words was Christ Himself. Christ is the author par excellence of the Catholic mission. And the objective of the Catholic mission is to make "fishers of people" - those who put out into the deep to gain and recruit members who will also adhere to the Catholic faith.

The traditional way of doing Catholic mission was to go to the people and learn their language in order to communicate Christ and the Gospel to them. This is still the standard way of doing Catholic missions and it will remain the standard. The forum used to do this is the areopagus - the marketplace - where business is done, politics is performed and where the social life of the people revolve.

Now, however, at the beginning of the third millenium, a new areopagus has opened up to the Catholic church. And this areopagus is the forum of the Internet. If the universal Catholic mission is to further extend herself, then the Catholic Church and her mission needs to enter this new forum. The Catholic mission must also put out into the deep of the Internet to make "fishers of people" on the Internet.

It is with this background, context, and historical setting, that the Catholic Internet Mission was developed and grew into a webnetwork of webpages, websites, webrings, blogs, and lists - all based on that Gospel mandate of Christ, 'Put out into deep water and pay out your nets for a catch'.

Catholic Internet Mission includes a theology and a spirituality. Much of the methods and techniques of Catholic Internet Mission are published via 9 Pentecost Central. It would take more or less a year for anyone to learn and assimilate the theology and spirituality of Catholic Internet Mission and to employ all the techniques and methods to build a webnetwork the Catholic Internet Mission way.

Learning the techniques and the methods of the Catholic Internet Mission is more a matter of the spiritual techniques and methods rather than the technological. However, the technological is also important since that is what will give content to the spirit. Catholic Internet Mission however, focuses and gives more emphasis on the spirituality - the manner of being Catholic and the quality of interacting on the Internet.

Catholic Internet Mission finds its most sublime concretization in Catholic webauthor excellence. What this means is that the Catholic webauthor - one who publishes his work of Catholic content in the Internet - journeys in Christian excellence, both in spirit and in form, to make Christ and His Gospel central in all his works. This does not mean that the Catholic webauthor would literally place images of Christ and his person or add audio to his website recording a voice producing a passage from Scripture. Although this is also part of that, it is not the main thing. Catholic webauthor excellence must go for depth and insight, and give occasions for the readers for moments of deep reflection and for gathering classic spiritual wisdom.

Therefore, being at the service of Christ and His Gospel, are the main motivations for the Catholic webauthor to pursue excellence in his Catholic internet mission. Without a spirit of excellence instilled in the prayer, study, and work discipline of the Catholic webauthor, then Catholic Internet Mission will not be outstanding. Why term it Catholic if it will not be equated with excellence? The apostles at that Luke 5:4-5 Scripture passage were not able to catch any fish because Christ did not yet show the way to do so. But when Christ commanded, and the apostles obeyed, they hauled in such a great catch that the nets were about to tear open.

Excellence brings with it a great reward. The pursuit of Catholic webauthor excellence in Catholic Internet Mission will do the same: as it follows Christ to put out into the deep water, it will reap, harvest, and obtain such a great catch akin to the reference in Luke 5:4ff.

So, the question now is not, "what is our standard for excellence?" This question would bring us more in the technological realm. The question rather is, "who is our standard for excellence?" And the answer to this is plain for us - it is Christ!

The standard for excellence of Catholic Internet Mission and the Catholic webauthor is a matter of a person - the person of Christ. Thus, this means that Catholic Internet Mission still follows the traditional universal way of Catholic mission - teaching people to follow Christ. Therefore, the Catholic webauthor is not only a Catholic writer on the Internet; he is also a Catholic teacher. He uses the medium of the Internet to teach about the excellence of Christ, the excellence of the Scriptures, the excellence of the Catholic faith and tradition, and the purpose fo following Christ in a Christian life of service excellence and virtue.

Dennis-Emmanuel Cabrera
October 17, 2004