Catholic Webauthor Excellence - The Catholic Internet

Introduction:
This article of Catholic webauthor excellence seeks to give some guidelines and directions for the Catholic webauthor who wishes to make Christ and the Gospel central in all of his internet productions. With this in mind, the drive for excellence then is only in view of Christ being made central in all the internet productions of the Catholic webauthor. Excellence then is a means in making Christ the end of all that a Catholic webauthor does. Excellence must never be an end in itself. Otherwise, it becomes an idol and it relegates the person of Christ to the background. Christ is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He was, is and should always be the end for the drive for excellence in the forum of the Internet. No technological knowledge, no matter how excellent it is and no matter how it may give the opportunity to gain high rankings, can take the place of knowing Christ and of being in a strong and lasting relationship with Him in the bond of prayer - especially within the context of a Eucharistic celebration.

A matter of spirituality
Prayer, study and writing must be the heart of the discipline that a Catholic webauthor needs to instill in himself if he wants to use excellence as a means to fulfill his mission.

When we speak of prayer, we speak here of a prayer that is steeped in the celebration, adoration, and contemplation of the Eucharist (see Experts in the Eucharist). Prayer then is Eucharistic and not only in the individual sense but more significantly communitarian. If prayer is based on the living, liturgical and sacramental life of the Church, then for sure the Catholic webauthor and his drive for excellence will be guided by the official prayer of the Catholic community gathering in the Eucharistic spirit - the source and summit of all Christian life. As Christ is at the heart of the Eucharist, so will be the person of Christ be at the heart of the writings and webauthoring of the Catholic webauthor if he continuously steeps himself in a Eucharistic spirit.

As regards the study aspect of spirituality, this involves both Catholic material and technological knowledge. Technological knowledge must always be at the service of Catholic spirituality and theology, just as philosophy continues to be at the service of theology in the long educational history of the Church. The Catholic webauthor must be careful not to be "too" technological in his orientation - even though he may need at times to intensify his efforts at tweaking his website for that top five position of his Internet niche. Otherwise, this could weaken his life in the Spirit and thus be in danger of straying away from the mission to make Christ central in all his works. It is not his technological knowledge, nor his achievements and many productions, nor his very self, which should catch his full attention but rather it must be Christ and the Gospel that becomes the central vision of his being a Catholic webauthor. (For prayer and study programs in this line, you can check on Theopneustos).

When speaking of writing and webauthoring, we are dealing with evangelization through the medium of the Internet. PneumaNetics is a concept and a term I borrowed in relation to this. You can read more of it in Pneumanetics , at Catholic Internet Mission, and also in PneumaNetics , at 9 Pentecost Central. These references are in relation to the process of inculturating the Gospel message in the language and cultural context of the Internet. With regard on the other hand to the technological expertise needed for writing and webauthoring, Catholic Internet Mission refers to many links to websites and articles that will help the Catholic webauthor pattern his internet productions according to the contemporary and updated techniques being currently used by many technology techniques specialists.

A matter of focus
It must never be forgotten by the Catholic webauthor that the focus of evangelization in the Internet is his love for Christ as expressed in his writing and webauthoring to the faithful of the Catholic Church. It is the Spirit of God who calls and sends Catholic webauthors. Thus the mission is not their own; it belongs entirely to God. When the Catholic webauthor shifts his focus to too much concern for updating his technological knowledge, or to seeking for awards and striving for excellence in his productions, or to working for website traffic in order to gain popularity and world acclaim and attention, then he is starting to corrupt his work and productions with the spirit of the flesh, the spirit of the world and the Evil One himself.

To keep his focus on the Spirit, Catholic Internet Mission has a prayer and study program called the 30-Day Focus on the Person of the Holy Spirit. This can be found in the website, Theopneustos. This can also be taken together with others in a list called The Spirit's Love Leaders Corps. The 30-Day Focus is given once a year every year to the members of this list. To keep updated of when it will be given next year, you can always check out What's New? of PCentral Online.

A matter of updates
The Catholic webauthor must consider always that he is working on two worlds which are both distinct and at the same time existing within the same plane of time and space. These two worlds are the physical world of the Catholic Church and the world of Catholics in cyberspace.

As regards the former, the Catholic webauthor must always keep updated of the liturgical calendar, the various news, events, and issues that are happening all over the world in the Catholic Church. With regard on the other hand to the world of cyberspace, the Catholic webauthor must also keep updated of new developments in technological knowledge concerning for instance certain search engine optimization techniques.

A constant and vigilant attitude to whatever may progress the productions of the Catholic webauthor is vital in order that his works may be made more visible and enhanced for the top ten spots in the leading search engines. (see also Catholic-structured Visibility Enhancer). Greater visibility in the Internet's leading search engines will help actualize the aim to make Christ's face and voice the central element in many of the niches of the Internet. (see Vatican Document on Internet).

A matter of improvement
A Catholic webauthor must never stop in his mission to excellently centralize Christ in the many niches of the Internet. Constant improvements must be done in terms of more quality content, better articles, and a wider range of services must be made available to the Catholic internet public and to all internet users who are not Catholic. Improvements can be done by the webauthor by making a few tweaks here and there - searching for that perfect keyword, searching for that perfect keyphrase, or enhancing his writing so that it stays at the top ten of his internet niche in the leading search engines. He must continue on and never give up because once a Catholic webauthor stops at tweaking and improving his writing, his webauthoring, and his website building, then it is for sure that the Catholic internet mission will not grow nor expand to what it is really meant to be. Excellence is a journey that the Catholic webauthor takes towards Christ his end. If he doesn't constantly seek improvements and neglects to tweak his website; if he does not strive anymore for excellence in his journey towards Christ as a Catholic webauthor, then the quality of his writing and webauthoring will suffer and will surely fall short of expressing the great love for Christ that had inspired him in the first place.

Conclusion:
Catholic webauthor excellence is a matter of many things. We have narrowed it down to four for the purposes of this article. It is: a matter of spirituality; a matter of focus; a matter of updates; and a matter of improvement. There are still many things to explore in this calling and vocation to be a Catholic webauthor. As the Catholic Church continually expands and grows; and as the cyberspace realm and all technological knowledge and expertise also continually expands and grows, so will the calling and vocation of the Catholic webauthor expand and grow. In fact, expansion and growth may mean that the Catholic webauthor will need to diversify his skills and specialize in his knowledge more and more on both Catholic matters and Internet matters.

Dennis-Emmanuel Cabrera
October 15, 2004
Feast of St. Teresa of Avila