Promote Catholicism Today (and Always) #silenceandword

Sunday, May 20 was World Communications Day. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to read Pope Benedict XVI’s message, “Silence and Word: Path of Evangelization.”

Here’s a sampling from the beginning:

Silence is an integral element of communication; in its absence, words rich in content cannot exist. In silence, we are better able to listen to and understand ourselves; ideas come to birth and acquire depth; we understand with greater clarity what it is we want to say and what we expect from others; and we choose how to express ourselves. By remaining silent we allow the other person to speak, to express him or herself; and we avoid being tied simply to our own words and ideas without them being adequately tested. In this way, space is created for mutual listening, and deeper human relationships become possible. It is often in silence, for example, that we observe the most authentic communication taking place between people who are in love: gestures, facial expressions and body language are signs by which they reveal themselves to each other.

Do yourself a favor and read the whole thing. It’s a must-read for writers and communicators.

Yesterday, inspired by the folks at New Evangelizers, I was silent on all my social networks and even took down a blog post I had scheduled at my place.

Today, in keeping with the mission of Promote Catholicism Day, I’m going to attempt to answer “What in Catholic Media has had an impact on me during the past year?”

I could list a lot of things, but when I stop to think about it, it’s always about the people:

• the people who produce the content,
• the people who put it out there on blogs and podcasts,
• the people who share in the communities online,
• the people I connect with through my own online work,
• the people who pray and ask for prayers,
• the people who make this virtual Church real and a viable part of the Body of Christ.

How would you answer? Go to the forum at New Evangelizers and use #silenceandword to hashtag your posts for Twitter.