austraLasia #1825

'..a world that celebrates and rejoices in youthfulness...': young sdb on online ministry

BOLTON: 22nd April 2007 -- Bro Matt Jeziorski is a young Salesian from the UK, one who reflects at length on a world that he is very much at home in (he speaks of 'losing my heart to MySpace'), and explores its positives and negatives for Salesian ministry. He is sanguine and sensible about it: 'I have always been excited about the potential that lies within the World Wide Web for youth ministry' he says on the one hand, and 'yet recently I have found myself becoming disillusioned with youth ministry done online... I find that I am abandoning my earlier dreams of an online retreat centre, a Salesian Oratory in cyberspace....'.  This is serious - only yesterday or the day before I was holding a discussion with a representative of another province of precisely such a thing - an online oratory, something like the apparently successful Triveneto www.donboscoland.it site.
    Fortunately Matt takes his reflection on from this point, locating his solution in the fact that 'young people want to keep in touch with those who minister to them'.  Once he has established this principle for himself, he finds that he can begin to think of online ministry as 'an extension of our work in the real world'. He acknowledges the obvious difficulties, including the many suspicions about adult-child relationships online, but adds, 'if nobody uses the internet for good, then evil triumphs. Doing nothing and thus allowing this cannot be Gospel living, surely?'  And as a young and frequent user of this kind of media, he readily recognizes that 'the technology, once you get to know it and lose any fear of it, does the child protection thing for you. Everything is recorded, logged and saved...'
    At this point Matt can bring in C.40, the 'lasting criterion for discernment and renewal in all our activities and works', and asks (and answers) a series of pertinent questions:
    'Is it a home? If we see home as a place where young people feel comfortable and are relaxed then yes; this is a young person's world and they belong here. There is a question mark over the safety essential for a home but surely this is more of a reason for good people to be involved...'.
    'Is it a school? ...if the internet is used as an extension of our relational ministry then the conversations and communications here can be as much an opportunity for learning and growth as the face to face contact'.
    'Is it a playground? Spend even a few minutes on MySpace or any of the social networks, or even a couple of minutes mindless surfing and you realise that the internet is a world that celebrates and rejoices in youthfulness...what perhaps is lacking is that loving adult presence...'.
    'Is it a church? ...I would suggest that with the peer ministry that already exists and relational youth ministry, a journey together towards God, then the Church is almost built!'
    Good for you, Matt.  If you agree that we can put your reflections up where others can read them, there is likely to be some useful additional reflection.  At the very least, via Boscowiki, someone might like to set the conversation going?
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