With the approval of the Permanent Council, the CCCB Episcopal Commission for Justice and Peace has today released itsPastoral Letter on the use of social media titled: “Let Your Speech Always Be Gracious.” The release is timed with the liturgical memorial of Saint Francis de Sales, who was known for his graciousness in speech and who is invoked as a patron saint of writers and publishers.
The Pastoral Letter responds to the priority assigned to the Episcopal Commission for Justice and Peace by the Permanent Council in 2019.
It is available in electronic format and can be downloaded from the CCCB website:
In English: https://www.cccb.ca/announcement/bishops-release-a-pastoral-letter-on-the-use-of-social-media
INTRODUCTION
Twenty years ago, few of us would have even
heard the term “social media.” Now it permeates almost every aspect of our lives. We use it
to keep in contact with family and friends and
distant cousins. We read both neighbourhood,
national, and international news on it. We connect with strangers who share our interests and
hobbies. We discover events in which we want
to participate and videos that make us laugh.
Currently, 87% of the Canadians who have
access to the internet are active on social media.
By 2026, that number is expected to climb
to 96%.
The average Canadian social media
user has 6.4 accounts and spends an average of
1 hour and 56 minutes per day perusing various
platforms.
On one hand, we could say that social media
is simply one more way we have developed to
communicate with others—the latest in an
ever-growing repertoire of possibilities that
over the course of human history has included
everything from sign language to the spoken
word to written texts. Like every mode of
communication, it exists to serve a fundamental
human good: the building of bridges among
people by the sharing of information. As Pope
Benedict XVI observed, this desire to connect
with others—whatever the mode—is a beautiful
thing: “When we find ourselves drawn towards
other people, when we want to know more
about them and make ourselves known to them,
we are responding to God’s call – a call that is
imprinted in our nature as beings created in the
image and likeness of God, the God of communication and communion.”