“Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations…”
The Great Commission: Many of us have heard these words frequently throughout our lives, and while we understand what they generally mean, we often find it hard to put them into action, and it’s not surprising. When we hear about the lives of saints who risked life and limb in service to the Gospel, we can’t help but feel inadequate compared to these wonderful women and men.
During the 12th century, St. Francis of Assisi and St. Clare of Assisi responded by choosing to walk away from lives of riches and comfort in an effort to serve the poor and downtrodden through sacrifice and service to God. But how many of us are willing to do that today? More importantly, with lives as they are today, is it even possible to actively respond to these words of Christ, particularly with our commitment to our families and other things that take up most of our time.
While the world feels a lot smaller and more complicated in the 21st century, as Christians we still need to respond to these words. So how do we do this when people are less interested in a personal dialogue about Jesus? Many people today also only want to hear the bare-bones ‘news’ as it occurs and in the format they choose to engage in. In our age of media this is usually via the internet with tools such as Facebook and twitter. Indeed, TV news stations and radio stations are now delivering their news via the internet to ensure more people get their version of the news at a moment’s notice. So how are we, as a community of believers supposed to compete with that? It is actually a little easier than you first might think.
Last week our Pastoral Team responded to these words in a more considered way, by fully engaging in new media. New media is a means of mass communication using digital technology. It has taken a lot of prayer and hard work as our goal isn’t to just share the news, we want to share the ‘Good News’! We have a new website, Facebook page, Twitter account, and YouTube page and we need you to be a part of it. In the last week we have had over 1,000 visitors to our new site and we have had an increase in enquiries about the Church, our community and the Sacraments.
How can you get involved? Go online and check out our new website and social media tools. Like them and share them to help get the word out about how the Ipswich Catholic Community is responding to Christ’s call to make disciples. Of course we will continue to print weekly newsletters for weekend Mass, however we will also be using our online tools to engage with our community and those outside of it. If you need assistance or want to be more involved, please speak to one of our parish team.
Benjamin Leschke (Parishioner)