A Catholic bishop has used a gathering of the church’s social communicators to call for the exercise of ‘prudence’ in social media posts.
Auxiliary Bishop Ruben Labajo of Cebu emphasized that the Church “must be present” in cyberspace, “but our presence has to be a witness to Christ”.
“My dear brothers and sisters, especially those in the social communication ministry, I exhort you to develop the virtue of prudence in posting and browsing through the virtual world,” Labajo said.
“Please don’t put a dichotomy between your public image as social communication ministry in-charge and your private and personal accounts online,” he said.
The bishop made the call during Sunday Mass for the last day of the 12th Catholic Social Media Summit (CSMS) at the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Manila University in Mandaue City.
In his homily, he lamented church media workers whose personal social media posts contradict what they post on their parish’s social media platforms.
“Ang ganda at wholesome ng post mo sa Facebook ng parish niyo as social communication in-charge tapos sa personal account mo grabe ang pagmumura mo or malaswa,” Labajo said.
“Whatever it is, whether private or public accounts online, you strive to be a witness of Christ,” he said.
The CSMS is an annual gathering organized by YouthPinoy, a group of “online missionaries”.
This year, the event was in collaboration with the Archdiocese of Cebu through its CADCOM or the Cebu Archdiocesan Digital Communications Ministry.
Saying that “the devil is very clever and also uses the internet,” he emphasized the need for effective use of social media for evangelization.
“So we need you brothers and sisters… evangelize our people through social media,” Labajo said.
