Using the New Media to Start the Next Revolution

I received a wonderful email from Kimberly on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, telling me about her new website, Forgotten Saints Catholic Worker, and her journey of becoming a Catholic Worker. In the few years I got paid to write, I never received such a heartfelt compliment of my work. It must be because now, I am writing about what I love, rather than spinning the press releases thrown at me by my editors into something sensational and newsworthy. It is nice to know that my writing is enjoyed by some.
The internet and all it encompasses (blogging, websites, youtube, podcasting, etc.) is where the next revolution will start. Dorothy Day reached out to people across the globe with her newspaper. Sometimes, it would arrive several months late at an overseas destination, but her writing was always timely, and it inspired people to reconsider the goals in their lives. Today, people from all over the world read my blog within hours of me posting. Like minded Workers, and Catholics of all types, can meet in comboxes, chatrooms and Yahoo Groups. A generation ago, we would have be limited to finding radicals within our local community, maybe statewide if we had the right connections. How wonderful it is to find a supportive community in cyberspace. When every church around you swings far left and your neighbors and family thinks your nuts, you can rest assured there are people just like you only a click away. Together we inspire one another and pass along new information of interest. We are given strength in our endeavors when everyone else leaves us. But the goal should not only be to touch each other, but to make an impression on anyone who stumbles across our words, photos, videos or voice. To take what we've learned to our communities and families; to those who've never heard or experienced the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. We need to rally support and bring anyone we can into the Worker Movement and the one true Church. There are many struggling for answers and for meaning. The bible, the writings of the Church and even the words of Day may contain what they seek. Not long after The Catholic Worker newspaper debuted subscriptions soared into the tens of thousands and hospitality houses and farms sprung up everywhere. Can we not create a new fury of activity? A new radical revolution? Search the Catholic Worker website for houses and farms opening up and looking for volunteers. Read bloggers like Kimberly from Forgotten Saints and Tony at Benedictus Deus who envisions a Catholic community. The desire is out there. In a society that is drifting away from Christ and into perversity, we must band together and launch a peaceful movement against secularism and relativism. It is when we say that it cannot be done that we have already lost. May God give us the strength and hope to persevere in our efforts.