After reading Pope Benedict’s message for World Communications Day, I sat and considered how this technology has impacted relationships and built fellowship in my own life.

When my family moved out of state weeks after my high school graduation, I kept in touch with friends via long handwritten letters. My first email account existed on a bulky university VAX system in 1990, with contacts limited to other university students in Texas. Friendships formed through an early listserv and two friends actually met via this early internet, married, and celebrated their 20th anniversary last August.

Twelve years ago my social network expanded from email to include an online bulletin board for women expecting babies in Sept 1999. The relationships built then are solid and strong, though many of us have never met in real life. Our friendships are as real as anything I’ve known in person, face to face.

In the present day, our involvement in the Catholic New Media world continues to be a work in progress, developing relationships that lead us into a larger fellowship, one that includes growing and learning in our Catholic faith. Through the vehicle of this blog and FB friendships, Lisa and I have been inspired to launch our personal relationship with Christ and our church in real life to another level.

I’d love to hear how other lives have been changed for better or for worse by the rise of increased global communications.