Catholics are using the latest tools to connect ancient faith with today’s digital reality.

Less than a decade ago, social and media wouldn’t have been seen together in public. Now, the two are not only hopelessly enamored with one another, but, as a couple, are proving to be a transformative, irreversible cultural force—for better or worse.

The pairing hasn’t been completely blissful. As noted in a January 2011 article in The Washington Post, some therapists have begun prescribing “tech cleanses” for clients whose lives have been negatively impacted by social networking and other technology.

Nevertheless, many Catholics—including parents, kids, and clergy—find that social media has become an essential component of their faith lives, and they’re willing to put up with the pitfalls to utilize the positives.

Paul Escandon (@newaustinite) is one who shudders to consider his life without social media. “To be absolutely honest, without social media my family would not even be in existence,” says the 29-year-old Catholic father of three from Austin, Texas. “I met (my wife) Rachael on MySpace in 2004 when we were living thousands of miles away from each other. We hit it off online and were engaged 13 months later. Because of this, social websites have a very special place in my heart.”

As Escandon touts the virtues of the digital age, some may wince to think a real relationship can be forged through what seems an impersonal mode of connecting.

But Escandon needs only to experience the delightful, after-work welcome of his wife and daughters—Clare, 4, Lucy, 2, and Marianne, 10 months—to prove that while the Internet may seem cold, its potential for fostering warm relationships is real.

A social media analyst by day, Escandon says though it’s impossible to predict just where the rapidly-growing phenomenon of social media is heading, he believes we’ll reach a point at which lack of social media use will be likened to not knowing how to drive a car; a few die-hards will resist, but as the rare exception.

Everybody’s doing it

The extent to which we are influenced by online use these days is easily evidenced. Libby Hall (@libbyjuju), digital strategist for Flint Communications in Fargo, North Dakota, notes that one third of women 18 to 34 check Facebook first thing in the morning—even before using the bathroom. “If that’s not ‘being absorbed into the typical American’s life,’ I don’t know what is.”

Even if they don’t fall into the age group of those who prefer getting a taste of Facebook before their morning coffee, older mothers and grandmothers are spending plenty of time engaging in social media. According to Insidefacebook.com women over 55 comprise one of the fastest-growing demographics on the site.

The December/January issue of Time magazine, which named Facebook’s young founder Mark Zuckerberg 2010 Person of the Year, noted that the social-networking giant reached 550 million members late last year, and is expected to grow to a billion by 2012.

For those hoping social media is simply a fad, evidence suggests otherwise, including within the life of the modern Catholic family.

Barbara Hofer, co-author of The iConnected Parent (Free Press, 2010), says many families are staying in better contact with college-age and older children thanks to technology. Skype and the iPhone’s video application, FaceTime, can allow grandparents to strengthen bonds with young grandchildren who live far away. “I met a grandfather who bought his 9-year-old an iPad,” she says, “and they now download and read the same books on their respective iPads and discuss them, using interactive features to deepen their background knowledge together.”

Even Pope Benedict XVI gives credence to God’s ability to traverse all corners of the globe, those of the Internet included. At 84, the pope has been a strong proponent of encouraging the faithful to embrace the Digital Age.

He has addressed digital media in his message for World Communications Day since 2009. “It falls, in particular, to young people, who have an almost spontaneous affinity for the new means of communication, to take on the responsibility for the evangelization of this ‘digital continent.’ Be sure to announce the gospel to your contemporaries with enthusiasm,” he said.

Media evolution

Lisa Hendey’s (@LisaHendey) dip into cyberspace came just as things were revving up online. In 1999 the 47-year-old mother from Fresno, California was looking for ways to help teach her sons more about the Catholic faith in preparation for first communion. When the position of volunteer webmaster at their Catholic grade school became available, she grabbed the opportunity, as well as some school-initiated, basic instruction on HTML coding.

With her newfound knowledge in hand, Hendey started her own website to connect with other Catholic parents, naming it CatholicMom.com, and she began offering what other websites at the time did: a place for people to glean information, but not necessarily interact. “For the first three or four years, it was really just a hobby,” she says. “I’d work on it before the kids woke up and while they were at school.”

In 2004 she decided to give blogging a try, and soon thereafter, the website became much more interactive, with people leaving comments regularly. Eventually, the site began featuring podcasts and videos, and more recently, Facebook and Twitter connections that allow for an even wider variety of exchanges.

Hendey sees social media as the convergence of traditional media and community outreach. It can touch everyone from family members to others reached through any variety of social medial platforms. “Some people, when they hear “social media,” think Facebook and that’s it, but I think there’s a lot more out there, and really the way traditional media is now presenting itself. . . . They’re no longer just reporting the news at us, they’re inviting us to be part of the conversation.”

These days it’s second nature for Hendey to head to the Internet when looking for information. “One of my instant reactions is to go to Twitter to find out what’s happening on the front line,” she says. “Of course … [it] isn’t always 100 percent accurate, but it’s interesting to me how now, when there’s an earthquake in Haiti or a flood in Queensland, Australia, you don’t just get the official take but can hear from people who are right in the middle of it.”

Child’s play

But with the wonderful connecting avenues has come a new and urgent role for parents to train their children to use online resources healthily. In the Hendey household, having a Facebook account isn’t a given.